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

Dogecoin game: Elon Musk’s favorite meme coin Dogecoin soared last week, and retro-style brawler Super Doginals launched with perfect timing. The game is fully inscribed on the Dogecoin blockchain via the Doginals protocol, which allows people to permanently put artwork, code, and text onto the network. 

As such, it has been branded as the “first full-fledged game on Dogecoin.” It plays similar to classics like Streets of Rage and Fatal Fury, as you control one of three characters—including two anthropomorphic Shiba Inu dogs—and stroll through side-scrolling environments, pummeling foes based on other meme-friendly creatures like apes, cats, and frogs.

Major token date: Telegram gaming and engagement app Major has finally revealed that its hotly anticipated token will launch on The Open Network (TON) on November 28 at 12pm UTC. Players have spent months engaging with the mini app in the hopes of earning a healthy chunk of a future airdrop, which will likely closely follow the token launch.

Major is a simple take on the tap-to-earn genre that has dominated Telegram gaming this year. Rather than hiding the genre’s social tasks behind a thinly veiled clicker game, like other games such as Hamster Kombat have, it pushes this viral mechanic to the forefront—becoming more of an engagement machine than a fully-fledged game.

Off the Grid hands out cash: On Wednesday, battle royale game Off the Grid announced that it was starting to hand out $3,000 between its top 10 players every day. Leaderboard points are granted for kills, assists, extractions, and match placements.  Good enough to finish in first place? You'll have pocketed yourself $1,000. Not bad for a day's work (playing video games).

Then on Thursday, the Avalanche-based shooter announced its All-Stars Streamer Invitational tournament with a $600,000 prize pool. Set to go down on Wednesday, November 20, the tournament will see 60 of the top video game streamers fight it out in three-player teams over six matches.

ICYMI

• Mobile multiplayer game Fableborne jumped from Avalanche to Ethereum layer-2 scaling network Ronin.
• Nifty Island shared tokenomics details for its upcoming airdrop, which is planned for December.
• Animoca Brands raised $10 million for the Mocaverse—an NFT-based digital identity and loyalty platform.
• Tap-to-earn game MemeFi revealed airdrop allocations to players over the weekend ahead of the Nov. 22 token launch.
  
• Ubisoft released more details about the upcoming Captain Laserhawk game NFTs, but still no price or date.

• SonicX, the first TikTok tap-to-earn game, tipped one million players.
• Solana NFT project Claynosaurz showed off a potential console version of its upcoming mobile game from Gameloft.
• Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick—who oversees Rockstar Games and Grand Theft Auto—put down AI hype in the gaming industry.
• Telegram games X Empire and Rocky Rabbit had their tokens hit all-time-high prices.
• Esports organization Team Liquid launched its fan engagement platform, MyBlue, on Sui.

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