Web3 Game 2024 Annual Report: Absentees in the Bull Market?

"Did Web3 games miss the best time to grow in this round of Bull Market?" Behind these surfaces, however, 2024 marks an important transition for the industry. The industry has moved from pure speculation to maturity. (Synopsis: Comment" AI Agent completes the important puzzle of the meta-universe, GameFi generation coinization killer) (Background supplement: An article inventory of the top ten projects of AI+GameFi Market Cap, can it become the next hot spot? In 2024, the Web3 gaming industry is complex, with significant progress and challenges. Although the number of daily active users has surged by more than 300%, and traditional game companies have begun to specifically deploy in this field, from the perspective of market performance, the zoneMarket Cap only rises 60.5%, significantly lagging behind Meme coin and AI zone. As BTC sets new all-time highs and encryptionzones flourish, a key question arises: "Is Web3 gaming missing the best time to grow in this round of the Bull Market?" Behind these surfaces, however, 2024 marks an important transition for the industry. The industry has moved from pure speculation to maturity. This report will analyze how Web3 gaming will evolve in the 2024 market cycle, exploring key metrics, technological advancements, and strategic shifts in the zone. From infrastructure evolution to user engagement models, we will explore how the industry can build sustainable rises while addressing mainstream adoption challenges. Note: Unless otherwise noted, all information in this report is as of December 15, 2024. Data sources are Footprint Analytics and CoinMarketCap. Annual Key Metrics Overview Market Cap: $31.8 billion, rise 60.5%; Volume: $5.2 billion, rise 18.5% Number of transactions: 5.3 billion, down 30.3% Daily active users: 6.6 million at the end of the year, compared to rise 308.6% at the beginning of the year; Active games: 1,361 of the 3,602 games remained active (37.8%); Annual financing: 220 financing events totaling $910 million; Leading public chains: volume ratio: BNB chain (23.1%), Ethereum (17.6%), Blast (9.2%); Percentage of transactions: WAX (33.6%), Aptos (11.6%), Ronin (6.1%); Daily active users: opBNB (2.2 million), Ronin (1.1 million), Nebula (458,000) (average daily in December). Market Performance Analysis Market Cap Performance Web3 gaming zones achieved a strong rise in 2024, but underperformed other encryptionzones. According to Footprint Analytics, the game generation coinMarket Cap reached $31.8 billion at the end of the year, up 60.5% from the previous year. While the zone hit a yearly high of $47.4 billion in March, it is still significantly lower than the all-time high of $114.1 billion set in November 2021. Despite the strong performance of the overall encryption market in the second half of 2024, especially the two months of the year-end led by BTC, the performance of gaming proxy coins lagged behind other zones. According to CoinMarketCap, Web3 games rank eighth in the top 10 in the Market Caprise ranking, significantly behind the leading zones: Meme coin (421.1%), AI and big data (168.0%) and Solana ecosystem (124.1%). This poor performance extends to community follow-up as well. Among CoinMarketCap's most followed zones, Web3 games only accounted for 6.7% of views in the top ten zones, ranking ninth, as the focus of the year's follow was mainly on Meme coin-related projects. volume analysis Web3 game zone in 2024 key indicators performance is uneven, volume implementation rise, but the number of transactions continues to decline. Volume Trends Web3 games will total $5.2 billion in 2024, up 18.5% from 2023. While reversing the downward trend since 2021, volume is still significantly below the previous cycle high. The 2024 figure is only 6.2% of the 2021 peak ($84.1 billion) and 15.1% of the 2022 volume ($34.5 billion). Trends in the number of transactions The total number of transactions in 2024 reached 5.3 billion, down 30.3% from the previous year. While this level is comparable to the 5.1 billion transactions in 2021, it has not reversed the downward trend that began in 2022. User engagement Daily active users (DAUs) saw significant gains across the year 2024, rising from an average of 1.6 million per day in January to 6.6 million in December, with a rise of 308.6% for the year. This rise surpasses the previous cycle peak of 1.8 million DAU created in November 2021. Although these materials may contain some bot activity, this rise still demonstrates significant user engagement in the industry. Ecosystem Development Public Chain Competition and Evolution Analysis of Main Public Links In 2024, the dominance of different public chains of Web3 games will change significantly, and each chain will present different advantages in terms of volume, number of transactions, and user engagement. Volume distribution by chain BNB chain maintained its dominance in volume, achieving $1.2 billion volume (23.1% market share), followed by Ethereum with $920 million (17.6%). Blast and Ronin have a market share of 9.2% and 9.0%, respectively. Number of transactions per chain Although the number of transactions in the industry as a whole decreased by 30.3%, some public chains showed strong performance. WAX led the way with 1.8 billion transactions (33.6% of the total). Aptos rose to prominence with its "tap-to-earn" Telegram game Tapos, reaching 620 million transactions (11.6%), of which 540 million were generated in August alone. Ronin and opBNB maintained 321 million and 318 million transactions, respectively. Number of users per chain The activity of users per chain shows a significant rise, especially in the second half of 2024. opBNB excelled in user engagement, reaching an average of 2.2 million daily active users in December, surpassing longtime leader Ronin (1.1 million). Nebula, a SKALE Layer 2, ranks third with an average DAU of 458,000. Public chains such as NEAR, Sui and Sei are among the top 10 in DAU, demonstrating the expansion of the competitive landscape of the ecosystem and the willingness of users to try new platforms. The diversification trend of each chain indicates that the ecosystem is maturing, and different public chains are finding their own positioning for various game experiences and user preferences. The main network is no longer just providing basic blockchain infrastructure, but has evolved into a comprehensive platform for game developers. ARB...