“To summarize the Web3 gaming industry over the past six months, the phrase ‘Not exactly, but no way to really predict’ encapsulates the situation well,” Kwon tells Magazine.

Kwon said that at the start of the year, gaming tokens looked like they were set to be the big winner.

However, it seems like the focus has now shifted more toward, well, shitcoins.

“Web3 games and gaming narratives were hot topics at the beginning of the year. However, as the market evolved, the overall interest seemed to shift more toward memes in the second quarter,” she says, noting that new gaming tokens haven’t gone to the moon like people expected during the year.

“Despite the launch of various game tokens, their performance has been underwhelming compared to expectations,” she adds.

Kwon thinks the days of easily jumping on the gaming hype train and launching a token that skyrockets are over. Now, Kwon argues that games need to offer something more than just a flashy token name that lures in hopeful millionaires.

“It has become increasingly important for games to have actual utility and use cases for their tokens,” Kwon says.

“Additionally, the industry has seen numerous attempts to innovate, suggesting that the market is maturing,” she declares.

Recent developments, such as games on Telegram and the TON ecosystem, show potential similar to WeChat games. Various intriguing models are also emerging, including efforts to integrate AI with gaming.”

“If macroeconomic indicators improve, these innovations might drive the industry positively,” she remarks.

As for what makes a great Web3 game? Kwon believes in a mix of community engagement, well-designed economic system, and just as importantly, Interoperability.

“The ability for assets or items to be used across different games adds value to digital assets and enhances the overall gaming ecosystem,” she explains, arguing that it allows for a broader and more interconnected gaming experience.

Find love in Web3? Love Island comes to The Sandbox

Appearing on the popular show Love Island might seem like a far-off dream for some, but Sebastien Borget, chief operations officer and co-founder of The Sandbox, suggests that joining the show from your living room could be a much more achievable option.

ITV Studios’ hit show “Love Island” is all about trying to spark romance, though those relationships often don’t last. What really keeps people hooked is the drama.

Now, decentralized metaverse platform The Sandbox has teamed up with the show to let people experience it for themselves — either to test it out before making the leap or just to enjoy the drama without the embarrassment of being on the show.

“The Sandbox provides many more ways to extend fandoms outside of the show,” Borget explains to Magazine.

“Gamification and virtual worlds allow reality TV fans’ dreams to become reality, for example, putting them in command as a coach on The Voice or being themselves as a candidate on a virtual Love Island,” he says.

This isn’t ITV’s first reality show to team up with The Sandbox. Previously, they joined forces with The Voice, the singing competition where dreams are made (or crushed) with the help of celebrity judges, before reality sets back in with the office job.

“Since reality TV fans are already a very interactive audience, Web3 allows players to continue that in an immersive experience like The Sandbox,” Borget says.

Even if not everyone is interested in love, it gives die-hard fans a chance to test their knowledge of not just this season but all the previous ones as well.

“Players can also prove their fan-status of a particular show or contestant through experiences that test their knowledge of contestants, storylines, seasons, and more,” Borget adds.

Musk Empire: Hot Take

2024 is becoming the year of the clicker game, how exciting…

We saw the success of the viral hit Notcoin, which quickly drew in millions of users just by clicking on a Goldcoin, all while dreaming that someday a cryptocurrency would pay off those hours and sore thumbs.

Five months after the game launched, Notcoin was listed.

Now, we’re seeing similar hype with Musk Empire, a game that’s essentially about nothing except for a large image of Elon Musk’s head that you click repeatedly.

Musk Empire was released in June and already has 10 million downloads.

Just like with Notcoin, excitement is building up, even though there’s only some speculation about a “possible” cryptocurrency coming out of it in the future.

If it follows the same timeline as Notcoin, we might not see one until November.

I’m not sure what the psychological effect of these clicker games is, maybe it’s the excitement of getting in early and the potential to make some cash, but it’s a lot of time just clicking your thumbs.

In Musk Empire, you can level up your Elon Musk character with various upgrades, but despite all my clicking and spending on upgrades, I haven’t noticed any difference at all.

I’ve spent thousands of coins on my Elon, and he looks the same to me.

For example, the sport upgrade says “level up your body to withstand pitch marathons and hackathons,” I have clicked a few on those, but I have yet to see any change to his physique on the app.

Other rewards include Nutrition, Sleep, Discipline (don’t know how well Musk is going to take that), and Brain, which is a fairly expensive upgrade compared to the rest and says “boost neural networks, not only in code but in your brain.”

Aside from all the clicking (which probably puts you at risk for arthritis) and upgrades, there’s also an investment section called the “City.”

Here, you can put your coins into different areas to earn passive income. For example, if you invest 4,600 coins, you can profit up to 100 coins per hour.

Some of the investment options are pretty weird — hamster breeding, meme t-shirts, car rentals in Dubai— the industries are far and wide.

Just like the other clicker games out there, I wouldn’t say Musk Empire is the most exciting game by a long shot, but the popularity is pretty contagious.

I’m clicking away knowing that millions of others are doing the same thing — So maybe community spirit trumps fun when it comes to gaming?