Gaming has always been a thriving industry, with billions of people enjoying various games daily. With the rise of online gaming, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry has grown even larger, with over 2 billion people now active online gamers.

At the same time, the cryptocurrency industry has also been expanding rapidly, and its principles of decentralization have found their way into the gaming world, giving rise to GameFi. This movement merges decentralized finance with online gaming. This article will explore some of the most prominent GameFi projects in 2024, highlighting their features and benefits.

What is GameFi?

GameFi combines gaming and decentralized finance; in other words, it is a blend of blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, and video games. It introduces an in-game economy, providing assets like wallets, tokens, and NFTs with real-world value and creating an immersive financial ecosystem.

While the GameFi industry is one of the largest in crypto, boasting over $9 billion in market size as of 2021, the market is still expected to grow tremendously, with its trajectory set to hit $90.51 billion in 2031.

What sets GameFi apart from traditional games is the play-to-earn feature. Participating in the games allows players to earn cryptocurrency and other digital assets. Unlike traditional games, where players invest in in-game items with little to no real-world value in return, GameFi empowers players to earn, trade, and own digital assets in the game’s ecosystem.

For example, in the popular game Axie Infinity, players collect and breed creatures called Axies, each of which is an NFT with distinct strengths. By winning battles with their Axie teams, players earn Smooth Love Potion (SLP tokens), the in-game currency. This SLP can be used for minting new Axies or sold on cryptocurrency exchanges for real-world currencies. This play-to-earn model empowers players to manage their NFT collections and strategically buy and sell to maximize their earnings.

All transactions on GameFi are secure and transparent due to the blockchain technology incorporated into the platforms.

How Does GameFi Work?

Most GameFi projects use a play-to-earn (P2E) model in which a gamer buys an NFT to use a platform, plays the game, and wins more tokens. These tokens can then be converted into cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins, or fiat currency.

As players get better at the game, the NFTs used to play can be upgraded, and as they are upgraded, their value increases so that they can be sold for higher prices. This helps the projects build the supply side of the tokens.

To build the demand side, they introduce “in-game marketplaces,” where players can spend their tokens and NFTs to acquire assets like weapons, vehicles, and other props for better gameplay.

When the supply and demand for the gaming token start growing sustainably, the platform’s value also starts increasing. This becomes a cycle and sets up the foundation for a functional GameFi ecosystem.

Top 15 GameFi in 2024

Since we know how GameFi projects work, we can now look at the most popular projects at the forefront of this revolution in 2024. The top 15 GameFi of 2024 include:

Gomble Games

Source: gomblegames

In Web3 gaming, where “play-to-earn” often rules, Gomble Games is a game studio focused on pure gaming fun. Their vision revolves around keeping things fresh by incorporating elements that make the gaming experience evolve, ensuring that players stay engaged and keep coming back for more. Gomble’s game designs also allow players to strategize and potentially turn the tide even in difficult situations, fostering exciting gameplay.

Gomble was founded by 111 Percent, creators of popular games Random Dice and BBTAN.

The project is one of the most prominent GameFi projects today, as evidenced by its backers which include highly reputable investment funds like Binance Lab, Shima Capital, Polygon Ventures and others. It is also supported by Com2US, a leading company in the mobile gaming industry.

Gomble currently has up to eight games on the Google Play Store, with their latest two products, Rumby Stars and Merge Lion, gaining massive popularity amongst many players.

Ronin(RON)

Source: gam3s

Ronin is a gaming-centric Ethereum sidechain designed to handle transactions much faster and cheaper than Ethereum’s mainnet. It was created to allow developers to build Web3 games with player-owned economies. The project was developed by Sky Mavis, the team behind another popular Web3 game Axie Infinity.

Ronin is targeted at solving pain points like scalability and high transaction fees that plagued earlier play-to-earn projects. The approach was to leverage a proof-of-authority (PoA) consensus mechanism, thus emphasizing efficiency and scalability. The project also plans to switch to a more decentralized Proof-of-Staked-Authority (PoSA) model to enhance network security and user participation.

