The Web3 gaming sector has seen significant evolution since its inception. Initially driven by play-to-earn (P2E) models, the industry is now shifting towards more balanced "play-and-earn" approaches, prioritizing engaging gameplay alongside earning potential. This shift addresses sustainability concerns of pure P2E models, particularly in developing economies where gaming guilds played a crucial role.

As we examine the state of Web3 gaming in 2024, these foundational shifts set the stage for our analysis of current market trends, player behaviors, and economic impacts...

Player Base Dynamics

Since 2023, Web3 gaming has experienced a gradual decline in player numbers. The player base has shrunk from 6.03 million in 2023 to approximately 1 million monthly active users currently.

January 2024 saw the highest number of gamers in the first half of the year, with about 1.73 million players. It's noteworthy to compare this to the industry's peak in November 2021, when there were around 21 million players – twenty times the current player numbers.

Player Classification and Activity

Current data reveals that the vast majority of gaming addresses are inactive. Only 1,970 addresses are classified as active, while 1,450 are categorized as inactive investor addresses. Notably, only 14 addresses are identified as hardcore players across all Web3 games. This distribution paints a picture of a market with only a small core of highly engaged users.

Blockchain Distribution of Gaming Contracts

In terms of active gaming smart contracts, Polygon leads with approximately 12,400 contracts. BNB Chain follows, albeit with only about one-tenth of Polygon's numbers. Ethereum and Avalanche trail significantly behind, each hosting only a few hundred gaming contracts. Several factors for this distribution, such as transaction costs, speed, and ecosystem support.

Token Standards in Gaming

Among all gaming contract addresses, ERC20 tokens are the most prevalent, outnumbering ERC721 tokens by more than three to one. ERC1155 tokens are the least common, with about 18.9 million instances.

Game Performance and User Engagement

In the past six months, some games have performed very well, such as Matr1x, Cellula, and Yuliverse. The number of active unique wallets ranks among the top, and user participation is very high.

Asset Minting in Gaming

The minting of new gaming assets fluctuates monthly, with Dec 2023 seeing a peak of about 318,000 new assets.

While early 2024 saw a bull market driving up asset prices, on-chain data suggests that the gaming sector remains in a cooling period without significant actual growth.

Gaming Activity Patterns

Analysis of gaming activity reveals peak engagement during afternoon hours in the UTC time zone, with transaction frequencies exceeding 95 million. This period corresponds to morning in the U.S. and evening in Asia. Activity is lowest during UTC nighttime, dropping to about two-thirds of the peak levels.

Weekly patterns show that Thursday is the most active day for on-chain transactions, averaging around 277 million, followed by Tuesday and Wednesday. Weekend activity is notably lower.