Many of the best web3 gaming crypto projects are taking shape nicely and promise to build on the foundation laid by some of the most successful titles like Axie Infinity or Decentraland. If you are looking for Top 10 Web 3.0 Crypto Coins to invest in this year, checking some of the projects we are going to discuss below is a good idea for any retail trader working in the cryptocurrency market.
What are popular blockchain games?
The market for these entertainment projects is expected to reach $11.5 billion by the end of the year which is a massive CAGR of 82% during the 4-year period. This incredible growth is not something that appeared out of nowhere. Some overambitious projects aside, the industry managed to produce well-received titles that became international phenomena against all odds and despite issues with tokenomics and game balance.
We are entering an exciting era where play-to-earn games coexist with traditional titles while adding to the collective experience of a consumer. Users can engage in epic battles, grow fantastical fruits in digital soils, and make friends. At the same time, their time spent in these virtual worlds is rewarded through true ownership of weapons, equipment, land plots, and more. The decentralization of everything also creates a more democratic environment suitable for a completely new way of consuming digital products.
One of the biggest drivers of the whole industry is the concept of non-fungible tokens. Top NFT games in 2024 are attracting players by offering them unique assets that can be traded on various marketplaces allowing some of the most skilled and dedicated users earn money while enjoying their time in Axie Infinity, Spinnia-World, or The Sandbox. The secondary market for things that they obtain is quite lively and offers a wide range of opportunities to sell or purchase powerful items.
The technology is also awesome as it grants many projects better security, improved incentives systems, and allows developers to catch many fraudsters and hackers red-handed thanks to the robust architecture employing a variety of smart contracts working within a strong blockchain ecosystem. While it does not sound too appealing to people used to improved graphical fidelity and celebrity voice acting, the audience for such innovative web3 games exists!
How upcoming web3 games benefit regular players and developers
One of the reasons we all feel hopeful about this growing industry is that it may open the gates to a better overall philosophy of how we should be building the entertainment sector to produce better solutions to everyone. Blockchain is great for many digital applications. However, developers are still looking for ways to integrate it seamlessly into something that must be not only safe and secure but also entertaining and fun.
Despite the challenges, experts see the potential of the industry. Some studies indicate that we can improve upon existing models and methodologies without compromising the fun and engagement. Below are some of the advantages of blockchain when applied to top crypto games:
- You actually own that sword! While the market for NFTs collapsed on itself after reaching a massive $26.3 billion market cap in 2023, there is still enough room for players to sell their artifacts and virtual real estate. The bursting bubble did not completely destroy the ecosystem, it just removed bad actors from it. Now, you don’t have to buy overpriced JPEGs. Instead, you can trade actual items from your favorite virtual worlds.
- Make the dough while slaying monsters. One of the biggest play-to-earn games Axie Infinity managed to bring in $1.3 billion in revenue three years ago. This success shows that there is a market for such titles, but developers must be very careful when deploying them and come up with creative solutions to keep the economy in check. Axie dropped the ball exactly because the economy was set up for failure from the get-go. Nevertheless, the ability to make money while playing is something that distinguishes blockchain titles from traditional ones.
- Full decentralization for the win! The centralized control over gameplay mechanics, virtual economy, player interactions, and more often stiffens the development process and prevents communities from building an entertainment ecosystem organically. Many of the best blockchain games are built upon the foundation of decentralized governance and offer most influential and dedicated players an opportunity to significantly affect all aspects of the title’s design. Some experts believe that decentralization also makes architectures more robust against hackers and fraudsters.
- Are you tired of hearing about interoperability? The intriguing promise of the web 3.0 concept is the interconnectedness of the ecosystem achieved without compromising the integrity of various decentralized blockchain networks. DappRadar says that more than half of titles in the industry are designed to be fully compatible with other Dapps. In theory, this interoperability means that players may expect to carry their items from one virtual world to another.
- Developers must have fun too. When building entertainment solutions turns into a job instead of a hobby, the only thing that actually matters is financial feasibility of your work. While you don’t have to chase golden geese with every new effort to make something that will entertain the masses, it is still good when you can put food on the table without breaking your back, neck, and brains. Smart contracts can be used to ensure that revenue and royalties are distributed evenly and fairly between members of the development team.
These projects have an immense pressure on them to deliver an excellent experience while overcoming many challenges associated with entering uncharted waters. If they succeed, it is possible that they will generate so much profit that any early investor will be bathed in returns. Picking the right web3 gaming coins is a tough challenge that requires a significant effort and dedication on your part. While it is quite hard to identify which tokens will reach new heights in the nearest future, we are equipped with knowledge to give you good overviews of titles that may catch your attention.
