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The crypto and NFT gaming space is busier than ever lately, what with prominent games starting to release, token airdrops piling up, and a seemingly constant array of other things happening at all times. It’s a lot to take in!
Luckily, Decrypt’s GG is all over it. And if you need a quick way to get caught up on the latest moves around crypto video games, we’re happy to present This Week in Crypto Games.
Our weekend roundup serves up the biggest news from the past week, along with a few other tidbits you might have missed. We also showcase a few of our original stories from the week.
Biggest news
Notcoin surges: Telegram-based clicker game Notcoin (NOT) reached a $1 billion market cap last week, according to CoinGecko. This came after it surged 50% following the launch of “earnings missions” that enabled players of the game to passively earn crypto rewards.
The viral clicker game had tens of millions of users fervently tapping a digital gold coin to earn crypto ahead of its token launch. When NOT launched on The Open Network, it immediately became the largest crypto gaming token launch of 2024. Now it's one of the top 100 coins on the planet.
Hamster Kombat token: Another Telegram-based game that closely mirrors Notcoin's approach, Hamster Kombat, announced Friday that it will launch its own token on The Open Network. No timeline has been set for the launch or the planned airdrop to players.
While built around the same kind of tap-to-earn premise, Hamster Kombat takes the theme of putting players in charge of a crypto exchange, letting you grow your empire by investing in upgrades, marketing, and more over time. And all of those earned coins should convert into a token airdrop in time.
Tickle-to-earn: Aptos, a layer-1 blockchain network, logged two consecutive days of huge daily transaction tally gains—totaling over 115 million transactions in one day—all thanks to a “tickle-to-earn” cat game.
Tapos is a “tickle-to-earn” game that prompts users to tickle an on-screen cat for HEART tokens. This Notcoin-esque cat game records every single in-game click on-chain. With 63,000 users, it broadcast over 323 million transactions over its three-day campaign.
The Sandbox DAO: Ethereum-based metaverse gaming platform The Sandbox has launched a decentralized autonomous organization (otherwise known as a DAO). This will help SAND token holders and land NFT owners shape the future of the game and its economy.
The rollout will happen in three phases, starting with DAO members being able to vote on Sandbox Improvement Proposals (SIPs) submitted by the community via email. In the second phase, the DAO will gain more power before becoming fully independent in the third phase. It's launching with $11 million worth of SAND for the first-year budget.
ICYMI
- Arbitrum is about to unlock $250 million in funds to bolster its gaming ecosystem, if the proposal passes.
- The "Bitcoin Game Boy," aka the BitBoy One handheld console, is getting a Runes-themed limited edition version.
- Pudgy Penguins and Mythical Games releasing a mobile game on the Mythos Chain, a Polkadot-based gaming network.
- Crypto Unicorns revealed a play-to-airdrop campaign amid its migration to Ethereum layer-3 network Xai.
- Final Fantasy creator Square Enix has switched to Arbitrum for NFT characters for Symbiogenesis, a game that has previously used Polygon for some assets.
- Prominent South Korean game publisher Com2uS has become part of the Oasys gaming ecosystem by launching its own layer-2 chain called XPLA Verse.
- Spider Tanks game creator Gamedia levied various claims against publisher Gala in an open letter, saying that it felt "misled and exploited" amid an ongoing legal dispute. Gala has yet to comment publicly.
- CityVerse Tycoon will be launching on Ethereum layer-2 network Base.
GG spotlight
Here are a few of our original stories from this past week that we think are well worth a weekend read:
Edited by Andrew Hayward