The crypto and NFT gaming space is busier than ever lately, what with prominent games starting to release, token airdrops piling up, and a seemingly constant array of other things happening at all times. It’s a lot to take in!
Luckily, Decrypt’s GG is all over it. And if you need a quick way to get caught up on the latest moves around crypto video games, we’re happy to present This Week in Crypto Games.
Our weekend roundup serves up the biggest news from the past week, along with a few other tidbits you might have missed. We also showcase a few of our original stories from the week.
Biggest news
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Off the Grid's major moves: After entering early access in October, Avalanche-based battle royale shooter Off the Grid’s hype has cooled a bit. But on Wednesday, the game received its biggest update yet, reworking its aiming system, adding a notable performance boost, and tweaking weapon performance.
Avalanche-based battle royale shooter Off the Grid has launched its most significant update since entering early access in October. Patch notes reviewed by Decrypt note that the game has reworked how scoped weapons work, added what developer Gunzilla Games framed as a notable performance boost, and made a number of weapon balance changes.
After entering early access in October, Off the Grid attracted mainstream attention with tons of clips that showcased the game’s unique mechanics going viral....
This update, the patch notes claim, is in preparation for an upcoming ranked mode being added to the game. The most noticeable update was the improvement to scoped weapons, now they have a much more natural feel than in previous builds. On top of this, the meta got a major shakeup with weapons receiving major buffs and nerfs.
And then on Friday, developer Gunzilla Games revealed exclusively to Decrypt's GG that it will launch a GUNZ Foundation under the advisement of Delphi Ventures. The Foundation will oversee the mainnet launch of the GUNZ L1 network, as well as the upcoming GUN token, which is targeted for a Q1 2025 rollout.
Gunzilla Games, the creator of popular crypto battle royale shooter Off the Grid, has partnered with investment firm Delphi Ventures to advise on the creation of the not-for-profit GUNZ Foundation, which will oversee the upcoming GUN token and GUNZ mainnet launch.
Off the Grid entered public early access in October to rave reviews from players, with a flurry of clips going viral that showcased its unique gameplay. The game drops players into a reality TV setting, where show participants have the...
Oh, and one more thing: Off the Grid's December content addition is called the "Crackhead Christmas" pack. Soak it all in with the trailer below.
TapSwap and Tomarket: The makers of tap-to-earn Telegram game TapSwap announced last week that its long-awaited TAPS token launch and airdrop will take place in late January, following months of speculation. The token will launch on The Open Network (TON).
Popular Telegram tap-to-earn game TapSwap revealed it will launch its TAPS token on The Open Network (TON) alongside an airdrop of rewards for players in the second half of January 2025.
TAPS will become a critical resource in the TapSwap ecosystem, the developers said, granting holders access to tournaments, staking rewards, and governance participation.
Whether or not a player receives the TAPS airdrop will be determined by the player’s overall engagement within TapSwap—in other words, how o...
One Telegram game that won't launch on TON, however, is Tomarket. Last week, the developers made a late switch to the Aptos blockchain, barely a week before the planned launch.
This move sets the stage for the game’s hotly anticipated TOMA token launch, which has been the primary motivator bringing in 50 million users to the game. Players have been progressing in-game in the hopes of getting a healthy airdrop of TOMA, and the launch is now set for December 20.
Tomarket, a popular Telegram game playable on the messaging platform as a mini app, is ditching its original plan to launch its token on The Open Network (TON) and will instead deploy TOMA on rival layer-1 network Aptos.
With 50 million total users and 6 million daily active users, Tomarket will launch its TOMA token on December 20, with an airdrop to players who met certain criteria within the game.
Tomarket has handed out allocations of tokens across multiple airdrop waves, but players have be...
Ubisoft launch and mint: Gaming giant Ubisoft confirmed its upcoming game Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E. will launch on December 18 via Ethereum layer-2 network Arbitrum. To celebrate, it launched a free NFT mint tied to the game, giving out 10,000 total NIJI Warrior ID Cards.
Set in a dystopian world inspired by the Netflix animated series "Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix"—which is based in part on a game in the Far Cry game franchise—the competitive, top-down multiplayer shooter will feature characters from hit series Assassin’s Creed, Rayman, and Beyond Good & Evil.
Gaming giant Ubisoft, the publisher behind franchises like Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance, has pinned down the launch date for its upcoming game Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E. on Ethereum layer-2 network Arbitrum. And a free NFT mint for the game is getting underway today.
Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E. will launch on December 18. Set in a dystopian world inspired by the Netflix animated series "Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix"—which is based in part on a game in the Far Cry game fran...
ICYMI
Neon Machine, the creator of Shrapnel, appointed a new CEO and revealed fundraising in progress.
Mobile shoot ‘em up game Zoppel launched in alpha on Ethereum layer-2 scaling network Skale.
Crypto gaming ecosystem Treasure has launched its new Ethereum layer-2 scaling network, marking its departure from Arbitrum. This move will see the project build on a network tailor-fit to its gaming-specific needs, opening what it says are new possibilities for gamers.
Treasure’s newly launched Ethereum layer-2 network is part of ZKsync’s Elastic Chain—a network of interoperable zero-knowledge rollup chains—and will natively use the project’s MAGIC token. As a result, over 15 games, hundreds of...
Immutable announced that it onboarded over 250 games in 2024.
Mobile MOBA game E4C: Final Salvation—which is built on Sui—is available in closed beta until December 24 globally, except in India, where it has fully launched and will be available indefinitely.
GG spotlight
Here are a few of our original stories from this past week that we think are well worth a weekend read:
Dogecoin is back in the spotlight, surging to a three-year high price recently amid a broader crypto market spike, not to mention continued promotion from Elon Musk, who will co-lead a government agency called the Department of Government Efficiency—yes, the DOGE.
The original meme coin is all about vibes, and if you’re looking to bring more of that goofy fun into your life, then you can find Dogecoin and the meme dog’s likeness in several games.
From a Fortnite-like battle royale shooter to a s...
Legendary game developer CCP Games this week lifted the lid on Eve Frontier, a space survival game set in the Eve Online universe that features blockchain integration.
Initially referred to as Project Awakening, Eve Frontier appears to have a lot of similarities to the massive Eve Online game, but with more of a survival focus—and the ability to use crypto tokens and blockchain code to impact and reshape the game in new ways.
With such a prestigious development studio behind it, hopes are high...
Prominent Telegram crypto game Tomarket will launch its TOMA token on the Aptos network this week, following a late-breaking shift from The Open Network (TON). It’s almost time for players to reap what they have sown in the tomato-themed game, as the token is set to start trading soon.
Tomarket has split its airdrop into at least three events. One already took place on October 31, but users could not withdraw or trade their tokens—this was more akin to revealing token allocations ahead of the ai...
Crypto gaming franchise Pixelverse is launching a new tactical deck builder game that transforms popular cryptocurrency memes into playable characters, the firm announced Thursday.
MemeBattle will feature characters based on the mascots of Base network meme coins, including Brett, Toshi, Keyboard Cat, Dog in Me, Mr. Miggles, Mochi, Ski Mask Dog, and Mochi.
Players will be able to build squads using the meme coin-based characters and compete in battles to earn rewards. Characters from other crypt...
Blockchain gaming is reaching a new stage of maturity, with increasing numbers of players accessing games more seamlessly, according to an organization focused on advancing the technology in the gaming sector.
However, there are changes in the sector that could create dramatic shifts as traditional gaming developers come into play.
The changing tides coincide with major studios like Sony and Square Enix entering the space through layer-2 solutions, according to an industry survey released by the...
