It’s day two of Pocket Gamer Connects London and this morning on the Building Blockchain track, Jon Jordan of sister site Blockchaingamer.biz revealed the Top 50 Blockchain Gme Companies of 2024.
It’s been over three years since the team last crunched the data, solicited advice and fired up the ranking abacus to arrive at their official listing of the top blockchain game companies. And quite a lot has happened in the sector since then!
So, with the market out of the 2022-2023 bear and looking set for more positive conditions, it’s perfect timing to highlight the companies we think will dominate the news cycle and most played charts.
Below you’ll find the top ten blockchain companies hand-picked by the team but for the full 50 (complete with video) be sure to check out the feature on Blockchaingamer.biz.
Congratulations to all our fifty and here’s to a successful 2024!
Here’s that all important Top 10… And in at number 10…
10. Horizon Blockchain Games
First defined as the developer of browser-based TCG Skyweaver, Canadian developer Horizon Blockchain Games has since come into focus as a tools and tech provider. It’s built out its social sign-on Sequence wallet into Sequence Builder, which it describes as a complete web3 development platform, supporting multiple EVM chains as well as integrating with the likes of Unreal and Unity. This enables developers to focus on their games, while dealing with issues such as spinning up marketplaces, minting NFTs, handling gas fees, payment rail and fiat onboarding with ease. Companies already using the tech include Zynga, Boomland and Mystic Moose.
9. Planetarium
South Korean developer Planetarium has always taken its own path when it comes to blockchain games, notably in terms of deploying debut game PC idle RPG Nine Chronicles on its own custom blockchain, called Odin. No doubt, this generated plenty of technical headaches in the early days, but four years on, its independent approach has enabled Planetarium to have control over its own destiny. This was particularly demonstrated in the launch of Nine Chronicle M, a reimagined mobile-first version of the game running on its own Heimdall blockchain, which has also been released through app stores with a fully integrated IAP economy, including battle pass. And the early signs are positive. It generated more than 250,000 downloads in Q4 2023, making the franchise a top 5 game in terms of onchain activity.
8. Big Time Studios
Given that PC MMORPG Big Time has been in closed beta since 2022, the big news in 2023 was the release of its token. Sensibly, this wasn’t sold but was only made available to the early NFT passholders who were playing the game. The same approach was taken for the game’s various NFTs, including the main character-based cosmetics, which players have been collecting and crafting for the past year. Yet despite not having the big hyped token launch of many competitors, Big Time’s strategy seems to be working with the token’s price up 200% since launch. It’s also worth noting that Big Time runs on its own Open Loot infrastructure, which is also gaining support with third party games including Worldshards, Shatterpoint and The Desolation.
7. The Sandbox
One of blockchain gaming’s signature projects since its 2018 reveal, The Sandbox’s slow and steady progression into what it hopes will be Roblox for the web3 era just goes to underscore the complexity of its ambition. Of course, this is partly to do with the blockchain itself but more important has been the process of building out a strong community of brands and developers to create the content to attract players. Combined with this comes the long term mission to enable a new generation of creators to make both in-game assets as well as interactive experiences that are available to all. The good news, however, is the vast majority of this activity is now complete, with 2024 expected to be the year The Sandbox can start to fulfil its real potential.
6. Merit Circle
Initially an Axie Infinity guild, then an investment DAO, also becoming a game developer and now finally a blockchain gaming platform too, the transformation of Merit Circle has been one of the remarkable in the entire sector. Crucial in this process was the early realization of the limitations of the P2E model, which resulted in Merit Circle’s first pivot into investing in other blockchain games. The launch of its Edenhorde NFTs and its interactive narrative game got Merit Circle deeper into the tech stack, with the eventual result being its Beam infrastructure, which enables developers to operate their games on either its Avalanche subnet or the Immutable zkEVM. The timing of all this activity has been perfect too, with Merit Circle’s MC token – now called BEAM – being the top performing game asset of 2023, up over 1,000%.
5. Pixels
Social RPG Pixels has been around for a couple of years, running on the Polygon blockchain, but it was its decision to relaunch on Sky Mavis’ Ronin chain in late 2023 that catapulted it into the forefront of blockchain gaming. The move both reengaged Pixels’ existing audience as well as making it accessible to the thousands of one-time Ronin users who had stopped playing Axie Infinity. The result propelled Pixels to its current status of the most popular blockchain game; something only reinforced by the play-to-airdrop campaign which kickstarted the launch of its PIXEL token. Of course, with this event now complete, the key future metric will be how well the game manages to maintain its current 170,000 daily active unique wallets in the coming months and years.
