The play to earn model has all the signs of booming growth in 2022. But it is difficult to estimate which games are the most active. Game titles that are very hot on social media are showing limited blockchain activity. For others, statistics are unreliable as some of the computation is done off-chain or within the game itself.
Play2Moon picked the top 5 games by activity based on DappRadar, which tracks all distributed apps with criteria based on daily users. Here are the top 5 games by daily users as reported through on-chain activity and wallet connections. The games host between 10,000 and 100,000 players per day, based on that data.
What these games have in common is they use blockchains built for speed and multiple transactions per second. Some of the activity may be performed by bots or automated transactions, but still push a game to the top. DappRadar listed five top games at the end of January 2022.
Splinterlands: High Activity, Undervalued SPS Token
Splinterlands is both a player and transaction leader. Splinterlands is a cards and strategy game, meaning high user engagement. The team builds regular social media challenges.
At the same time, Splinterlands aims to make its game more dynamic and engaging, further raising the stakes on transactions for both reward tokens and NFTs. Splinterlands also positions itself for media popularity, adding to the game’s influence.
Splinterlands shows the strategy model can be highly appealing, attracting more than 318,000 users per day. SPS, the native Splinterlands token, has more than 44,000 holders on Binance Chain, but yet to attract the trading volumes of other game tokens. This is one of the reasons SPS is considered undervalued and not matching the activity of the game.
Alien Worlds Gets Speed from WAX Blockchain
Alien Worlds is another BSC game with reported more than 245,000 active players in 24 hours. Alien Worlds also exists on the WAX blockchain, a hub created specifically to serve games.
Alien Worlds uses the metaverse model, and with its highly active game manages to line up among top games even on the WAX blockchain.
However, Alien Worlds for now has not managed to climb to the top when it comes to metaverse land plot prices. The Alien Worlds (TLM) token has stagnated around $0.10.
Axie Infinity: Will Ronin Network Help
Axie Infinity has always been up in the top 5 of popularity, despite facing challenges with reward value for Smooth Love Potion (SLP).
The latest activity data show there are around 105,000 Axie players, about 60% lower from peak levels in 2021. The game now added new statistics to the Dawn class of Axies, making it more popular for breeding and gameplay.
The Ronin native asset, RON, is now in a stage of price discovery, with some expectations of breaking to a higher price range.
It is too early to say what the effect of RON will be on AXS and SLP, but for now, the game at least keeps its appeal to remain among top 5 play to earn hubs.
Bomb Crypto: Touching Peak Performance
Bomb Crypto is not currently the busiest game, as players fluctuate. But in January, the game marked a personal record, lining up as the most used game app based on DappRadar data.
Because of the Bomb Crypto popularity, there are fake rumors the Sensapark studio will release new games. Token or NFT offers for those fake games are a scam attempting to confuse current players.
Upland (EOS Blockchain)
Upland is a metaverse game based on real-world maps and cities. The game counted more than 100,000 land owners in December 2021. Its most recent update is a new map release for South Los Angeles.
The game has about 55,000 players in 24 hours, getting a boost from new map and treasure drops. This game’s chief advantage are the relatively cheap starter packs, as well as engaging gameplay with treasures available on the map.
The EOS blockchain, which has received some criticisms in the past, is now becoming a go-to platform for play to earn games due to its practically free transactions.
Other top games are also listed among distributed apps and also register very high numbers of players. Those include Mobox’s NFT farming app, Galaxy Blocks, and Crazy Defense Heroes.