Whether you want to run a modern AI trading bot to buy them or look to play something interesting, the following section of this here article will be a great read.
The best crypto games for beginners
When it comes to titles that cater to newcomers, it is important to remember about millions of new users who don’t even know what Tetris is. Some of the people exploring the industry for the first time may come from various backgrounds and start their journey through the blockchain ecosystem as investors, developers, or enthusiastic early adopters. These people may not have a good grasp on many gameplay mechanics that seem trivial and even boring to veterans of strategies, first-person shooters, and even casual titles like Angry Birds.
Nevertheless, titles for such inexperienced people exist and have an immense potential to turn the industry on its head if they are consistent enough to survive in the long run and never run out of tricks to keep players engaged and happy.
Here are entertainment projects from this cohort of things that don’t necessarily look like the next Call of Duty chapter:
- Hamster Kombat is taking the world by storm. If you are even remotely interested in the world of crypto, you have undeniably heard about the app where you tap a cute hamster to receive rewards and mine web3 gaming tokens. Right now, it is the most popular project in the whole industry with millions engaging with it daily. If you are looking for a hot digital asset to trade, this particular project is something that you should strongly consider.
- My Neighbor Alice is a great, stress-free time. This game is all about becoming a simple farmer in a virtual world where people grow crops, exchange them for various items, and become members of a rapidly expanding community. In many ways, this is a clone of one of the most popular recent entertainment hits Stardew Valley. People who do not have good relationships with hardcore experiences where your character may die or face insurmountable challenges. Here, you just pick a seed and wait for it to grow into a crop.
- Sorare makes a strong case for a platform that combines betting and crypto. Fantasy sports allow players to jump straight into the action without having much knowledge about MMOs, shooters, and strategies. Sorare allows users compete in football, soccer, and other team sports by picking a made-up team of players whose individual performances ultimately affect the result of your fantasy team. Instead of betting fiat, you can use cryptocurrencies.
- Upland is a great title for people interested in real estate. If you do not have the necessary funds or stomach for RWA tokens, it is a good idea to focus on virtual real estate that ties to real locations. It is hard to find too many actionable elements in this title, but you will be able to buy, develop, and sell land plots closely associated with places of interest in real world. Upland has been going strong since 2019 and offers players different ways to engage with its content like collectible cards, land plots, and other items.
People who do not have any prior experience with established franchises and indie titles should start their journey in the industry with projects that do not demand much from players. Investors also benefit from working with these coins since they don’t have to be veterans to understand how these apps work and why everyone loves them.
The best play-to-earn games in 2024
The main attraction of this whole industry is the P2E concept. Playing to earn various rewards that can be turned into digital assets and traded for fiat or other cryptos is something that makes the proposition that much more exciting for everyone. The hype around the concept has died down quite a bit, but there are still great titles that promise to make playing engaging and allow everyone to earn money.
We have a list of top web3 games in 2024 for those who do not like wasting time on just entertainment!
- Crypto Unicorns is not just a single title for those who like collectibles, it is a massive layer-3 platform that allows people to not only participate in a large number of different community events but also provides a rich variety of development tools. The variety of features makes gameplay fresh and rewarding since you can focus on growing crops, producing new items, or fighting on the arena. Note that the proficiency of your character depends on the rarity. Every single one of them is unique and can be traded as an NFT.
- Another game on the Arbitrum platform is Pirate Nation which is one of the most interesting web3 strategy games out there. Recently, it made it to the second season promising more updates with each. Players are tasked with various quests which reward them with so-called booty points that can be exchanged for $PIRATE tokens and traded within the virtual world or on the marketplace. The special mechanism of consensus called Proof-of-Play makes all results verifiable and immutable ensuring a fairer environment for everyone.
- StarkNet is a great digital environment where Influence was release in June 2024. This particular strategy is all about space exploration, mining resources, building orbital bases, trading with powerful nations and other players, all while fighting enemies and researching new tech. It’s great. The native token SWAY can be earned by engaging with the content of Influence. The market for the native $SWAY is still quite shallow, but if the title takes off and manages to attract players, you can expect some appreciation.
- Nifty Island is a cute virtual world that visually reminds of Minecraft. Players can do whatever they want to complete quests, participate in various events, and battle to earn blooms which are converted to $ISLAND. The latter is the native blockchain coin that can be traded on the market. It is expected to be listed on several CEX platforms including Binance and Coinbase. If you don’t have a functional TradingView trading bot to start working with $ISLAND right away when it’s available, we highly recommend you to start setting one up right now!
