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 token delay: It was bad news for fans of the viral Telegram-based game Notcoin last week, as the project confirmed that its token would no longer drop via The Open Network (TON) on or around April 20, aka in parallel with the Bitcoin halving. Fortunately, a representative told Decrypt’s GG that this is only a “slight delay” while the team “works to line everything up.” 

Notcoin saw huge success with over 35 million players giving the clicker game a spin, in which players tap an image of a coin to earn in-game coins. April 1 saw an end to this “mining phase” with in-game coins expected to be converted into NOT tokens, though the game will return with a new incentive structure following the token mint.

Gaming tokens plunge: Game over? It’s been a couple rocky weeks for the crypto market, and gaming tokens took some of the hardest hits last week with notable gaming tokens crashing more than 30%—and some (like Pixels and Portal) even hitting all-time lows.

But there’s light at the end of this tunnel, as many of the top gaming tokens have started regaining ground in recent days, with tokens like Gala Games (GALA), Beam (BEAM), The Sandbox (SAND), and ApeCoin (APE) now each up double-digital percentages (per CoinGecko) over the last week as things turn around.

Saga's massive airdrop: Yep, there are more airdrops from Saga. This time the gaming-focused layer-1 blockchain has teamed up with over 100 projects across Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, and more. These partners include first-person shooter Shrapnel, metaverse game The Sandbox, and racing game Wilder World.

Those who stake their SAGA tokens will be eligible for bundles of token and NFT drops “over the coming months,” the announcement said. The Dragon Ball Z-themed campaign is grouped in vaults that will feature multiple projects giving out various prizes. 

Ragnarok on Ronin: The classic Ragnarok Online gaming franchise is coming to Ethereum thanks to a partnership between developer Gravity and Ronin, a sidechain gaming network. With this announcement the iconic game, which has amassed over 167 million downloads since its launch in 2022, will be making its blockchain debut with Ragnarok: Monster World.

Combining tower defense and monster collection elements, the new title is scheduled to launch on Ronin in Q3 2024.

ICYMI

• The Machines Arena, an Ethereum-based top-down Overwatch-style shooter, announced it will enter open beta via the Epic Games Store, and release an Android mobile app, on Tuesday, April 23.
• Bored Ape creator Yuga Labs sold two of its gaming IPs to Web3 gaming studio Faraway, in an attempt to sharpen its focus on metaverse gaming platform Otherside. The firm also burned nearly $1 million worth of HV-MTL NFTs as part of the deal.
• Adidas released $2,500 Solana NFT sneakers in the move-to-earn game Stepn. This is the first step in a year-long partnership with more NFTs and physical items to come.
• Layer-3 gaming network, Xai, expanded its token staking program last week, this time enabling the launch of staking pools to attract a wider audience of players.

• Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson announced that one of his companies, RFLXT, is releasing a crypto game. Quake-style shooter Voyager: Ascension will be free to play on Gala Games on April 23. And no, it doesn’t run on Cardano.
• The team behind Avalon, a blockchain-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) powered by AI, raised $10 million in fresh funding.
• As Illuvium opened registration for the next phase of its closed beta, outlining how its play-to-airdrop campaign will work.
• Nyan Heroes released stats after its two-week pre-alpha demo closed, showing that the game got 200,000 downloads with 35,000 average daily users.

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