On-chain data shows bullish growth for game-fi universe

According to DappRadar’s most recent Games Report, on-chain gaming activity rebounded from a “tough” 2022 in early 2023. Leading the charge in momentum are the usual incumbents in the game-fi sector, most notably Gala Games (GALA/USD), Axie Infinity (AXS/USD), Decentraland (MANA/USD), Floki Inu (FLOKI/USD), among many others.

Leading the charge is Floki which is up 380%, followed by Wemix at 322% as the game-fi universe is showing bullish signs of growth, at least according to a notable industry analysis report.

The space is certainly large enough for many players to carve out a meaningful market share. Investors should consider a diversified portfolio of several projects, including incumbent companies and newcomers like Metacade that are looking to inject a new degree of freshness.

Game-fi is positioned to grow

Per DappRadar, on-chain data points to a 1.31% rise in gaming activity in January. As a whole, there were 858,621 daily Unique Active Wallets (dUAW) and this made up nearly 50% of all dapp activity.

These figures remain relatively small compared to the overall gaming industry that attracts 2.69 billion consumers worldwide. In fact, gaming revenue estimates of $170 billion in 2022 is five times larger than global movie box office sales. Some estimates point to a global gaming industry worth $470 billion by 2030.

So this begs the question, what role will the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry play in gaming growth outlook through the end of the decade.

We have indeed seen innovation, progress, and investments in blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies that show the industry is playing hard to compete against traditional video games. Several notable events in 2023 alone include:

• Gala Games’ acquisition of Ember Entertainment that will see Ember’s games integrated into Gala’s layer 1 blockchain.
• Square Enix’s NFT game launch.
• Courtside Ventures’ new $100 million fund that focuses in part on gaming.
• Metacade raises around $9.3 million in five presale rounds.

Metacade looks to stand out

Metacade stands out from many of its other gaming peers as it offers a bit of everything for everyone. Notably, it is a game-fi project where players can partake in play-to-earn games as it evolves to a fully-fledged DAO in 2024. This will give the community a say in the project’s governance using its native MCADE token. Gamers will be able to accumulate tokens for completing tasks, playing against others in player-vs-player sessions, writing reviews, and partaking in events.

Based on Metacade’s successful presale rounds,we can see that investor enthusiasm for new projects is not only real, but it is growing. As it stands now, the sixth presale round prices the MCADE token at $0.017, representing a notable spike from its beta round when the coin was valued at $0.008.

Investors looking to participate in Metacade’s next round should do so ahead of expectations for the price to continue rising as the presale process comes to an end. It is widely expected for the coin to then list on some of the top crypto exchanges, including Bitmart and Uniswap and this is typically a catalyst for upside potential.

Metacade understands investor needs: ‘revenue streams from day one’

Balancing user experience with investor concerns isn’t an easy task as the two often conflict. What is good for investors isn’t always good for users, and what’s good for users isn’t always good for investors.

Metacade CEO Russell Bennet appears to have found a balance where it can address both stakeholders. Speaking on the Invezz podcast with Dan Ashmore, Bennet acknowledged many mistakes of the past, including rushing sub-par games to the market to keep up with the fast pace of the broader crypto industry.

This time around Bennet says he is leading the company as a “community driven platform” over a two to three year period He says:

It allows our Metacaders to come in and do really what they want to do, which is the whole social aspect of it is very much based on the arcade. That’s the brand and us positioning ourselves to support other projects is better than trying to compete with a like-for-like game. 

Bennet further explains the token’s ultimate success wouldn’t “work necessarily without really strong plans on revenue streams.” He said Metacade is focused on ensuring the coin keeps its utility and this is where rival game-fi projects didn’t succeed in getting to market as they failed to understand revenue is a “fundamental part” of balancing the token economics.

He also said in the podcast:

I come from a business background so revenue streams from day one are the most important thing.

Conclusion: Metacade and entire game-fi industry looks promising

The crypto industry has had its ups and downs in recent years which means investors need to be selective, patient, and play the space for the long-term. This requires picking a subsector of the crypto universe that has shown recent signs of momentum and then researching if these trends are sustainable.

The game-fi sector is one that will likely grow over the coming years. Even if it shows growth rates similar to the traditional old-school gaming industry, investors should still be able to come out ahead.

What’s required is investors to do their proper homework and evaluate the potential for old players and newcomers, like Metacade. In Metacade’s case, the project appeals to gamers and the CEO’s background and experience makes it clear a reasonable rate of return for investors is also part of its roadmap.

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