Is it time to jump into anime-based Web3 games?
Is it time to jump into anime-based Web3 games?
GC ALPHA 16
Disclaimer: None of this information should be taken as financial advice. DYOR + I will hold some of the assets that are spoken of in this newsletter.
Immortal Rise’s P2A campaign is now live, complete missions and collect ORBs, to start earning IMT tokens.
Use this referral link to start playing right now.
(P2A) EVENTS & SOCIALFI
TATSUMEEKO LUMINA:HUNT
Tatsumeeko launched its 2nd Season of their P2A campaign last week Lumina Hunt, the first Ronin-based game on Telegram
I only played a little, however, bossman Raiden was in the top 10. So here are the highlights of his thread + some additional info from Sandbu:
1st goal: Level up and move to the highest area: the Mossy Cave
You do this by catching as many Lumis as possible
Complete all the “earn quests” for resources
Make sure to claim your extra resources when you buy a Season Pass
Visit the shop daily and buy energy coins (best ROI so far)
Do save some for potential events with stronger monsters coming
Energy potions can also be obtained from the Season pass and referral stash rewards
Only complete Vabloon Expeditions level V, V1, and V2 (best ROI)
Note: if your Lumins die during an expedition you will lose them
Sandbu focuses on expeditions 4,5,6, and 7 with weak Lumins to save his stronger ones
Use the first trap and no bait - this still works well
The number of your referrals doesn’t matter too much, what matters is the activity (quality) of your referrals
On the 26th Iandao also posted that the catch rate for the Tournament Ground map has been increased for a couple of days (try out if it’s still active)
FLASH EVENTS
Outside of Lumina:Hunt, there aren’t any other P2A campaigns to explain in-depth this week. So, here are a couple of other campaigns worth paying attention to:
Playember launched the Pixelmon-IP game Monster Tycoon
Earn shards (through check-ins, badges, and share packs), spend them on a weekly gacha, win prizes (10,000+ IMX and Emby + Pixelmon NFTs), compete on the leaderboard
EVEFrontier launched Phase 4 of its playtest
Apix says it’s very feature-rich but hard to get into as a first-timer
My Neighbour Alice Beta Season 2 is now live
New features, free land up for grabs, and you can earn BJORN tokens
According to Annaz, it takes a few steps to get started, but he says it’s a fun farming game
SuperVillains Labs announced its airdrop campaign with $15,000 in APT in rewards, beginning on Oct 10
FLUF World’s Third Kingdom game launched last week
It’s a strategy simulation game where players develop their land, harvest resources, and unlock rewards
Angry Dynomites launched the Telegram version of Dynos:Craft World
Not Pixel is one of the larger upcoming Telegram games
In the game, users create “art” on a 1000x1000 digital canvas (similar to Reddit’s r/Place)
MARKET TALK
TGE FIASCO
Yesterday, Grail published a couple of Tweets in response to the Dark Times, TIMES token TGE fiasco (the token is already trading under the KOL round val)
He touches on a couple of points, which can be distilled to:
Don’t TGE, unless market conditions for launches are better
Only the best games can launch successfully in these market conditions
It’s an interesting topic, which was discussed in more detail in this article: Best Time to Launch a Token: Low vs. High Market Sentiment?
Projects should partner with exchanges that cover most of the world
I would add that being selective with the exchanges you partner with becomes more important as well, study exchange success rates
Don’t TGE without community, it’s much easier to launch a token backed by “community power”
You need market makers to seed your liquidity on the exchanges
Having a playable game before TGE or shortly after is table stakes
Grail adds that it helps with speculative narrative and the hope for “real” token sinks
To add to this using 2 quotes from Fanfaron: “…a gaming token thesis would only work if the game is as big as GTA or LoL “ and “…what really matters is how well the token grabs attention and culture outside of the game itself”
Loud funding rounds with fancy cap tables are not a quality signal
I prefer to look at the quality of VCs than the # of angels involved
Farmers are not "community” and won’t buy tokens on TGE
“You end up with net extractive players who add little value and expect much for doing little”
Here’s why I am an advocate for “Pay to Airdrop” - the best way they identify quality users when offering incentives
Additionally, the most important metric in Web3 is going to be revenue, probably the most vanity-proof metric
The last months have been pretty slow in terms of new TGEs, and in the upcoming months the expectation is a bunch of games will launch their tokens
Even though market sentiment might improve, you should be as selective as possible in the tokens you buy
A few important considerations: stage and quality of the game, community strength, sentiment, narrative, how much and when they last raised, quality of the team, etc.
“ANIME IS EATING THE WORLD”
A recent publication by Robin Quo and Jonathan Lai from A16Z talks about anime consuming the entertainment industry (anime, comics, and games)
Let’s talk about some of the highlights and some Web3 examples:
“…anime engagement has evolved from passive to interactive over the last few years”
Examples include: AI companions, UGC platforms, Anime Studios, and VTubing
Recently, everythingempty (from Virtuals Protocol), posted an interesting video on this topic and how they are deploying on-chain waifu AI Agents (companions) using TikTok and Telegram
“AI is deepening the previously parasocial relationships we had with our favorite anime characters from passive linear media, into powerful new, interactive relationships”
I believe a title like Avarik Saga is doing interesting things on this behalf using Telegram feedback loops that lead back to the game and create (edgy) relations with the in-game characters
“Anime is the new playground for content creation”
“Anime games are some of the highest grossing in the games industry, accounting for 20% of spend on the mobile app store despite only having usage penetration of <3%”
Why did these games do so well? They mentioned it comes down to “proven, better, new”, RPG gameplay at its core, strong & compelling IP, and Gacha monetization
The article itself mentions Tatsumeeko and Azuki, and I’d add Spot Zero, Jin Anomaly, PotK, Waifu Tactical Force, Aria, and De:Lithe Last Memories when it comes to interesting Web3 anime-based games
ON THE RISE
Sonic Labs (formerly Fantom) is going hard on incentives after their rebrand
Apps will be able to distribute a good amount of rewards to their users when they launch on the chain
Spellborne launched the Twitter account for The Borne Foundation
Infinigods is working on something new (no, they’re not nodes)
Word on the street is that it has something to do with Elder Gods