The crypto 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

X Empire airdrop: Telegram tap-to-earn game X Empire has completed its latest mining phase, shutting down the game ahead of this Thursday's X token launch on The Open Network (TON). The short-lived "Chill Phase" of the game formerly known as "Musk Empire" lasted just over two weeks, giving players a last shot to get a bigger slice of tokens ahead of the October 24 airdrop.

This isn’t the first time that X Empire has gone through this process. The game completed its original, monthslong mining phase on September 30, with plans for the X token launch to take place soon thereafter. But it returned two days later, relaunching with a "Chill Phase" that offered an additional 5% of the total token supply to players.

Not everyone is thrilled with the airdrop rollout, however. After the game revealed airdrop allocations to players on Friday, many complained that they had been left out entirely—and the game's creator revealed that just 6 million players were eligible, out of a total of more than 50 million total players.

Some players have taken to Twitter to complain to Elon Musk about it... but he doesn't actually have anything to do with the game, despite the original name and the cartoonish avatars bearing his likeness.

Hamster Kombat Season 2: We knew that the second season of smash Telegram crypto game Hamster Kombat was due later this month, but on Thursday, the developers revealed the theme—and it's a big overhaul.

Instead of a hamster CEO running your own crypto exchange, you'll now start and expand your own development studio, creating games, building out your team, and launching a platform for such games. A brief teaser shows development activities that take potentially days to complete, but also the return of tapping gameplay, the familiar daily combo, and more.

Moonray on PS5: The makers of Ethereum-based combat arena game Moonray announced that they will release the free-to-play title on PlayStation 5 next year. However, citing Sony's policies, the game will be launching on the console without Web3 features.

On PC, the game has already run a play-to-airdrop campaign, and its upcoming mobile auto-battler game has similar plans alongside its release next year. But this will not be the case for the PS5 version of the arena combat game, at least from the outset. This is due to Sony’s “rules and conditions” limiting the game, they said.

Still, it leaves a big question mark over the future Off the Grid—which is currently on PS5 in early access without direct integration of crypto features that players can use. Off the Grid developer Gunzilla Games has yet to clarify its crypto integration plans for consoles, despite Decrypt's inquiries.

Off the Grid goes viral: Avalanche battle royale shooter Off the Grid launched two weeks back to huge buzz and excitement. That hype followed through to last week with tons of clips going viral, displaying why the game quickly became the most popular free-to-play title on the Epic Games Store.

From Fortnite legend Ninja showing off the power of the "Slam Fist’"cyberlimb to popular streamer TimTheTatman sniping the last man standing in midair, it was clear that audiences were loving the game. Not only that, but it appears that some traditional gamers are coming around to the idea of NFTs too. Does this open the door for crypto gaming to enter the mainstream?

ICYMI

• Animoca Brands CEO Robby Yung predicted that all Web3 projects will have a Telegram complement.
• Mobile crypto RPG studio Azra Games raised $42.7 million in a round led by Pantera Capital.
• Crypto Clash of Clans clone Heroes of Mavia announced that its land NFT integration will come this month.
• Call of Duty said that its ToxMod AI has blocked over 45 million messages since it launched in 2023.

• Mobile game Loot Legends is live on iOS and Android with a play-to-airdrop campaign underway.
• Parallel's co-founder called out Twitch for blocking the NFT card game’s ads while allowing Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering to advertise on Parallel streams.
• Immutable zkEVM, a layer-2 Ethereum gaming network, has removed its deployer allowlist; now anyone can build on the chain.
  
• Paravox, a 3v3 shooter, announced a Latin American esports tournament with a $130,000 prize pool.

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