It‘s tough to keep tabs on the ever-changing crypto gaming space, thanks to the constant flow of news: everything from big game launches and fun degen experiments to token price swings and occasional project collapses. It‘s a lot to follow.
Luckily, we‘re plugged in at Decrypt‘s GG. We cover the biggest happenings throughout the week, and then this weekly roundup provides a quick way to catch up, as well as find a bunch of other little bits of news from throughout the week.
Top stories
GUN expands to Solana: Off the Grid‘s GUN token expanded to Solana on Thursday, after originally launching on Avalanche‘s GUNZ network. This move was designed to lower entry barriers for users, and aligns with Gunzilla‘s multi-chain strategy. The GUN token‘s price has fallen sharply over the last week amid the expansion, per data from CoinGecko.
Despite the token decline, in-game NFT sales are growing. Off the Grid‘s marketplace processed $666,600 in volume across a 30-day span from early June into early July, with notable skin sales like the $5,499 Tacoma Pioneer gun skin.
Existing GUN tokens will remain on Avalanche with optional bridging to Solana available. While the Solana expansion may improve accessibility, skin traders are more focused on the upcoming OpenSea marketplace integration, which they believe will significantly impact the skins economy.
Why crypto games keep failing: It‘s been a rough year for crypto games, with many once-hyped titles shutting down in recent months.
Last week, we got confirmation of another promising game that‘s gone offline: OpenSeason, a meme-infused riff on Fortnite‘s battle royale shooter template, which closed down its servers amid growing costs and shrinking funds. The team behind the game has pivoted to Booby Bot, a simple gambling game featuring AI-generated female nudity.
Got time for a rich weekend read? We spoke to crypto game developers about the common pitfalls they‘re facing lately, including fading hype, growing pressure around token value, and the immense difficulty in developing quality games.
ICYMI
- Mighty Action Heroes is also shutting down this month after the team failed to create a viable Telegram version.
- A judge recommended dropping Logan Paul‘s former assistant from a class action lawsuit against the influencer over his failed CryptoZoo game project.
- Video game performers—including voice actors and motion capture artists—secured AI consent protections in the new SAG-AFTRA union deal.
- BR1: Infinite game developer Bravo Ready Games acquired the Solana crypto game Honeyland.
- Wilder World launched a collaboration with Lamborghini this week, selling out 600 NFT cars for the upcoming game.
- Mythical Games‘ NFL Rivals is getting big upgrades for Year 3, launching in August.
- LumiWave‘s Samurai Shodown R game—based on the classic SNK fighting franchise—launched on Sui.
- Random Games also shut down last week, with the Unioverse apparently also done as a result. However, founder Wyeth Ridgway wrote on X that "key contributors are stepping in to try to preserve it."
- AI gaming platform Remix (formerly Farcade) raised $5 million in a round led by Archetype.
- Revolving Games launched its RCADE token on Ethereum layer-2 network Arbitrum.
- Avalanche decentralized exchange Blackhole launched last week, with a particular focus on gaming.
