81% of gaming NFT drops this year weren’t free
GC ALPHA 54
Disclaimer: None of this information should be taken as financial advice. DYOR + I will hold some of the assets mentioned in this newsletter.
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MARKET TALK
WHAT HAPPENED WITH PENGUINGOTCHI ($GOTCHI)?
Last week, crypto was once again met with a grift, this time involving Penguingotchi (PG). A risk-to-earn ponzu game that was launched on Abstract
According to Voh, here’s what happened (summarized):
KOLs were told about PG, and were all able to get early referral links
50+ creators were added to a TG group to set up the links
GOTCHI launched before the game and was heavily bundled/sniped
When the CA was shared in this TG group, it was already beyond $5M
The KOLs were out of the loop and didn’t get paid or have an edge
The token went up to $15M (becoming the 2nd highest MC token on Abstract), and then proceeded to dump very hard. GOTCHI is now trading at a ~$150K FDV
Allegedly, the dumping was done by “insiders” (the team). The ponzu ended up lasting a single day, with many people losing money…
Key figures within Abstract, like Phin, pushed Penguingotchi, signaling trust and validation of this new team
Since everybody got screwed over (the KOL + token buyers), this bit them in the ass massively - FUD was inevitable
This again brings up the importance of curation and protecting your users, brought up by Lennart, when the Abstract team pushed Bigcoin. Another one is the Blast’em situation (they didn’t shy away from commenting on GOTCHI)
In a Twitter space, Phin addressed, they will tighten the curation process moving forward
I’m not too sure, but I have my suspicions this team launched another game on Abstract in May before, called “Gacha Peng”. A game with a similar theme and premise. This account ended up being deleted
Lastly, I’d add, from the Abstract team’s perspective, it makes sense that they want to push ponzu games. They generate the most attention and bring the most liquidity among the games, as shown with OCH and Bigcoin
However, as we know, the team can’t move forward like this and continue to damage their brand
NFT UPDATE
Every few months or so, I post a gaming NFT update to gauge the market sentiment. Here’s the most recent one of June 21st:
Tracking 71 mints at the moment (85+ launched in total)
81% of all mints were paid (58/71)
Most mints were on Ronin and Abstract
Trends: A high % of paid mints compared to 2024* (majority being under MP), free mints lacking upward price action, and lots of post-migration NFTs**
*NFT sale models often move with market sentiment. We’ve seen a lot of paid mints so far, but the market isn’t good enough for studios to introduce more “extractive” models like auctions
**This is also the reason that Ronin and Abstract are leading by # of mints
Best performers:
Best performing paid NFTs (all-time high vs. mint price): Sabong Saga, Fishing Frenzy, OCH Heroes, Monsters.fun, Tokyo Games Pass, Ronen Coin, Gigaverse, and Mining Masters
The Tokyo Games TGT VIP Card, Ronen Coin, Onchain Heroes, and Mining Masters NFTs were very token-driven. While Fishing Frenzy and Gigaverse seem to have a more product-driven price as well
Biggest free cooks: Space Rush (the only noteworthy one)
Indicative of how free mints struggle to maintain value
Sentiment: slightly negative
My sentiment has changed from slightly positive in February to slightly negative now. Reasons being, the lack of profitable paid NFT mints, and so lack of value retention in the assets
It remains a traders’ market and not a collectors’ market. People try to squeeze every last bit of value out of the paid opportunities
ON THE RISE
Xociety XO tokenomics breakdown: 30% is going to "community rewards"
Treeverse releases its whitepaper (doesn’t include $END tokenomics yet)