RON is the native token of the Ronin network, and it plays a central role in its ecosystem, serving as the primary medium for transaction fees and governance.

Nonetheless, Ronin supports a growing number of games spanning various genres. Some examples include Pixels, Zoids Wild Arena, The Machines Arena, Civitas, etc.

Axie Infinity

Source: axieinfinity

Axie Infinity is currently one of the industry’s most commonly played P2E games. It offers exciting gameplay in which players battle with their counterparts using their pets in a digital universe.

The game was developed in 2018 by Trung Nguyen, Aleksander Leonard Larsen and Jeffrey Zirlin, all of whom co-founded Sky Mavis gaming studio the next year. Early supporters of the project include Animoca Brands and Hashed, helping Axie Infitinty raise up to 1.5 million in November 2019.

To climb up the ranks in the game, players need to find and collect pets known as “Axies” before proceeding to battle with other players. Each Axie is a separate NFT, and there are six unique Axie breeds, each with six body types with different accompanying stats.

The key to victory lies in understanding how these factors work together. Players must consider their own Axies’ capabilities, and their opponents’ potential weaknesses. The environment itself is also a crucial element, as different battlegrounds favor specific strategies and Axie types.

Decentraland

Source: twitter

Decentraland is a metaverse built on the Ethereum blockchain that enables players to monetize content and applications in a virtual reality platform. The project was founded as a proof-of-concept by co-founders Esteban Ordano and Ariel Meilich. It held an ICO in 2017, raising up to $24.2 million from investors including Digital Currency Group, 27th Street Capital and Boost Venture Capital.

The project then went through three ages of development including the Stone Age, where the project was conceptualized and each parcel of land was represented by a pixel on an infinite 2D grid. The Bronze era began in 2016, introducing a hashing system to identify parcels of land and their owners. The current age, the Iron Age, provides the shared virtual reality platform with peer-to-peer transactions and social experiences.

Decentraland offers two main tradable features - LAND and MANA. LAND is composed of 90,601 unique parcels that can be minted as NFTs using ERC-721 smart contracts, while MANA is an ERC-20 token that serves as the native cryptocurrency of the Decentraland ecosystem. This token allows participants to trade on the platform.

On Decentraland, creators and users can schedule and host community events such as concerts, movie screenings, casino nights, avatar dances, or anything else they can think of. Moreover, users can create personal characters and customize them with items from Decentraland’s in-game marketplace.

Heroes of Mavia

Source: mavia

Heroes of Mavia (HoM) is a mobile-based strategy game hosted on the Ronin blockchain. In this game, players set out to conquer and develop plots of land, build armies and battle against other players to expand their empires and earn RUBY tokens. The RUBY token has an unlimited supply and can be earned via gameplay or by trading items on the in-game marketplace.

Speaking of tokens, HoM uses a diverse currency system comprising MAVIA, Ruby, and Sapphire tokens. MAVIA, the governance token, empowers holders with voting rights on future decisions taken by the project. Ruby fuels the creation and trade of legendary NFT items, and Sapphire is the premium in-game currency purchasable with real-world money, and it accelerates construction times, bypasses recruitment training delays, and boosts resource production.

Heroes of Mavia boasts of a growing community, hitting over 2.6 million active users in March 2024.

The game incorporates various NFT elements, including Land, Heroes and Statues, each with unique functions and working together to enhance the gameplay experience. Landowners enjoy certain benefits, such as early access to new features, updates, and rewards from land staking initiatives.

Pixels

Source: gam3s

Pixels is a play-to-earn game hosted on the Ronin sidechain. The game allows players to own individual Land NFTs and customizable plots where they can build, explore the metaverse and battle with other players.

