While 2022 saw the arrival of large amounts of talent into the industry, 2023 was the year we saw the first wave of truly impressive web3 games make their mark.
Alphas, betas, full releases: this year was jam-packed, with all the top genres covered.
Here are our picks for the top 5 web3 games of 2023.
#5 Dookey Dash
Short-lived? Yes. Big impact? Definitely.
Dookey Dash debuted on January 18 and lasted until February 8. It started 2023 with Yuga Labs’ first foray into skill-based minting. Players competed for the highest score in a casual endless runner, with the grand prize being a legendary one-for-one Golden Key NFT. This prize was claimed by Twitch streamer Mongraal, who then sold it for 1,000 ETH ($1.6 million).
It may have been a flash in the pan, and the Sewer Pass NFT requirement to play (around $3,000 at the time) meant access was very limited, but its huge historical significance to web3 gaming cannot be denied.
#4 Gods unleashed
Immutable Games’ main title, web3 TCG Gods Unchained has had a great year.
In June 2023, the IMX-based title became perhaps the biggest web3 game yet to debut on the Epic Games Store, followed by a partnership with Amazon earlier this month to distribute card packs through their Prime Gaming service, which hundreds of people were reached. millions of gamers worldwide.
In addition to these big-name collaborations, the Gods Unchained team has pushed several major updates this year. The game’s sixth and seventh expansions were released in March and October 2023 respectively, two new game modes – Chaos Constructed and Sealed – were released over the summer, and significant progress has been made towards the iOS and Android releases.
Despite a minor hiccup following their AO rating from the ESRB, Gods Unchained has continued to enjoy popularity throughout the year, and the team is well positioned to continue growing in 2024.
#3 Global Webb
When I introduced Thomas Webb – founder of the free-to-play browser-based 16-bit MMO Worldwide Webb – onto the stage at NFT London 2022, I couldn’t quite have imagined the twelve months that would follow.
Announcing a $10 million Series A round in February 2023, the team immediately began showing results with the simultaneous success of the competitive MOBA mini-game Blockbusterz, followed by their highly anticipated Dungeon playtest in October.
The team has also signed two key ex-AAA employees, strengthening their roster in preparation for an even bigger 2024.
Thomas Webb has stated that he and his team want to redefine the gaming industry with Worldwide Webb. The past twelve months have shown that this is a goal they may be able to achieve.
#2 Pixels
Browser-based casual MMO Pixels had had an impressive year, but the announcement and subsequent migration to Ronin, completed in October 2023, took things to a whole new level.
In just three short months, the already popular title has exploded in popularity, breaking 100,000 daily players in November and taking Ronin to over 250,000 daily users and 1.1 million monthly users in December.
Phase 2 of the Mocaverse x Pixels Odyssey Activation went live last week, with $80,000 USD in prizes available in the coming weeks.
Pixels is by far the most popular game in web3 right now, and as their partnership with Animoca Brands deepens, the game continues to rise as we head into 2024.
#1 MetalCore
I first spoke with Studio 369, the developers of open-world MMOFPS MetalCore, at NFT.NYC 2022. A year later, at the same event, I got to try the game for the first time, and my reaction was similar to that of many others . who have had the privilege of playing the game so far – MetalCore is on a whole different level.
The sheer size and scale of what the team behind MetalCore is trying to achieve would be a Herculean task for even the most seasoned AAA developers. After several years of development and a migration to Immutable in March 2023, the game has seen impressive growth across its multiple playtests, with headline appearances at GDC and Gamescom, a $16,000 USD tournament, as well as a listing on the Epic Games Store .
MetalCore takes the exciting action of titles like PlanetSide, Battlefield and Halo, and injects it with web3 technology to create a must-play experience for seasoned gamers and die-hard web3 fans alike. We look forward to seeing what the team can continue to achieve in the coming year.
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The real winners are all of us: the web3 gaming community. There has never been more variety, more fun and excitement in the blockchain gaming world than there is now – and a lot more looks set to happen in 2024.
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