- Fableborn is an isometric RPG with relatively simple graphics and straightforward gameplay. If you are into action role-playing with elements of a slasher, this particular title will be right up your valley. After its airdrop campaign, the new season was announced with a variety of cool quests and exciting battle mechanics. In general, players are supposed to go into raids to slay monsters and protect their kingdoms to become stronger and participate in PVP engagements to earn Gold Essence which can be traded on the marketplace.
- Gods Unchained is a title that made a lot of noise among TCG fans who knew the developer from his time with renowned Magic The Gathering. Players collect collectible cards that represent creatures, lands, and spells. These are also NFTs that can be traded on any marketplace. At the same time, you can earn rewards in the $GODS token. The new TCG has been popular since its inception thanks to fine mechanics and balance. It makes a good case for a project that actually utilizes non-fungible token in a way that seems to be like something intentional and thought through.
- Valhalla is famous for its memecoin Floki Inu which has been doing quite well on the market recently supported by the general rise of hype surrounding all meme and joke coins. However, you should not think that the whole title is about memes and silliness. It is a solid turn-based battler where winners of PVP encounters are rewarded with the $FLOKI token. The latter can be traded both on the native marketplace and outside using P2P exchanges. Mechanics and features may feel lacking, but many a praising Valhalla for interesting features and great balance.
- Ember Sword is the hottest release of this summer. It is an action MMORPG that can be played in browser. Lots of monsters to slay and quests to complete alongside a massive PVP system where the best can earn sizeable rewards in $EMBER. While we do not have much information about the title, its economy, or balance, some experts are already talking about Ember Sword like one of the best web3 games in 2024. If you are interested in something that allows everyone to make money if they are good enough to beat the competition, this title must be on your watchlist.
Should you invest time and money in new NFT games in 2024?
When it comes to this growing entertainment industry, many newcomers are concerned with their time more than their money. While investing in various tokens instead of earning them sounds like a good idea, the uncertainty is making decision-making questionable in most cases. It seems that getting coins “for free” by playing is a better approach if you have some time to spare. However, wasting precious hours on something that may not turn out to be rewarding feels absolutely horrible.
Choosing the right projects to engage with can be quite tricky as many of the titles are metaverse games that do not have engaging mechanics or even engines where stuff happens. Instead, you just trade a variety of items and properties in a browser while listening to promises from developers that you will soon be able to inhabit these virtual environments. Our honest advice is to stay away from titles that do not have anything that actually works.
We already have success stories in Gods Unchained, Axie Infinity, and many others. These are playable entertainment products that may not live up to the hype exactly and definitely fall short when compared to established competitors like Magic the Gathering or Genshin Impact, but they are real products enjoyed by real people. In many cases, that alone is enough to attract investors and new players.
So, what to look in web3 gaming platforms in 2024 if you are a gamer first and investor second?
- There are features. Unlike games that try to overpromise by describing features that do not yet exist, many developers are making their products and release them. After people have tried them, promises start pouring out of their mouths. The second approach is much better in every single way whether you plan to just play or want to buy tokens.
- The genre attracts you. Auto battlers, turn-based combat, action RPGs, real-time strategies, and more — there is a wide range of interesting things to check out in the blockchain industry. However, you should focus your attention on something that piques your interest instead of downloading and playing what social media talking heads are trying to push you toward.
- Tokens look promising. If a P2E title promotes their money-making mechanics, you have to verify the validity of their claims by looking into their native tokens and how they perform in the open market. Hyped up projects may be worth checking out, but it is a good practice to engage with titles that already have tradable tokens listed on as many CEX and DEX platforms as possible.
Seek investments that are safe, backed by trusted entities, and offer something that has value to you and people like yourself. Looking at target titles from different angles also does not hurt. Make sure to visit forums, Discord servers, and social media to learn more about interesting projects and their developers. Do not jump straight into action without doing your own research.
How to invest in web3 gaming platforms in 2024?
The most straightforward way is to buy coins directly on decentralized and centralized crypto exchanges. If you have a strong conviction that a title has what it takes to succeed, you don’t really need to play it. On the other hand, spending time and effort on a project that actually interests you and looks like fun is a great idea. Thankfully, most games are free and can be tested without any issues.
Setting up a crypto trade bot for certain digital assets closely associated with the industry or issued by games you like is another way of adding a new position to your portfolio. The issue here is that you must target coins with sufficient demand, market cap, and liquidity to ensure that bots can trade them efficiently.
What many investors in this particular sector of the blockchain ecosystem often forget is that having fun in entertainment is much more important than making money. Unfortunately, finding a great asset can be challenging considering the experience of the pioneers like Axie Infinity. Invest in tokens that are issued by titles that are played by millions and look like something that you would enjoy on a personal level.