The gameplay is centered around voxel-based creation, which lets players design unique structures, landscapes, and interactive experiences. Players can earn PIXEL tokens by participating in various activities such as crafting, competing in minigames, and renting out their land to other players. Players can then spend the reward tokens on in-game items, trading in the marketplace, or to participate in governance decisions.

The game plans to introduce a second token called BERRY, which will be used for in-game transactions. This dual-token system will see BERRY become the primary cryptocurrency on the Ronin blockchain, while PIXEL will be used for premium in-game transactions like minting new land NFTs and boosting character energy.

Pixels has received support from major industry players like Animoca Brands, Leonis Capital, OpenSea, and BreederDAO, which shows that it has significant industry backing.

Sandbox

Source: medium

Sandbox is a metaverse game launched in 2011 by Pixowl and hosted on the Ethereum blockchain. It is powered by its native ERC-20 token SAND, which has a circulating supply of up to 2.3 billion tokens out of a total supply of 3 billion tokens. The project has attracted the interest of some of the biggest names in entertainment and business, including Snoop Dogg and Adidas.

Sandbox offers exclusive activities like creating virtual worlds, buildings, art, events, and resources on its platform. As such, players can determine the interactions within the virtual world, leading to an unlimited collection of games within the platform.

Using SAND, players can trade ASSETS, which are 3D objects representing various virtual avatars, including people, animals, and tools, on Sandbox. These ASSETS comprise fungible and non-fungible assets, created using ERC-115 smart contracts and they can be accessed on Sandbox’s marketplace.

Mythical Games

Source: @OneBlockplus/will-migration-of-mythical-games-lead-to-the-explosion-of-web3-gaming-within-the-polkadot-ecosystem-9016c70c549a">medium

Mythical Games is a leading game technology studio that specializes in Web3 gaming. It has earned a reputation for integrating blockchain-based play-to-earn economies into its video games.

Players holding the studio’s MYTH utility token gain access to all of its games, including Blankos Block Party and NFL Clash. Mythical Games has also secured strategic partnerships with major industry players such as Ubisoft and the NFL, further solidifying its position in the gaming industry. One of its games, NFL Rivals, has proved to be incredibly popular, gaining over a million downloads just two months after its release.

To fuel its growth, Mythical Games raised a total of $281 million spread across three funding rounds, with its backers including Binance Labs and Animoca Brands. The level of financial backing is a testament to the studio’s significant contributions to the blockchain gaming landscape and is a strong indicator of its continued success.

ChronoForge

Source: epicgames

ChronoForge is a novel project that blends blockchain technology with the familiar world of roguelike role-player games (RPGs). The project offers a thrilling blend of hack-and-slash dungeon crawling with strategic player-versus-player (PvP) competition.

Recently, ChronoForge secured $3 million in a strategic investment round. The investment round was led by Rift Foundation, with other participants including Citizen Capital, SwissBorg Ventures, Nexus and Dark Capital.

In this game, players explore randomly generated dungeons, battling enemies, collecting loot, and upgrading their characters. However, the real twist lies in the floating settlements that serve as player hubs. These settlements can be merged, upgraded, or even destroyed based on collective player choices, impacting the overall landscape of the game world.

Chrono Forge is powered by ImmutableX and uses AI to give each player-owned NFT character a unique personality.

Xterio

Source: Ziolkowski

Xterio specializes in developing and providing high-quality GameFi games. The company comprises veteran team members, and they have come up with an innovative solution: providing a GameFi-as-a-service solution, integrating games into its Web3 platform and offering a blended experience of gaming and earning opportunities (play-and-earn).

Xterio’s team of developers comprises top experts in the gaming industry including talented individuals from major companies such as Netease, Electronic Arts, Rockstar, Krafton, FunPlus, Jam City, and others. The project’s headquarters is in Singapore, with centers across North America in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami.

The project has also gained massive support from Binance Labs to the tune of $15 million.

Splinterlands

Source: medium

Splinterlands is a digital collectible card game hosted on the Hive blockchain. Formerly known as Steem Monsters, Splinterlands offers various game modes, including ranked battles, tournaments, and quests.

