Blockchain-based play-to-earn (P2E) games stole the show in 2021, exploding from a fringe hobby into a major part of the decentralized space. They even helped people in developing economies put food on the table, as these games’ economic models do not shun things like farming in-game currency and items to re-sell to other players, which many non-blockchain massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) frown on, to say the least. The mainstream gaming industry was taking notes as the P2E rocketship shot for the moon — and its flight has left the industry bitterly splintered. On the one hand, top executives from …

Animoca Brands, the parent company of The Sandbox, added Eden Games to its portfolio on Tuesday. Eden Games is a publisher of popular racing games including the Gear.Club and Test Drive series. Animoca hopes this acquisition will enhance its REVV Motorsport ecosystem of blockchain-based racing games on Polygon. On Wednesday, Animoca announced it is acquiring Darewise Entertainment, a Paris-based game studio founded by former Ubisoft executives and other AAA games industry veterans. Darewise is currently developing a new play-to-earn (P2E) massively multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMORPG, called Life Beyond. Animoca Brands agreed to a 70% stake in Darewise Entertainment, …

Japanese gaming giant Sega is looking at integrating cloud technology and NFTs as part of its new “Super Game” project to connect different games to each other. The news has caused a predictable backlash from the crypto-skeptic section of the gaming community, with many people voicing their frustrations at the firm online this week. The Super Game initiative is set to roll out over the next five years and will reportedly see the development of a wide range of new cross-platform triple A grade games. The firm is said to be weighing up an investment of around $800 million into …

In late March, Ronin, an Ethereum sidechain built for the popular play-to-earn nonfungible token game Axie Infinity, was hacked for over 173,600 Ether (ETH) and 25.5 million USD Coin (USDC) for a combined value of over $600 million. The breach on the Ronin bridge was confirmed by Sky Mavis, the developers behind the popular play-to-earn (P2E) game: There has been a security breach on the Ronin Network.https://t.co/ktAp9w5qpP — Ronin (@Ronin_Network) March 29, 2022 The official report from the company noted that the hackers managed to get access to private keys to validator nodes resulting in the compromise of five validator …

Gaming and venture capital firm Animoca Brands has completed its landmark acquisition of Eden Games, publishers of the Gear.Club, Test Drive series, and other popular racing games. Eden Games is a France-based firm that was founded in 1998. Engine Gaming and Media sold its 96% stake in the company to Animoca for $15.3 million on April 7. With the acquisition, Animoca plans to enhance its REVV Motorsport (REVV) ecosystem by taking a “Metaverse first approach” to new and existing gaming titles, as tweeted by Animoca chairman Yat Siu on April 12. It also hopes to introduce new blockchain-based racing games. …

On Tuesday, blockchain data analytics platform Nansen released its quarterly report on the state of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. The report highlighted the rapid growth of the NFT market over that of the cryptocurrency market year-to-date, and it predicts of an $80 million market cap by 2025. As Cointelegraph previously reported, Nansen recently released six NFT indexes weighted by market capitalization denominated in Ether (ETH): Nansen NFT-500, Nansen Blue Chip-10, Nansen Social-100, Nansen Gaming-50, Nansen Art-20 and Nansen Metaverse-20. According to the Nansen 2022 Quarterly NFT Report, The NFT market continues outperforming the cryptocurrency market year-to-date, putting in a 103.7% …

At the height of the nonfungible token (NFT) rally in 2021, Sky Mavis, the creator of Axie Infinity, rolled in like the Trojan horse and coined the term play-to-earn (P2E) for blockchain games. Axie Infinity grew in popularity after amassing a $3 billion valuation and it steadily onboarded millions into Web3. According to Axie Infinity co-founder Aleksander Larsen, roughly 50% of Axie Infinity’s daily active users (DAUs) had never had a cryptocurrency wallet until they began playing. As a result, the Web3 ecosystem perked up at the prospect of utilizing games as a method to onboard new entrants. Despite this, …

Epic Games, video game publisher behind popular PC and console game Fortnite, announced a $2 billion funding round with plans to accelerate the company’s vision to make its mark in the Metaverse. The deal, which is still subject to customary regulatory approvals would bring Epic's equity valuation to $31.5 billion. This round includes a respective $1 billion investment from existing investor Sony Group Corporation and from KIRKBI, the holding company behind the LEGO Group. Sony, the company behind PlayStation consoles, also invested $200 million into Epic in April, 2021. According to a statement, the three partners plan to combine expertise …

Axie Infinity (AXS) price has fallen by nearly 30% two weeks after losing $625 million to a hacking incident involving its play-to-earn gaming platform's underlying blockchain, the Ronin Network. AXS/USD dropped to $46.69 on Monday, its lowest level since March 16, signaling a dampening buying sentiment among traders and investors following the hacking incident. Independent market analyst TJ asserted that there is "no sign of buyers" even with the price entering areas with a history of attracting accumulators. For instance, AXS broke below the demand zone that TJ highlighted as a potential inflection point during the weekend, a move that …

Crypto games that combine play-to-earn (P2E) and nonfungible token (NFT) mechanics found a huge boost in 2021, thanks to the success of Axie Infinity and metaverse hype. However, playability still remains a major problem, as most crypto games focus on tokenomics rather than providing a fun and enjoyable gaming experience. Apart from the earning aspect, they often offer nothing special compared to traditional PC or console video games, where players can find interesting plots, nice visual effects and addictive gameplay. Axie Infinity has become known for its repetitive gameplay, known among gamers as “grinding,” while The Sandbox and Decentraland don’t …

Thursday marks the fifth anniversary of Spells of Genesis; generally regarded as the very first play-to-earn blockchain game. EverdreamSoft, the game studio behind SoG, first distributed many of the game's trading card-based NFTs back in 2015, though its mobile trading card game did not go live until 2017. To commemorate the occasion, Everdream Soft announced the opening of an NFT History Museum within the CryptoVoxels metaverse on April 20. This virtual exhibition will feature new and vintage SoG cards as well as assets from various other popular NFT collections. Spells of Genesis fuses a trading card game with point-and-shoot arcade …

Indignant gamers have review bombed Storybook Brawl on Steam over fears of potential NFT and blockchain integrations following crypto exchange FTX’s acquisition of its developers Good Luck Games, LLC. Storybook Brawl is a free-to-play auto-battle card game that was launched on online gaming platform Steam in mid-2021. The game’s review history showed an overwhelming amount of support until March 22, the exact day FTX US announced its acquisition. Since that time, the game has moved to an “overwhelmingly negative” status with 600 out the last 761 reviews being negative. While it is possible for anyone who hasn’t played the game …