The River Ara Paper's 2024 Crypto-Gaming Picks
For years, we have heard the case for crypto-gaming, which finally seems on the cusp of serious developments and, even, mainstream adoption. Amazon recently announced that it will support Web3 gaming and NFT integration. Given the statistics for the Web2 iteration of Amazon Prime Gaming, whose users numbered 177.5 million in 2022, we could soon see a massive influx of crypto-gamers from Amazon alone. As a result, I have selected the following crypto-gaming projects for my 2024 portfolio.
This list is entirely subjective, and there are many promising crypto-games that did not make my list simply because I do not play certain types of games, use certain blockchains, or know of all the great projects in development or already on the market. Further, the ordering of my list has nothing to do with the best objective, risk-adjusted portfolio. I have ranked these projects according to my own gaming and investment preferences, and I am not indicting any game, whether it be low on my list or absent entirely.
Honourable Mentions:
Cantina Royale: A team-based mobile shooter, this game runs on Multiversx, formerly known as Elrond. I like the NFT integrations and the gameplay, but I do most of my gaming on desktop with a mouse and keyboard. Mobile gaming, especially concerning fast-pace shooters, has never been for me, which is why I have not selected Cantina Royale as a project that I want to invest in. Still, the game, blockchain, and various NFT marketplaces like xoxno.com and nftr.market are certainly worth researching.
Ember Sword: Described as a "social sandbox MMORPG," Ember Sword runs on Immutable X. A few things I like in theory - although I have not played the beta - include Ember Sword's tradeable NFT land plots and AI-game master, which "ensures epic dynamic events are always awaiting." While I think this game is promising, I want to see how it plays before purchasing any land, collectibles, or tokens.
Parallel: Well-made sci-fi games are hard to come by, but when they are done right they tend to be some of my favourites. Parallel is an NFT-based trading-card game set in what looks to be an interesting sci-fi universe. The parallels are five distinct species that evolved simultaneously from humans, and their story is set out in what will be a series of comics that accompany the game. The downsides, as I see them, are that Parallel exists only on the Ethereum and Base blockchains and supports play only on Windows.
Illuvium is an ecosystem of (so far) four inter-related games on Ethereum and Immutable X. Illuvium: Overworld serves as the ecosystem hub. A third-person adventure game in the vein of Pokemon, Overworld is where players collect illuvials, radiation-sensitive combat-ready animals that players collect. Further echoing Pokemon's initial releases, Overworld will include just over 150 illuvials to be captured and included in your IlluviDex. An industrial building game, Illuvium: Zero is a separate but connected game where players generate Fuel and blueprints. Similarly distinct yet intergrated, Illuvium: Beyond is a card collection game where players can battle with their illuvials. Finally, and recently launched via the Epic Game Store on November 28, 2023, Illuvium: Arena is an auto-battler similar in mechanics to League of Legends.
Illuvium's triple-A graphics, aggressive marketing, and legions of players are sure to position these games well ahead of the next bull-run. However, when it comes to gameplay, Illuvium in my opinion is copying great games without adding much to them beyond NFTs. I see no gameplay or blockchain-integration innovations that ensure Illuvium will stand the test of time.
Star Atlas: The known universe of the 27th-century is divided into three overarching states: the MUD Territory, controlled by humans; the Ustur Sector, controlled by sentient androids; and the ONI Region, controlled by a consortium of alien species. A triple-A game built on the Solana blockchain, using Unreal Engine 5's Nanite graphics technology, and fleshed-out through a series of graphic novels that explore the three states and their peoples, Star Atlas offers an incredible breadth of NFT spaceships and innumerable beautifully-detailed environments in which we can fly them. Further, through the Star Atlas DAO ("Decentralized Autonomous Organization"), you have a say in how this game and its stories develop.
Solana is not everyone's cup of spacemead. While the chain may lack stability, Solana's high throughput speed and low transaction costs seem well-suited to blockchain gaming. I am no Solana fan-boy, but I expect that Star Atlas will do well on Solana. Bigger concerns for me surround, first, the recent layoff of 73% of the Star Atlas team and, second, CEO Michael Wagner. He petulantly rants about the shortcomings of other projects and egotistically asserts that Star Atlas is the greatest game in Web3. Triple-A games take significant time and money to develop, and Wagner's attitude could isolate his already shrinking development team from necessary partnerships and funding.
