Is blockchain gaming back? Overview of GameFi projects that are getting people talking

The GameFi narrative: despite a brief existence, a glimmer of hope persists

GameFi, a contraction of the words “ Game ” And ” Finance “, refers to the convergence of video games and decentralized finance (DeFi). It is a sub-branch of the crypto sector which combines gameplay and economic opportunitiesallowing players to earn digital assets (tokens, NFTs, etc.) by participating in blockchain-based games.

Although this sector emerged in 2017 with the appearance of CryptoKitties, we had to wait until 2021 for the play-to-earn (P2E) model, particularly with the game Axie Infinity, to experience its moment of glory.

👉 What is GameFi and what are its prospects?

Afterwards, many projects have raised colossal sums to try to develop and launch a Web3 game that would disrupt the entire traditional gaming sector.

Despite high hopes placed in this category by investors, GameFi is also not immune to the vagaries of the crypto market. It thus suffered greatly from the bear market which occurred, as usual, too early for GameFi to express its full potential..

Although this narrative has left a bitter taste for more than one investor, a few signals can tell us that it has not said its last word and that good days are still to come for GameFi.

Cryptoast Academy: Don’t waste this bull run, surround yourself with experts

Gaming and blockchain: advantages and disadvantages

Beyond the simple desire of certain projects to simply ride on a fashion phenomenon, it should be noted that blockchain has many advantages to bring to gaming.

The advantages of blockchain for gaming

Indeed, if you've ever spent a lot of time playing a video game, you know how frustrating it can be to abandon all the equipment (skins, weapons, characters, etc.) so hard acquired. You then have to start everything again and again, without ever retaining anything over time.

With NFTs, it becomes possible to truly own equipment and use it as you wish..

Don't have time to play anymore for some reason? No worries, you can always resell your NFTs, so you won’t have “ played for nothing “.

In addition, thanks to soulbound token technology, some NFTs can be linked to your address and thus represent your successes and statistics in a video game.

With this kind of digital player footprint, many uses can be imagined, for example to grant early access to certain players for testing and providing valuable feedback to Web3 game developers.

Sorare: the most popular fantasy football game

The disadvantages of blockchain for gaming

Although blockchain could revolutionize the way we play, Many challenges remain hindering widespread adoption of GameFi.

Indeed, this sector has suffered a lot of criticism from all sides of the crypto sphere, but not only that. Adding an economic dimension to a video game is not an easy task, it is even very complex.

Thus, many GameFi projects have suffered from violent criticism on their internal economy deemed unsustainable, often leading to massive inflation and a depreciation of the underlying token.

Moreover, many GameFi games have been criticized for lacking depth and quality.

Games have often been seen as “ disguised ponzis “, Or economic incentive took precedence over actual gameplay. Players came to make money, not necessarily for the fun experience, which often led to disillusionment after the game's tokenomics collapsed.

💲 Find our complete guide to buying crypto easily

Taking an honest look at most Web3 games, it's worth pointing out that they are generally less ” cared for » than traditional video games and economic incentive alone cannot make a game successful in the long term.

Another disadvantage that we can cite here, and not the least, would be friction with blockchain.

For those familiar with crypto, nothing shocking, but for newbies it's another story. You have to create your own wallet, write down your seed phrase, so many tasks which have certainly scared away many.

However, this last drawback is no longer one today. Thanks to account abstraction, it is now possible to play a Web3 game without realizing at first glance that it is indeed this type of game.

The game that could change everything: Off The Grid

Whether you are an investor in cryptocurrencies or simply passionate about video games, you cannot miss the Off The Grid phenomenon. Indeed, many renowned influencers/streamers have promoted the game in the United States and France.

Off The Grid, in a few words, is a game inspired by “ battle royale », like Fortnite for example. We play a human with mechanical arms and legs, where the main objective is to be the last survivor with your team.

Example of characters that can be played in Off The Grid

The OTG game brings an extra touch of spice by introducing the principle of “ royal extraction ».

This principle is both innovative and stimulating for the player. Hidden all around the map, supply crates sometimes contain NFTs with different rarity levels.

When a player grabs certain NFTs, they then become a target for rivals who seek to eliminate them to recover the valuable NFT.

The game Off The Grid is currently in “ early access » (testnet) and should in the coming weeks or months be launched on the mainnet via a subnet of the Avalanche blockchain. At the same time, the project will also launch its token, GUNZ, which will be the utility token of the game.

The development studio behind the game, Gunzilla Games, has raised $82 million to carry out his project.

Although this game is based on blockchain, it is entirely possible to not be aware of it when playing it. Indeed, the Off The Grid game has ambitions that extend well beyond the borders of the crypto sphere and it aims to be adopted by a large number of players.

This is why Off The Grid has adopted account abstraction to facilitate onboarding. Moreover, the game is also playable on traditional consoles (PlayStation 5, Xbox), which should encourage its adoption.

With a careful aesthetic worthy of a true AAA, Off The Grid has all the cards in hand to shine the spotlight on the GameFi narrative.

Open an account on N26, the crypto-friendly bank

Other promising projects in sight for GameFi

Although Off The Grid is undoubtedly the game that could reignite passions for GameFi narrative, other projects stand out due to their nature.

Sui, a blockchain currently in the spotlight for the performance of its token, should launch its portable video game console sometime in 2025. Although the console is not yet available, pre-orders are already open.

Ubisoft, the famous production studio behind Assassin's Creed and Tom Clancy's games among others, is due to release a new game based on blockchain tomorrow, Wednesday October 23: Champions Tactics Grimoria Chronicles.

Although the fact that Ubisoft is behind the production of the game does not guarantee its success, the interest of major studios in blockchain technology for gaming demonstrates a strong appeal for the GameFi sector.

Another project that could find strength from both the memecoin and GameFi narratives is Valhalla, the game developed by the team behind the crypto Floki.

Floki, basically a simple “ memecoin without ambition » produced an open-world Web3 game, currently still in testnet.

🦴 Everything you need to know about FLOKI, a successful memecoin

Image taken from the game Valhalla

Although this game is still far from the standards of AAA games, it could benefit from the inherent support of the Floki memecoin community and the spotlight on the GameFi narrative by games such as Off The Grid.

Cryptoast Academy

Cryptoast Academy, Cryptoast's private group, recently produced a comprehensive analysis in the “Token of the Week” format on the real ecosystem that has developed around the memecoin Floki.

Cryptoast Academy: Don’t waste this bull run, surround yourself with experts

To summarize, many blockchain gaming initiatives could see success during this cycle. Due to their varied natures and the friction exerted by the blockchain decreasing over time, the adoption of GameFi could above all be a matter of time.

However, a major challenge remains: proposing internal game tokenomics that are viable in the long term.

It will be interesting to closely monitor whether a mainstream game like Off The Grid manages to attract traditional game players to Web3 games.

Passionate about the blockchain ecosystem, I like to deepen my knowledge and share my discoveries. In a perpetual quest to learn more about cryptos, I recently joined the Cryptoast Research team where I provide weekly fundamental analysis.

Theo Zananiri

84 items