Web3 Gaming has seen significant growth starting in 2023 with the participation of many giants.

Blockchain technology has garnered attention in recent years as the crypto market experienced price surges, and tens of thousands of projects were developed to meet user demands.

One of the most widely applied areas of blockchain technology is gaming, known by various names such as NFT Games, GameFi, Blockchain Games, and Web3 Games.

The blockchain gaming sector is rapidly expanding due to its ability to attract users and its potential for substantial profits. Throughout 2021, games like Axie Infinity stirred the market with their play-to-earn features, raising questions about whether other games besides Axie Infinity could meet players' needs.

Top 11 Giants in Web3 Gaming

The development of web3 gaming projects has not been easy and is currently in the phase of proving the economic model within games.

Asia is considered the world's factory for producing web3 gaming projects, with a majority of companies in countries like Vietnam, Japan, China, and South Korea investing heavily in blockchain gaming to serve users.

Traditional gaming companies have also turned their attention to web3 gaming. In 2021, many big names established investment funds and entered this market.

Animoca Brands

When it comes to blockchain games, Animoca Brands is a name that comes up frequently. They are known for investing heavily in the blockchain gaming market from 2021 to the present.

Animoca Brands owns numerous subsidiaries, including blockchain gaming companies and renowned game studios such as The Sandbox, Blowfish Studios, Quidd, GAMEE, nWay, Pixowl, Forj, Lympo, Animoca Brands Japan, Grease Monkey Games, Eden Games, Darewise Entertainment, Notre Game, TinyTap, Be Media, PIXELYNX, and WePlay Media.

In 2023, Animoca Brands was ranked as the company with the highest growth rate in Asia by the Financial Times. Most of Animoca Brands' investment portfolio comprises blockchain game projects, NFTs, and other digital assets, highlighting their substantial focus on this market.

Yat Siu - Chairman of Animoca Brands

Yat Siu, Chairman of Animoca Brands, is considered an icon and one of the most influential figures in the crypto market in 2022. With over 340 investment deals in blockchain games, Yat Siu and Animoca Brands have had a significant impact on this industry, inspiring many companies to enter the web3 space.

Sky Mavis

Sky Mavis is an international blockchain technology company and game studio established in 2018. Their major success came with Axie Infinity, one of the largest NFT gaming ecosystems, consistently ranking among the top in the international blockchain game charts. However, the project has shown signs of decline due to factors like a $625M hack and the cooling of the crypto market, raising questions about Sky Mavis' future development.

Sky Mavis developed Ronin, a sidechain for blockchain gaming, and announced new game projects on Ronin in early 2023.

Despite challenges, Sky Mavis continues to receive community support and investor backing, having raised over $150M post-hack. With ample financial resources following the success of Axie Infinity and a valuation of $3 billion in recent funding rounds, Sky Mavis is one of the leading companies in web3 gaming, demonstrating rapid development and extensive expertise.

Gala Games

Gala Games is a gaming and NFT platform aimed at building an ecosystem of blockchain games operating on Ethereum and Binance Chain. Players can participate in NFT game projects on the Gala platform while earning rewards such as $GALA tokens and NFTs.

Gala Games can be likened to the famous Steam gaming platform. Like Steam, Gala offers numerous games for users to choose and play, all of which are 100% free-to-play and accessible through decentralized applications (DApps).

Currently, there are over 14 game projects on the Gala platform in various genres such as Battle Royale, Tower Defense, PvP Brawler, Match-Three, Survival MMORPG, Simulation, Fantasy RPG, and Survival FPS. In early Q1 2023, the Gala development team revealed they were working on 51 game projects in their portfolio.

In addition to games, Gala Games has expanded into film and music sectors by applying blockchain technology and NFTs to their products on the Gala platform.

Immutable X

Immutable X is an Ethereum layer-2 project for blockchain gaming that raised nearly $290M from 2019 to 2022.

Immutable X is currently home to the largest number of blockchain game projects compared to other competitors like Polygon, AVAX, Aptos, and Solana. Immutable X's team actively seeks game studios from other blockchains to deploy on Immutable X. However, initial projects have shown varying quality, and there are several miscellaneous projects.

