The crypto and NFT gaming space is busier than ever lately, what with prominent games starting to release, token airdrops piling up, and a seemingly constant array of other things happening at all times. It’s a lot to take in!
Luckily, Decrypt’s GG is all over it. And if you need a quick way to get caught up on the latest moves around crypto video games, we’re happy to present This Week in Crypto Games.
Our weekend roundup serves up the biggest news from the past week, along with a few other tidbits you might have missed. We also showcase a few of our original stories from the week.
Biggest news
Pixels Chapter 2: Ronin-based farming game Pixels has just launched its big Chapter 2 update, which sees new systems implemented to help bolster the game’s sustainability. The team claims that the update isn’t a complete reskin and requires the player to “peel back the layers” to discover a “whole new game.”
Chapter 2 sees changes to resource collection and crafting, and introduces a new resource tiering system. Additionally, tools have different tiers akin to Minecraft and will lose durability overtime. Free-to-play land has also received a small rework which aims to help non-paying players to progress easier.
We spoke with Pixels founder Luke Barwikowski about the intention behind the update and how his studio underwent a brief identity crisis following the game's smash success, as he ultimately fought back the urge to "professionalize" and go slower.
How ‘Pixels’ Chapter 2 Upgrades the Ethereum Farming Game—And Why It Took So Long
Ethereum-based farming game Pixels—the hottest crypto game not built on Telegram—just rolled out a massive Chapter 2 upgrade this week that significantly shakes things up. But you wouldn’t know it at a glance. “Everybody’s day-to-day inside the game changes pretty drastically,” Pixels founder Luke Barwikowski told Decrypt ahead of the launch. Pixels retains the charming retro vibe that the game’s own title conveys. And it’s fair to say that the previous gameplay was a hit with many players, attr...
Konami NFT Platform: Konami Digital Entertainment—the Japanese gaming giant behind franchises like Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, and Castlevania—announced Thursday that it will launch an NFT platform called Resella on the Avalanche blockchain.
This platform aims to make it easier for companies to integrate blockchain technology and issue NFTs, both for games and other types of applications. According to Konami, Resella eliminates the need for users to open an external crypto wallet or handle cryptocurrency at all. It will be targeted for Japanese domestic users, but plans to also accommodate global users.
'Metal Gear Solid' Game Maker Konami Launching Avalanche NFT Platform
Konami Digital Entertainment—the Japanese gaming giant behind franchises like Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, and Castlevania—announced Thursday that it will launch an NFT platform called Resella on the Avalanche blockchain. The infrastructure platform aims to make it easier for companies to integrate blockchain technology and issue NFTs, both for games and other types of applications. According to Konami, Resella eliminates the need for users to open an external crypto wallet or handle cryptocur...
Telegram boom: If you've been following our coverage lately, then you've surely noted the rapidly growing pile of Telegram-based games pulling in millions of players with promises of token rewards. It started with Notcoin earlier this year, but recent game Hamster Kombat has purportedly reached over 150 million players—and several more games are popping up.
We've started expanding our coverage into some of those other titles, including Pixelverse's PixelTap, Yescoin, TapSwap, and Catizen, with more to come around those games and other emerging crypto titles on Telegram.
The Hottest Telegram Tap-to-Earn Games That Let You Earn Crypto
Notcoin led to this year’s biggest and buzziest gaming token launch so far, but the Telegram mini app is no one-off sensation. Hamster Kombat has already surged to greater heights in terms of pre-token players, claiming more than 300 million users already ahead of its launch on The Open Network (TON), while other games on Telegram are gaining steam with the same kind of model. Like Hamster Kombat, games like PixelTap and Yescoin are expanding upon the basic “clicker” or screen-tapping premise in...
OpenSeason airdrop: The creators of the Fortnite-like Ethereum game OpenSeason launched their token airdrop last week. Holders of the Fractional Uprising Studios NFT—which is currently required to play the game—started to receive tokens on Tuesday afternoon.
The FU token (short for FU Money) on Arbitrum, an Ethereum layer-2 scaling network, is now valued above an $11 million market capitalization, according to CoinGecko. Through the airdrop, 10% of the token's total supply was automatically sent to NFT holders based on three previous ownership snapshots.
Creators of Fortnite-Like Ethereum Game 'OpenSeason' Reveal Token Airdrop
The makers of OpenSeason, a crypto-themed battle royale shooter game built around Ethereum NFT access passes, announced details Monday for the studio's upcoming token airdrop to players—and revealed that the giveaway is coming this week. At some point this week, holders of Fractional Uprising Studios NFT membership passes—which are currently required to play OpenSeason—will automatically receive some portion of the 62.1 million “FU Money” tokens that have been earmarked for this week’s initial...
ICYMI
- Farworld Labs, a protocol building on Farcaster, raised $1.75 million for Web3 mobile gaming ecosystem.
- Ethereum mech shooter MetalCore announced it will launch its MCG token through Bybit.
- Time.fun, an interesting take on SocialFi that allows you to invest in time with influencers, launched last week.
- Heroes of Mavia, a crypto-tinged Clash of Clans clone, announced that it aims to integrate its MAVIA token into its gameplay loop with a new set of features.
- Ethereum sidechain Ronin announced that will offer the ability for developers to deploy dedicated layer-2 chains.
Ethereum Gaming Network Ronin to Launch Layer-2 Chains—Here’s Why
Ronin, the prominent Ethereum sidechain network dedicated to video games, announced Tuesday that it will offer the ability for developers to deploy their own dedicated layer-2 chains via zero-knowledge zkEVM tech built with Polygon's Chain Development Kit. The Ronin zkEVM functionality could yield its first dedicated chains starting in the first quarter of 2025, giving game makers the ability to potentially serve vastly more players than the Ronin chain itself can handle. It would also, accordin...
- NBCUniversal confirmed it plans to continue building fan experiences and games on Aptos, agreeing to a long-term partnership with Aptos Labs.
- Saga, a layer-1 blockchain with a focus on gaming, started the second phase of its "Over 9,000" airdrop.
- Fighting game AI Arena announced that its NRN token will go live on Monday, June 24.
- Notcoin’s airdrop finished, closing the chapter on 2024’s largest crypto gaming token launch of 2024. But Notcoin itself will carry on with more social games to come following the launch of earnings missions.
- Team Liquid and Community Gaming are hosting Teamfight Tactics and Hearthstone tournaments with a combined $20,000 prize pool that will be paid out via USDC on Base.
GG spotlight
Here are a few of our original stories from this past week that we think are well worth a weekend read:
‘Hamster Kombat’ Telegram Game Airdrop: Everything You Need to Know
Hamster Kombat picked up the baton from Notcoin, leading the next generation of Telegram crypto games while apparently amassing huge droves of players—more than 300 million, the developers said in late July, just weeks after Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov claimed that the game had topped 239 million players earlier in the month. What’s driving players to the game, which pairs simple tapping gameplay with lightly strategic moves as you take the role of a hamster CEO of a crypto exchange? An...
‘PixelTap’ Daily Combo Guide: How to Earn Millions of Free Coins in the Pixelverse Telegram Game
Telegram games that let you earn a share of an upcoming token airdrop are super hot right now, and one of the rising games in the wake of Notcoin and Hamster Kombat is PixelTap, a robot combat game from Pixelverse. From a mini app within the Telegram messaging platform, players can accumulate in-game coins and then take their robot pets into combat. Billed as a “tap-to-earn” game, PixelTap is gaining steam ahead of the project’s PIXFI token launch, which is expected to be airdropped to players m...
Edited by Andrew Hayward
