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

Catizen airdrop: Feline-themed Telegram game Catizen partnered with the HashKey Group on Monday, in a collaboration it says will lead to an airdrop for players. Digital assets firm HashKey Group says the collaboration will use the The Open Network (TON) ecosystem to “provide unique Web3 gaming experiences for global players and digital asset users”.

The group said the collaboration will lead to “gamified experiences in digital finance, a joint HSK airdrop campaign, animal protection, and social responsibility initiatives.” The statement did not indicate when the airdrop would take place, or what the terms and conditions would be.

Ragnarok: Monster World beta: Blockchain-based tower defense game Ragnarok: Monster World is now available for most people to play on mobile devices. This beta test will run until August 26 with players being rewarded for their participation.

Ragnarok Online is an iconic massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that has amassed over 167 million downloads globally since its 2002 launch. This is the South Korean franchise’s first venture into the world of blockchain gaming with the game’s beta test launching on Ethereum sidechain gaming network, Ronin.

We've been playing the beta and posted our impressions here.

Counter-Strike via Neuralink: The second patient to receive a brain implant from Neuralink has already learned to play video games such as Counter-Strike via the chip, and was also able to use computer-aided design (CAD) software—just one month after receiving the brain-computer interface (BCI).

The neuroscience technology company founded by Twitter owner Elon Musk posted a progress report on the second participant in its ongoing study on Wednesday. The report outlined the experience of the anonymous patient, referred to as Alex, who received the Neuralink chip in August after the developer received FDA approval for the second study in May.

ICYMI

• Hamster Kombat, Notcoin, and other TON game developers are protesting the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov.
• Move-to-earn game ‘Stepn Go’ revealed a G-Shock NFT sneaker collab.
• Atari confirmed that its modernized, upcoming 7800+ game console will have no crypto ties at launch.

• Telegram tap-to-earn game MemeFi will launch its token on October 9. The team has said it is building on Ethereum scaling network Linea.
• Creator Chain, a network from ZTX—the crypto project of massive Asian metaverse platform Zepeto—will build its network using ZKsync’s ZK Stack.
• Xai Foundation, the core contributor to the layer-3 network Xai, and risk management company Gauntlet partnered to enhance governance and treasury management for the gaming network.
• Mobile gaming platform GAMEE received investment from Pantera Capital to expand its presence on The Open Network.
• MMORPG The Forgotten Runiverse will enter open beta starting Monday. We spoke with the developers about it.
• "Snow Crash" author and "metaverse" term coiner Neal Stephenson is working on a new metaverse project called Artefact.

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