Last week we published a report on the Avalanche gaming ecosystem that garnered significant interest. You can read it here. We received a number of comments and DMs wanting to understand more about the data. So we worked on a follow-up report to dive deeper and also include new data. 

To give you a brief recap of last week’s report. We looked at 48 games in the AVAX ecosystem to see if we could draw any macro conclusions. Our analysis includes games that have launched, in beta testing and also games that are under development. We looked at trends such as game genre, launch date and tokenomics design. 

This time we’re looking at the following trends/topics:

• Digging deeper into the genre breakdown
• Is there a free-to-play trend? 
• Spotlight on three games currently in alpha/beta testing

Genre Trends

Last week we produced a chart that looked at the various different genres of the games we surveyed. The “Other” section was 43% of the overall games and some readers wanted to know more about what that included. Below is the chart from last week: 

Here we break down the 43.8% “Other” category: 

We can see the breakdown of “Other” is pretty diversified:

• “Various,” was the largest subset at 15% and included gaming platforms with various types of games. This subset included gaming platforms like GREE. 
• Real-time strategy (RTS) made up 10% of the group which included games like Pulsar and Monkey Empire. 
• MMORPGs came in at 10% as well which included games like DefiMons and Domi Online. 
• Battle games also accounted for 10% of the subset which included games like Battle for Giostone and EvoVerses.

Free-to-Play

A key narrative that we have been hearing lately in the Web3 gaming space is a shift to free-to-play, or free-to-own. There is no better example of this than Limit Break’s Super Bowl commercial where they gave away $5 million worth of free NFTs. But we wanted to take a deeper look at the games on Avalanche to see how it corresponds to this narrative. 

If we look at the total 48-game sample size the split is pretty even. 52% of games did not have a free-to-play option and 48% did. By this metric, it looks like there isn’t much of a free-to-play trend. But that doesn’t tell the full story. 

The original sample size includes games that were launched as far back as early 2021 (the equivalent of decades in crypto years).

If we want to understand whether there is a free-to-play trend we’ll need to look at the games in development rather than previously launched games. 

As expected we can see the share of games offering a free-to-play option increased. For the games under development 65% are offering a free-to-play option. So based on this sample size, it appears there is a shift to free-to-play. 

Spotlight: Games in Development

We’re spotlighting three games currently in alpha/beta testing. We’ll be covering these games in-depth in future articles.

The Lords of Light (RTLOL) is Raini Studios‘ highly anticipated competitive trading card game, which will put your skills to the test against other players in a battle for strategic superiority.

You can collect powerful cards and build dynamic decks of your favorite crypto legends and mythical creatures in a battle for domination of the Rainiverse.

MetaOps is a 6v6 first-person shooter that takes gaming competition to a new level. Choose your team wisely and collaborate on strategic warfare as you traverse the maps on your mission to defeat the enemy. Your reactions will be put to the test against players from around the world.

DefiMons is a massively multiplayer online virtual world, inspired by popular games such as Stardew Valley, Pokemon and more. Here you can battle monsters, craft items, complete quests, design apartments and so much more, as you explore a vast, open-ended and player-created world.

Final Thoughts

This was a follow-up to our last report on macro trends that are playing out in Avalanche gaming. We will be revisiting these trends periodically to help gamers and developers understand what trends are emerging. It’s clear that the next 12-18 months will be full of action on Avalanche gaming. We will be here to cover it all.