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

Ubisoft launches NFT game: Ubisoft, the gaming giant behind classic franchises like Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance, launched its first original NFT game called Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles on Wednesday.

Built around optional NFTs minted on blockchain gaming network Oasys, Champions Tactics is a free-to-play PC game available through the Ubisoft Connect platform. The tactical strategy game challenges players to select teams of fantasy-themed digital figures and then enter battle against other online opponents in turn-based combat.

The gaming giant has been playing in the blockchain space for a number of years now, releasing small experimental projects while supporting a number of blockchain ecosystems and Web3 startups. But Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles is the publisher’s first original, full-fledged NFT game.

‘X Empire’ airdrop: Telegram tap-to-earn game X Empire completed its token launch on The Open Network (TON) and subsequent airdrop on Thursday. The Elon Musk-themed game allocated 70% of its token supply to those who played its original cycle, with an additional 5% for those who tapped along during its 15-day "Chill Phase."

Only about 6 million players out of a total of 50 million received a share of the airdrop, and some even moaned to Elon Musk about it, despite no actual connection to the game. He didn't appear to respond to anyone.

When the token launched on Thursday, that disappointment was compounded as the token traded for significantly less than pre-market trading had predicted. At its lowest X traded for $0.000052 and at its best $0.00013, while pre-market traders predicted an average price of $0.0002. Just another example of why pre-market trading can be especially risky.

Next up for Telegram tap-to-earn players is the Tomarket token launch and airdrop, set for this Thursday, October 31. Stay tuned for more coverage of that impending launch in the coming days.

And after that, the next big one looks to be MemeFi, which announced late last week that it will launch via the Sui network rather than Ethereum layer-2 network Linea. The MemeFi token launch is now set for November 12.

MetalCore on Solana: Mech shooter MetalCore originally launched on Ethereum scaling network Immutable zkEVM, but on Thursday, the developer announced that it will soon switch to Solana. This is set to happen alongside the launch of the game’s second season sometime in November.

Studio 369, the developer of MetalCore, named Solana’s “exceptional” ability to process a large number of transactions and growing ecosystem as to why it’s making the move. When Decrypt asked about the team’s experience on the Ethereum scaling network, Studio 369 declined to comment.

ICYMI

• Telegram crypto game Tomarket revealed airdrop details as it surpassed 40 million players.
• ApeChain, a new Ethereum layer-2 network, was launched by ApeCoin DAO last weekend—with a new ‘Top Trader’ game and improvements to metaverse Otherside.
• The makers of Sparkball raised $2 million in funding ahead of the "Sparkball 2.0" launch.
• There’s now a prediction market for watching video game streamers.

• Crypto shooter Shrapnel announced a festive update set for November.
• Bitcoin third-person shooter Farcana started its closed playtest on Friday, set to run until the end of the month.
• Space Nation announced that Roland Emmerich, the director of Independence Day and 2012, has started development on a live-action TV series using the sci-fi IP.

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