Now, on to the games that I am investing in.
3. Cornucopias (COPI):
Built on the Cardano blockchain with Unreal Engine 5, Cornucopias is my triple-A pick for 2024. Set across numerous sky-domes floating in Earth's atmosphere, Cornucopias is a massive open world metaverse. In the Home Bubble, players will be introduced to the basics of the game, including crafting and building. From there, you can travel to Themed Zones to take part in quests and mini-games. Everything from crop farming to exploration to racing to combat will be included, and the game promises to offer something for everyone.
One of the main mini-game components at launch will be the Cornucopias Racing League set at the Calido Valley Raceway. Free vehicle options are available, as are higher-end NFT-vehicles that you can purchase for use in game. The outstanding visual quality of these NFT-vehicles from the wideview down to the details make them appealing to me as a collector regardless of how involved I will become in racing.
Property ownership and renting are also important parts of the game. As a side note, the present interest-rate cycle has significantly affected the costs of mortgages and rents. In many parts of the world, like in my home country of Canada, well-educated (and highly indebted) people in their twenties and thirties have given up on owning homes. Even renting is out of reach for some. Apart from causing widespread anger and unrest, this housing affordability crisis is forcing young adults to consider whether owning metaverse properties could be a way out. Owning metaverse land-NFTs may be a helpful stepping stone toward one day acquiring land in the real world.
In Cornucopias, each Themed Zoned contains districts of NFT-land plots that can be owned by players. My understanding is that anyone who wants to take part in mini-games or quests related to a specific Themed Zone must either own land in a corresponding district or rent property from an NFT-land owner in that district. The NFT-holder will earn a percentage of the district's rewards based on the number of tenants renting at that time and those tenants' successes in the mini-games and quests. Owners can also upgrade their properties to bring in more tenants. How this works in practice will be fascinating to see, especially as not all Themed Zones will host the same games or draw equal numbers of gamers. I am cautiously optimistic about how NFT-land ownership in Cornucopias will satisfy the psychological and financial aspirations of desperate young adults who are currently excluded from real-world land ownership.
That said, Cornucopias has a responsibility to avoid becoming a carbon-copy of the unfair property systems plaguing the real world. NFT-gaming offers a great opportunity to experiment with new, fairer models of property ownership and wealth distribution. How can we improve upon 21st-century capitalism? The most innovative and important Web3 games will take that question seriously.
With its in-game origin story coming soon, Cornucopias still has plenty to prove. Will the game ground itself in addressing real-world economic disparity and strive for fairer modes of economic organization, or will it (like so many other games) harness the revolutionary power of blockchain merely to sell a conservative narrative layered onto a surface-deep, myopic world. For now, there is reason to hope that Cornucopias will live up to its name and strive to bring abundance for all.
2. Enjin (ENJ):
While the other mentions on my list are individual games, Enjin is a blockchain and Web3 ecosystem designed for NFTs, gaming, and other industries. Before considering the current state of Enjin, it is important to understand its history.
History:
Enjin began as software to allow game developers to create and manage virtual in-game assets on the Ethereum blockchain. However, Ethereum's scalability issues and high gas fees pose problems for large-scale gaming, and many game developers have decided to seek out alternative chains better suited to their needs.
To meet these needs, Enjin began a distinct NFT-oriented blockchain called Efinity, which won Polkadot's sixth parachain slot auction by fundraising over $214M. Harnessing the decentralization and security of Polkadot, Effinity was designed to act as a hub for multi-chain NFT ecosystems, allowing users to move NFTs from any blockchain onto Efinity. Going live on March 11, 2022, Efinity did not use Enjin's ERC-20 ENJ token but a different native coin called EFI.
Efinity was home to CryptoBlades, with over 1.1 million users, and planned to launch over 100 additional games and apps. Further, Square Enix, makers of the Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Kingdom Hearts series, partnered with Efinity to make tokenized collectibles related to their games. Over the course of 2022 and 2023, Efinity ran successfully. Polkadot parachains, however, have certain control and customization limitations that did not suit Enjin's long-term vision. So, Enjin has built its own blockchain using Substrate, the blockchain SDK used to create Polkadot and its parachains.