4. Immutable
Initially positioning itself as the place where games could go to easily mint their NFTs via its Ethereum-centric Immutable X infrastructure, Immutable’s 2023 partnership with Polygon to launch its new Immutable zkEVM stack on Polygon’s underlying zero knowledge technology has seen it repositioned as a fully-fledged blockchain gaming platform. Combined with its Immutable Passport onboarding system and services such as integrated marketplaces, the result has seen plenty of customers sign up including Bazooka Tango, Studio 369 and Endless Clouds. And this isn’t to forget Immutable’s own self-developed titles TCG Gods Unchained and anticipated mobile RPG Guild of Guardians.
3. Animoca Brands
F2P mobile publisher Animoca Brands originally dipped its fingers into blockchain gaming, gaining the license to launch CryptoKitties in China in 2018. From these humble beginnings, the Hong Kong-based outfit has grown into a global giant, raising over $850 million and making over 400 investments in web3 entertainment and game companies, including ownership of Blowfish, Darewise, Gamee, Grease Monkey and The Sandbox. It’s also heavily involved in the Apecoin ecosystem through the activities of chairman Yat Siu. However, perhaps its most significant project is now Mocaverse. What started out as a simple NFT collection, which was launched in March 2023 to help build a network between its diverse portfolio, has gained real traction, becoming its own separate organization and launching its .moca blockchain ID system, which has gained over 200,000 users.
2. Sky Mavis
The studio that launched Axie Infinity to viral success in 2021 but then had to deal with its rapid decline, subsequent cultural backlash and a $625 million hack by the North Koreans in 2022 demonstrated tremendous tenacity in 2023 to build its way back to growth. Part of this was doubling down on Axie Infinity, which is slowly inching its way back to relevance through aggressive redesign as experienced in new release Axie Infinity: Origins, as well as the continuation of support for the original Axie Classic. The franchise is also expanding with land gameplay title Axie Infinity: Homeland, plant discovery game Axie Infinity: Raylights and social experience Project T. However, the key focus and success for Sky Mavis has been the ecosystem surrounding its Ronin blockchain. Following the successful relaunch of Pixels, which is currently the most popular blockchain game, Ronin is now positioned as one of most attractive blockchains for ambitious developers to partner with. No doubt, there will be plenty more high profile titles, both new and old, attempting to mirror Pixels’ trajectory in the coming months. And this momentum is also reflected in the blockchain’s RON token, which is up 1,000% from its November 2022 all-time-low.
And the winner is…
1. Mythical Games
In many ways, Mythical Games comes across as an outlier in the blockchain gaming space. For one thing, it doesn’t talk about blockchain, tokens, smart contracts or wallets, despite running its own tech stack, which has created hundreds of thousands of wallets, hosted millions of transactions and handled hundreds of millions of dollars of trading volume. Instead, its focus is very much on the games themselves and the features enabled by blockchain integration. As its mission statement makes clear, “We believe ownership of digital assets is the future of games”.
Unlike many other blockchain game companies, then, Mythical’s ethos is that mass market adoption won’t be driven by the underlying technology but by the experiences it creates.
Of course, this isn’t to say Mythical has avoided all the challenges that have beset the sector. It’s had to rethink its strategy several times. Founded in 2018, it’s moved from its original EOS-focused infrastructure towards Ethereum but now committing its future to building the Mythos Chain on Polkadot. Similarly, while debut game PC mini-game and UGC platform Blankos Block Party attracted more than 1 million players, the company has decided to reinvent the experience and is in the process of transiting players and assets to the all-new Blankos Mobile due later in 2024.
For mobile is where Mythical is now finding its feet. It launched NFL Rivals through the app stores in mid-2023 and over the months since has progressively added more blockchain elements. One key piece will be the ability of players to trade their NFTs via an in-app marketplace, which is expected soon. During this process, Mythical is also proving out its thesis that players who own their in-game assets are more committed to those games, improving retention and monetization, even of non-blockchain items; something Apple and Google are particularly interested in.
And it’s this combination of engaging with key industry entities such as platform holders as well as gamers – NFL Rivals has generated four million downloads and counting – that positions Mythical Games at the head of the pack looking to change the face of gaming.
Not only is it making high quality experiences that gamers want to play but it’s also moving the entire industry forward.
There’s a lot more still to discover from PGC London 2024, with talks and conversations ongoing through January 22 and 23. Find out more about what’s on and how you can be part of it here.
