🎮 One trend picking up again

GM everyone. This is 2036. We scroll for gems all day so you don’t have to.

Here’s what we’re serving up today 🍲: after a brutal bear market - crypto gaming is finally back. What’s the best way to get involved?

Let’s dig in.

Crypto gaming is one of the most overlooked sectors of the crypto market - and for a good reason.

Non-gamers don’t understand it.

They think games are a small niche for nerds.

But there are 3 BILLION gamers in the world.

And the world’s most valuable IP in history are games:

That’s why you shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it.

The last 18 months were brutal for games. But the space is finally gaining traction again.

I wrote about Illuvium last Monday. Since then, the ILV token is up +53%.

But crypto gaming is just getting started. It holds enormous promise.

Crypto games allow:

• gamers to own their in-game assets (in the form of NFTs) and earn an income from playing

• investors to speculate on the next big IP (like Pokémon, Mario, World of Warcraft, etc.)

• game developers to reward their best players with financial incentives

So what do you think happens when billions of users realize they can make money playing actually fun games?

Exactly.

That’s why many crypto folks - including Chris Dixon, crypto OG and partner at the world’s largest VC firm a16z - believe a great game will bring the next billion users into crypto.

(they also raised a $600 million fund for that very purpose)

If you’re curious to get involved, here are 3 ways to do it…

1/ Invest in the games themselves 🥇

This means buying the NFTs and tokens of existing or upcoming games, like Aurory, Parallel, Wildcard, Axie Infinity, Illuvium, Deadrop, etc.

This carries risk because no one has yet figured out how to make NFTs and tokens entirely sustainable in an in-game economy.

But game tokens/NFTs can soar 100-1,000X.

And they give you a chance to own the next Pokémon before it takes off.

2/ Buy tokens of blockchains and platforms powering games 🥈

This is a classic pick-and-shovel play. There are lots of companies building infrastructure to support the eventual explosion in crypto gaming, including -

• Avalanche ($AVAX)

• ImmutableX ($IMX)

• Polygon ($MATIC)

• Ronin ($RON)

• GALA ($GALA)

• Sandbox ($SAND)

• TreasureDAO ($MAGIC)

• Decentraland ($MANA)

… and a lot more.

These carry less game-specific risk (and less upside) but could be good ways to capture the ecosystem-wide growth.

3/ Buy the tokens of launchpads that launch games 🥉

Some crypto games raise tens of millions of $$ upfront and launch directly to the public.

Others grow slowly and incrementally raise small amounts of money to fund different stages of their development.

In crypto, some of these go through launchpads. They’re places to get exposure and $$ from existing communities.

There are a lot of famous launchpads, like Fractal, Magic Eden, Seedify, Polkastarter, DAOmaker, etc.

Some of these have tokens; others don’t.

They probably carry greater operational risks than platforms and blockchains - but in a crypto gaming bull market, a rising tide lifts all boats.

I’ll keep you updated on specifics worth looking at as they emerge this cycle.

So stay tuned 👀

1/ Which blockchains are games using in 2023?

2/ Animoca’s crypto game streaming plan

3/ NFTs are back