1. Researcher Comment

The most questionable announcement of August was Zynga's Sugartown. I want it to be successful, but the general consensus is that it won't be easy. The introduction of an in-app marketplace for NFL Rivals seems like a very positive move. Even when they were running the marketplace on a separate website, they were already taking 15% of all revenue in secondary transaction fees, so I think that's going to increase. The FOC industry continues to evolve. For example, Words3 successfully launched its Base mainnet and is now working on its botkit, Pirate Nation unveiled a new combat system, and Minters is preparing its second game after Rhascau, Battle For Blockchain.

2. Major Updates

2.1 NFL Rivals, Launches in-game marketplace on mobile

Source: Mythical Games

Mythical Games' NFT Rivals has been a huge success, already surpassing 1M downloads in June. Prior to this update, players had to use Mythical's web marketplace outside of the game to purchase players. However, as Apple and Google have recently begun to clarify their regulations on in-app NFT purchases, this update brings the marketplace in-game. Currently, users can only purchase NFTs in the in-game marketplace with a credit card or in-game currency, but when users sell their NFTs, they'll get paid in $MYTH.

2.2 Minters, Announcing new FOC game ‘Battle for Blockchain’

Source: Minters

After successfully launching its first FOC game, Rhascau, Minters recently announced Battle for Blockchain (BFB), which will launch early next year. The genre of the game is MMO Auto Battler, and it will use the Godot and MUD engines. Not much information is available yet, but the team has already made a good FOC game and the genre is a good fit for FOC, so I'm looking forward to it.

3. Fundraising

• The data was collected from DefiLlama's raises page.

3.1 ZTX (Source)

ZTX is a technology company that has raised $13 million in seed funding for a virtual world and creator platform that aligns with web3. They have over 400 million lifetime users from their web2 business, Zepeto. ZTX is working on building web3 technology partnerships with renowned companies like Apple, Roblox, Epic, EA, along with web3 ecosystems like Cosmos, Flow, and Solana to expand its user base. Their platform integrates digital asset creation and trading with web3 technology. Recently, ZTX tested its 3D open-world platform Playtest and is planning for a token launch. It is also set to introduce its Genesis Home Mint, a collection of unique 3D District Homes.

4. More Reads

4.1 Projects Updates

• Sorare, Introducing Cash Wallet

• Wildcard Aliiance, Reveals Wildfire; SBT for Genesis Wildpass Holders

• Words3, Scrabble style FOC game launches on Base Mainnet

• Oh Baby Games, Wave 2 alpha testing for Oh Baby Kart

• Doomsday, Season 2 started

• Topology, Asynchronous strategy game by Shoshin is live

• Zynga, Announcing sugartown

• Parallel, Starter deck drop is live

• Stella Fantasy, Mobile version released

• MapleStory Universe, Chooses Chalink as its blockchain infrastructure provider

• NFL Rivals, Launches in-game marketplace on mobile

• Wreck League, Launch Web2 Version with 50% Revenue Share for NFT Owners

• Pirate Nation, Combat V2 is now live

• Minters, Announcing new FOC game ‘Battle for Blockchain’

4.2 Suggested Reads

• Matt Dion, The Importance of Being Permanent

This article is an introduction to fully on-chain games, exploring their decentralized nature and highlighting their advantages and challenges.

• IOSG Ventures, The tech stack of on-chain gaming: how the game state is synced

This article is about the challenges, solutions, and frameworks in the fully on-chain gaming and Autonomous World (FOG/AW) narrative within the context of Web 3.

• Pardigm, The Open Problems of Onchain Games

This article covers overview of onchain games including advantages, open problem, and consideration when building onchain games.

• Konvoy, Influencer-led Publishing

The article discusses the potential benefits and drawbacks of influencer-led publishing in the gaming industry, emphasizing its role in cost-effective marketing, targeted user acquisition, and jumpstarting player activity, while also highlighting challenges like misaligned incentives, influencers' lack of game development experience, and the monetization gap for live streaming influencers.

• The New World, The Botkits Are Coming

The article discusses the development of a botkit for the on-chain game Words3, enabling third-party developers to create bots and plugins as the game reaches maturity, with changes envisaged for gameplay mechanics and further opportunities for monetization.

• WASD, The Power of Stake-To-Play

The article discusses the concept of Stake-To-Play (S2P) in on-chain gaming, where players put their assets at stake for a chance to win a prize pool, exploring its advantages, potential drawbacks, examples in existing games, and possible future applications such as third-party prize pools, on-chain betting markets and the emergence of "Power Players.”

Thanks to Kate for designing the graphics for this article.