Enjin's Current Substrate-Blockchain and Ecosystem:
Following the sunsetting of Efinity, the 100-plus games and dapps initially planned for Efinity will now launch on the Enjin blockchain with the support of Enjin's updated ecosystem. Some of the ecosystem features include the following:
i. The Platform:
Focused on ease-of-use, the Platform provides the tools needed by developers to create and administer Web3 games, to convert artwork and music into NFTs, and to tokenize physical assets like real estate. Although the emphasis here is on game development, Enjin strives to expand into other industries that will also benefit from blockchain integration.
ii. The Relaychain and Matrixchains:
Much as Polkadot's Relay Chain serves as the core that all parachains plug into, Enjin's Relaychain handles security, network synchronicity, and block valdiation while Enjin's Matrixchains will allow Enjin's partners to focus on the idiosyncratic needs of their dapps. On-chain marketplaces, free and invisible user transactions, and customizable asset minting funtionality will be handled at the Matrixchain level.
iii. Enjin Wallet:
Completely re-engineered to align with the new Enjin blockchain, the Wallet is tailored for user-friendly management of NFTs. Designed for Android and iOS devices, the Wallet supports assets from many other blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, BSC, Polygon, and Polkadot.
iv. NFT.io and Beam:
Enjin's new NFT marketplace makes payment by credit card or fiat easy for beginners. Further, Enjin Beam allows creators to distribute NFTs as QR codes, which can be scanned through the Enjin Wallet.
For more information about Enjin's transition from Ethereum and Efinity to its new Substrate-based blockchain, see the official blog.
To conclude, Enjin offers an NFT-oriented blockchain and full-stack development kit with more than just game companies in mind. With its current partnerships and pace of expansion, Enjin is becoming one of the most important names in Web3.
1. Proxima (PROX):
An unknown game running on an unknown blockchain, Proxima, I believe, holds the most growth potential of any project on my list. Involved but unaffiliated with the project since its inception in late 2021, I have witnessed the initial excitement when Proxima began minting NFTs and issuing PROX tokens, suffered through the ongoing bear market with Proxima's faithful following, and ruined my hand, keyboard, and personal relationships while playing the beta-version of Proxima Ascension, a side-scrolling spaceship-shooter in the vein of Gradius that will be the first release of three planned games.
Resources like Proxima's Discord and the official website at proximathegame.com are essential for learning the ins-&-outs of Proxima's plans and gameplay features, but I will cover a few highlights here to whet your appetite.
i. Proxima Ascension:
Once Ascension releases in Q1 2024, anyone will be able to play and earn with a base-model ship. Judging, however, from the difficulty of the beta, serious players will want to level up their ships. There are three ways to do this.
Firstly, you could buy upgrades through the in-app store. In addition to mechanical and weapons improvements, you will also be able to buy additional lives and other performance boosters. Let's just say that while the beta was active all my allowance money went toward extra lives.
Secondly, you could rent an NFT spaceship, which will fall under one of three factions - Tellurian, Machina, or Celestial. If, say, Machina Faction #516 has not reached its rental limit for the day, you can pay the owner in PROX and take the ship for a spin. Initially, I was concerned about bent blasters, paint scratches, and the vomit and shite of strangers in my cockpits, but in reality there is no risk for the NFT owner, who retains control of the NFT even while the renter is flying the ship.
Thirdly, you could buy your own NFT, which you can use in-game as often as you like. Epic.gallery is a community-run marketplace for all the NFT projects built on the MultiVAC blockchain. Most Proxima trading volume occurs on Epic, and this marketplace has done everything right throughout the bear market to build unshakeable trust with the community. Alternatively, you can also trade Proxima NFTs on MultiVAC's official NFT market.
ii. Revenue Streams:
I loved the Ascension beta, and I look forward to playing the full game. Gameplay, however, is not the only means to earn through Proxima Ascension. I wrote an article back in April 2022 to explain the various revenue streams that gamers will benefit from. In brief, you will be able to earn from Proxima Ascension in the following ways:
- Playing to earn.
- Staking PROX.
- In-app purchases.