A standout for Immutable X is its support for AAA games like Illuvium, God Unchained, and Ember Sword. The 2022 report showed Immutable X posting losses due to personnel expenses and lower-than-expected revenue, leading to a recent 10% reduction in staff. The team expects 2023 to be a highlight for web3 gaming despite significant competition.

Immutable X facilitates in-game transactions with extremely low gas fees and optimizes everything for gaming. Focusing solely on gaming underscores this project's commitment and absolute confidence in developing solutions for blockchain gaming projects. However, competition remains fierce outside Immutable X, and as of now, the NFT trading volume for games on Immutable X remains modest, indicating insignificant transaction volumes.

Currently, the flagship project for Immutable X is Illuvium rather than God Unchained (though the latter card game project has been developed since 2018 by Riot, this game genre seems to have reached its limits and is challenging to develop further to attract more users).

Illuvium, with its stunning graphics, sold Land NFTs and raised over $72M, providing the project with sufficient financial strength for long-term development amid the current downturn in the market.

Polygon Gaming

Polygon Gaming's CEO stated early in 2023 that 2023 would be the year of blockchain gaming. Polygon also established a $100M fund to support game projects developed within the Polygon ecosystem.

Notably, Polygon focuses not on developing games but on supporting companies to develop games, hoping that many other companies will choose Polygon for better support compared to current platforms.

Polygon, known for its low transaction fees, fast speeds, and millions of users, is highlighted among gaming projects. However, a drawback is that during peak transaction times, congestion and gas fees tend to rise. The Polygon team is addressing this issue, with one project recently moving from Polygon to Arbitrum for this reason. Nonetheless, there are already many games on Polygon, with over 30 projects in early Q1 2023 and collaborations with parties like NFT marketplace Magic Eden.

Netmarble

Netmarble Corporation, founded in South Korea in 2000, is a leading developer and distributor of games. The company has many innovative mobile games, including Seven Knights 2, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds, MARVEL Future Revolution, Lineage 2: Revolution, Blade & Soul Revolution, and MARVEL Future Fight.

In South Korea, Netmarble is a giant in the gaming industry, with revenues reaching $501 million in Q1 2021 and plans to develop blockchain games since early 2022. In other countries, Netmarble also holds a dominant position in the gaming sector. Rapid entry into the blockchain gaming market has demonstrated competitiveness and ambitious goals to not miss any opportunities for industry development.

Some games like Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds or Golden Bros have brought in significant revenue for Netmarble in recent years.

Wemade

Wemade, a game development company established in the early 2000s, entered the blockchain gaming market in 2021, successfully raising $46 million USD from Microsoft's M2 investment branch and South Korean companies Shinhan Asset Management and Kiwoom Securities.

During the same period, Wemade launched Mir 4, a blockchain-based game allowing players to earn cryptocurrencies and trade NFTs. Just a few months after its release, the game was available in over 170 countries in 12 languages, with more than 1 million downloads from the Google Play store.

Wemade's blockchain business was introduced in 2018. To date, the game developer has its own cryptocurrency called Wemix and an NFT auction platform. In July, Wemade invested 80 billion won (about $70 million USD) in Vidente, the largest shareholder of the Seoul-based bitcoin exchange Bithumb.

Bluestacks

Bluestacks is an Android emulator designed to help run Android phone apps on computers. The software was launched in 2011 and currently has nearly 500 million users worldwide.

Recently, Bluestacks added a "web3 games" portfolio to its interface for users to quickly find web3 games. It also provides instructions for players to create wallets and connect with these games.

This new update from Bluestacks will make it easier for people to access web3 games in the future.

Nexon

Nexon is one of the world's largest gaming companies, best known as the publisher behind games like MapleStory and Dungeon Fighter. Currently, Nexon continues to lead the gaming industry with over 80 games directly operated on both mobile devices and personal computers (PCs) in more than 190 countries and territories worldwide.

Being a giant in the gaming industry, Nexon has also focused on web3 gaming. Most recently, Nexon announced an investment in CCP Games (developer of EVE Online) totaling $40 million, including funds from Hashed, Makers Fund, Bitcraft, and Kingsway Capital.

Oasys – a blockchain optimized for gaming, recently announced that Nexon would become the newest node validator in the Oasys network.

Together with Japanese technology and telecommunications companies KDDI and SoftBank, Nexon became the third company among four new validators announced by Oasys this year, committing to stability and