Players build decks from their card collection to engage in strategic card battles against other players. They use two types of cards: the summoner’s card and the monster’s card. Although both cards can be owned at the same time, only one type can be used at a time. When a player uses the summoner’s card, the player invites another player with the corresponding monster’s card to the battle.

Splinterlands features a dual-token system. Players earn Dark Energy Crystals (DEC tokens) when they win battles. The game’s native token, Splintershards (SPS), serves multiple functions, including governance voting, staking, and purchasing in-game items. Both tokens can be traded for fiat currency.

Gods Unchained

Source: gam3s

Gods Unchained is a decentralized trading card game hosted on the Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution and powered by Immutable X. Each card on the game is represented as an NFT, and players can collect and trade these cards, allowing them to earn money while playing.

Gods Unchained offers players a strategic card game experience with a focus on deck building and tactical combat. Winners earn GODS tokens, which they can then use to buy new cards, participate in governance decisions, and exchange for fiat currencies. Players can also trade their cards on secondary exchanges since their cards are NFTs, or even stake their tokens.

Spells of Genesis

Source: spellsofgenesis

Spells of Genesis is an exciting mobile-based puzzle game that was launched in 2017. It is one of the first mobile trading card games to incorporate blockchain technology. The game is compatible with multiple blockchains such as Ethereum and Counterparty, and it is available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Spells of Genesis combines the core mechanics of collectible card games with an arcade-style shooting element. Players can build decks of hero cards and spell orbs and engage in battles where they aim and fire their spells to defeat opponents.

The game offers over 300 trading cards, which can be acquired with tokens on the in-game marketplace. Its native token is SOGE, which serves various functions including purchasing card packs, participating in special events, as well as governance votes.

Alien Worlds

Source: playtoearn

Alien Worlds is a unique DeFi metaverse consisting of several NFT-based planets where players compete across six planets to earn Trilium (TLM) tokens. These tokens, in turn, enable players to upgrade their gear, craft spaceships, and fight to conquer planets.

To explore the six unique planets, each with its own environment and resources, players need to mine Trilium (TLM), the ecosystem’s native token, using various tools and NFT plots of land to maximize their TLM mining efficiency. Alien Worlds also features player-versus-environment (PvE) and player-versus-player (PvP) battles, offering additional opportunities for earning rewards.

Additionally, Alien Worlds features a unique decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) structure. Each planet within the metaverse functions as a mini-DAO, allowing players who hold Trilium to participate in governance votes. These votes determine the future direction of their respective planets, influencing resource distribution, in-game mechanics, and overall development. The project is compatible with different blockchains like WAX, Ethereum, and Binance Smart Chain (BSC).

Illuvium

Source: @pedronv/illuvium-ilv-crypto-review-the-first-aaa-blockchain-based-game-14e73ead290c">medium

Illuvium is a fully decentralized protocol hosted on the Ethereum blockchain and run by Immutable X. It is a popular role-playing game (RPG) where players embark on an open-world adventure to fight and capture creatures called Illuvials. In fact, it is the world’s first Interoperable Blockchain Game (IBG).

When playing on Illuvium, players are fully immersed in a 3D open world where they can explore and capture Illuvials. Once captured, the Illuvials are converted into NFTs with real-world value and can be used to battle with other players to win ETH tokens. There are over 100 Illuvials to find, each belonging to different classes, making for more interesting matchups during battles.

To facilitate trades within the Illuvium ecosystem and for decision-making, the game has a native token called ILV, which functions as both a governance token and a utility token.

Conclusion

With these projects pushing the boundaries of innovation and entertainment, 2024 seems like a groundbreaking year for the GameFi sector. As the year goes on, we can only expect more innovative projects to emerge and redefine how we enjoy games, regardless of preferences. As development continues and more games emerge, one thing is certain: the future of gaming won’t just be fun, but financially empowering as well.