- AdShare.
- NFT rentals.
iii. Expansion to Other Chains:
With a current market cap of around $4.6M, MultiVAC could see a meteoric rise next cycle that will benefit Proxima. Yet, as one of the riskiest layer-one chains, MultiVAC may not succeed. While this adds risk to any game being built on MultiVAC, the Proxima team has mitigated this risk by announcing on June 29, 2023 that they will be expanding to several other chains.
To start, it sounds like Proxima Ascension will launch on two chains in addition to MultiVAC. We community members do not yet know which chains, but what is so exciting is that to reward initial investors on the MultiVAC chain, Proxima will be granting 1 NFT on each of these two new chains for every 3 MultiVAC-based Proxima NFTs you hold. Given that minting costs, according to the Proxima team, will be significantly higher on other chains, minting 3 NFTs on MultiVAC could provide substantial benefits even if MultiVAC does not fulfill its potential. Minting one Proxima NFT costs 2,500 MTV. At the time of writing, MTV's price of $0.0014 results in a cost of approximately $3.50 USD. Gas fees on MultiVAC are also extremely cheap when compared with most other chains.
iv. Amazon Web Services:
If you are still on the fence about the game, consider this last bit of information: AWS reached out to the Proxima team and has agreed to provide certain funding and cloud storage services for Ascension. Could this lead to a potential partnership with Amazon Prime Gaming when it launches its Web3 funtionality? If so, only a fraction of Amazon's 177.5 million active gamers need to play Proxima Ascension to bring it up to 100,000 daily active users, which is the modest target that the Proxima team set for itself at the outset. The AdShare revenue alone generated by 100,000 daily active users will make holding Proxima NFTs and the PROX token very much worthwhile by my math.
But keep in mind that I am a failed arts student and lawyer. All I really know is that flying and firing through a maze of lazers and enemy spaceships brings me great joy. Regardless of the financial return, I aspire to be the greatest Machina pilot ever, and that's enough reason to make Proxima my number one crypto-gaming pick through 2024 and beyond.
v. Minting for Proxima Descension:
While Proxima Ascension has minted out, minting for game two - Proxima Descension - remains open. Whereas Ascension is fought in the skies, Descension is fought on the ground. Instead of spaceship NFTs, Descension has bot NFTs. The beta for Descension has not yet opened, but the bot NFTs promise similar levels of complexity and intrigue when compared with the ships from Ascension. Further, in addition to the three factions from the first game - Tellurian, Machina, and Celestial - game two introduces a fourth faction called Satoshi. Bot NFTs from each faction can be minted at the corresponding linked pages.
vi. MultiVAC Metamask Integration:
If you are interested in minting, first add the MultiVAC custom RPC to Metamask.
Name: MultiVAC
RPC URL: https://rpc.mtv.ac
Chain ID: 62621
Currency Symbol: MTV
Block Explorer URL: https://mtvscout.com/
vii. Mainnet MTV Coins:
Next, you'll need mainnet MTV coins. On November 29, 2023, the MultiVAC team announced that BingX would soon support MultiVAC. While not all geopolitical regions support BingX, this exchange has no KYC requirements, making it simple enough to use from anywhere with a VPN. MTV will be available on BingX in January 2024.
If you have acquired MTV tokens on the BSC chain via Pancakeswap, another DEX, or KuCoin, then you can convert to mainnet MTV coins through MultiVAC's official bridge.
viii. Epic Gallery and MTV Scout:
Finally, head over to Epic Gallery's minting page and connect your Metamask account while using the MTV custom RPC in order to mint Proxima NFTs.
And if you do mint some NFTs, please show some love for mtvscout.com. This phenomenal explorer was built by the team behind Multivacuums, and they shell out their own money to keep the explorer operating. Donation information is included at the bottom of the mtvscout.com homepage, or you can mint a "scout" NFT.
Conclusion:
Thanks for reading, and I hope you look into Proxima, whose team has stayed with the community every step of the way this bear market. Observing their commitment, effort, and ethics over these last years gives me great confidence in Proxima's future.
Invest responsibly, and happy gaming. Pew, pew, boom.
Justin Donlan Harlton (aka General "Slippin' Philly" Nader)
