The web3 gaming industry is one of the few sectors seemingly unaffected by current crypto market conditions, with capital continuing to pool into the space – and some industry players say it’s for good reason.
“The current market environment is funny,” Robby Yung, CEO of Animoca Brands, said to TechCrunch. “People have a tendency to couple crypto markets with blockchain games and content, but actually it’s only as appropriate as linking tech stocks on Nasdaq with the businesses of tech companies. There’s a certain correlation, but it’s tenuous.”
While the crypto industry was in freefall over the past few months, web3 games remained fairly stable. In May, over 1.15 million daily unique active wallets interacted with blockchain games, down just 5% from the previous month, according to a DappRadar x BGA Games report.
The number of active users “has nothing to do with the market,” Yung said. “You can argue it’s countercyclical because as we see in entertainment products, there tends to be more consumption when the economy is not so good because people will seek out entertainment,” he added.
While the future of the industry was in question amid the bear market of 2018, there has been tremendous validation and progress since then, Yung said. “The rest of the year will definitely be challenging, but I’m optimistic for the first quarter of next year.”