P2E Moon Watch: The Gaming Week in Review (September 30 – October 7, 2022)

October started with a positive week for crypto markets, and relative stability for P2E games. Launches continued to land from several types of games. Some still chose the crypto-first approach, with tokens and NFT collections. Others were game-first, with a token addition and NFT mostly used as in-game trophies. The gaming market got a boost from another move of BTC above $20,000, helping leading tokens regain some of their positions. P2E games are still trying to rebuild their earnings mechanism, to avoid mindless grinding and instead offer competition for attractive tournament rewards. 

Top Events of the Week

• Birdie Shot Opens with High-Earning Tournaments
• Genopets Increases Power Balance for Genesis NFT
• The Legend: Darley Go Brings Simulated Horse Racing to Solana
• Noft Games Launches with Special Giveaway
• Crabada Activity Still Means It’s a Top Avalanche Game

Leading Games by Number of Users

Benji Bananas remains among top games after its token launch and distribution. BNB Chain games are also trending, for now going strong despite a recent hacking attack against a bridge smart contract. Axie Infinity remains stagnant at above 22K players, and new games are trying to get to the top. Most leading P2E games on the fastest blockchains tend to retain their player count, with a sharper drop for Gameta. X World Games entered the top ten with 26.2K active players, though still uncertain if it would retain that spot.

Game

Previous Week

Current

Alien Worlds

205.05K

203.57K

Splinterlands

188.73K

179.51K

Farmers World

87.13K

83.6K

Gameta

110.56K

63.46K

Upland

34.81K

32.49K

Benji Bananas

32.49K

30.25K

Axie Infinity

23.56K

23.61K

P2E Token Price Action

P2E tokens try to hang onto their usual price range. Most games are becoming more creative about value generation, and avoid relying on a crypto bull market. P2E tokens turn into savings and staking assets, or a tool to buy game advancements, instead of an asset to sell on the open market. 

Weekly Lagger: Axie Infinity (AXS), -2.14% to $12.49. AXS remains stagnant above $12 as the game reinvents itself and still tests out a new balance of skills and powers. Axie Infinity managed to survive the bear market without being pronounced a lost game, and remains one of the most powerful brands in P2E.

The market cap of all P2E tokens inched down slightly at 5.59B, as most tokens incurred only small losses under 3%.

Decentraland (MANA) -2.13 % to $0.69. MANA remains without change, as it is not tied in significant DeFi protocols or used for speculation. 

The Sandbox (SAND) -2.13% at $0.83, almost unchanged from the past period. The Sandbox remains hot based on exclusive events for avatar owners.

Axie Infinity (AXS) -2.14% down to $12.46. AXS remains in a tight range, as Axie Infinity is still attractive but far from the mass hype of 2021.

During the past week, Ethereum (ETH) held above $1,300, and crypto markets were still looking for direction. Price action was based on derivative trading and speculation. NFT collection prices remain highly varied, as some of the projects have incentives to hold onto assets. NFT trading activity is now slower, but the token standard has been established as a fixture in Web3 games.