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.
(P2A) EVENTS & SOCIALFI
Planet-X’s showcase mode will launch early this week (got delayed)
Game access will still be limited to players with the “super fan” role
DUPER will allocate 100 GTD WL to their top active players
It is a difficult game to get into, so the competition will be much lower than other P2As
Pixel Heroes Adventure launched its Lunar New Year Event
You earn MGOLD and MGOLD tickets exchangeable for the token at TGE
Fishing Frenzy launched its Lunar New Year event, introducing LTD edition pets
Collect scales when you fish in the event zone to unlock them (lasts till Feb 5)
Immortal Rising Launchpool S3 is now live:
The last P2A season before TGE, with 10M IMT + a surprise USDT prize pool
Nothing confirmed yet, but Cambria Season 2 is coming soon…
Hello Monster’s P2A event is coming in early February
The event will have 3 parts - make sure to participate in event 1 to get a multiplier for events 2 and 3
MARKET TALK
INFINIGODS: GOD TGE, HYPERLIQUID, AND DEX-FIRST
Last Friday Infinigods launched its GOD token, the first gaming TGE on Hyperliquid (HL)
Earlier this month we saw both MON and SVRN getting listed on HL, but they already had live tokens, hence GOD being the first gaming TGE on HL
Notable about this launch, is that players had to claim their tokens on ETH, however, they couldn’t bridge over their tokens to HL to sell, but instead had to use Uniswap
This led to an initial discrepancy in the token price between Uniswap and Hyperliquid around $0.05, however, they are trading much closer now at $72M FDV and $77M FDV
There wasn’t an arbitrage opportunity because GOD wasn’t directly transferable to HL. First, you had to trade back to USDT or ETH and bridge to ARB
When HL’s L3 launches in Q1, this process will be more streamlined
Notably, GOD is also one of the first (major) gaming DEX-first launches we have seen in a while after market sentiment improved more recently
The last DEX-first launch I have logged is the one of PLAY Network (18-12)
McKenna from Arete Capital (the firm that led Infinigods’ strategic angel round last November), called GOD “the inverse playbook to PIXEL”
He mentions he advises his port-co upon’s TGE to launch as low as possible
“The thing is w/ exceptional teams with fundamentals is they know long-term the market will price them accordingly.”
So, whilst launching low disappoints your airdrop recipients initially (including me), it’s much better than launching at a $800M FDV (like Seraph) and losing 70% of your market value within the first week
Consequently, your token chart is pretty much cursed, like 90% of the other TGEs that happened in 2024
From a trader's perspective, this launch did show me again that in many cases it’s more beneficial to sell your “token vouchers” before TGE
THE DEPRESSION OF GAMING TOKENS
Even though we’re in a bull market, the gaming vertical has been ignored from a market perspective, specifically tokens
It wasn’t me saying “IT’S GAMING SEASON” merely two weeks ago (have strong opinions, loosely held lol)
Crypto gaming has had difficulty gaining attention from the market well put by Derek: “Not degen enough for degens. Not fun enough for gamers”
This is why the degen games (i.e. gamefi) are winning. Right now you need a ponzu-like design (short-term and high potential upside) to attract attention (in Web3) from the trader crowd
Also, the reason why Wolf Game was so successful back in the previous bull
Furthermore on this topic…
Hunter said: “i don't care if the tokens i hold are tied to "fun" games” and “i want tokens attached to gaming businesses”
The issue is that these are long-term bets, and you’re competing with a narrative like AI Agents, which have much shorter development cycles and more potential for immediate upside
It’s difficult to sell someone on the vision of the potential of a game in 3 years, during which the chance of success is minimal
And Hustlepedia said: “Everyone always says “oh if the game is good that’s all that matters”. This is absolutely false.”
This rings true when it comes to the importance of financialization in crypto. However, a counterargument could be made that we haven’t seen a game that’s truly fun and introduced Web3 to the masses
Or are we underestimating the power of Off the Grid, being able to attract an audience that simply isn’t interested in speculation but playing games and collecting cool skins
So, what will the catalyst be that brings liquidity back into the gaming market (the gaming super cycle)? Is it a great game with crypto, is it gamefi, or is it an incredible TGE?