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TLDR :
OGProtocol goes live
EightCo Holdings invests in Mythical Games
YGGPlay’s launchpad goes live
🗞️ NEWS
OGPROTOCOL GOES LIVE
Just yesterday, the Open Game Protocol (OGP) went live. A new initiative by Justin Waldron (founder of Zynga) to create “Gaming Capital Markets” through “gamecoins”, which allows token communities (e.g., FARTCOIN) to launch their own game-specific token
For a community to launch its gamecoin, a certain % of the existing token needs to be staked. After the goal is reached, users receive their tokens back and get an allocation of the gamecoin (20% goes to stakers and referrers)
Game devs can easily add their games (within minutes) and can earn gamecoins based on traction
Games can be boosted by staking the associated gamecoins on a game. The larger the boost, the more rewards (subsidized from the trading fees) available for players, devs, and stakers
The gamecoins won’t be used inside the game, because it’s a governance token that determines where the main token’s (e.g. FARTCOIN) rewards go
Furthermore, the games can be run from anywhere, within apps and wallets, simply by tapping a “play & earn” button (available at some point)
From Kate Irwin’s article: Gaming’s app layer, including an interview with Waldron: “We probably have 30 or 40 wallet partners that are already interested in doing it,”
The OGP removes the need for developers to launch their own game token (a very complex and lengthy process), and instead, they can integrate with any existing gamecoin
Waldron: “Instead of the games making the assets, it’s assets pairing with existing games.”
Gamecoins could even be used for non-crypto games, Waldron further adds, serving as a more effective channel than traditional ads (i.e., reducing CAC)
Overall, it’s an interesting idea that can solve a macro problem in the broader gaming industry: CAC becoming increasingly higher and surpassing LTV.
Whether gamecoins are the solution, essentially a plug-and-play reward layer for existing tokens, remains to be seen…
EIGHTCO HOLDING INVESTS IN MYTHICAL GAMES
This week, Mythical Games announced that it raised new funding in a strategic round from EightCo Holdings ($ORBS) to accelerate human verification and digital identity in gaming
EightCo is a NASDAQ-listed treasury strategy company for Worldcoin (Sam Altman’s project), valued at $1.55B
EightCo is “building the authentication and trust layer for the post-AGI world”
In September, the company closed a $270M private placement as the first Worldcoin treasury company
Interestingly, it has been around for a while and was previously operating in the consumer products and e-commerce markets (they have been flip-flopping around a lot of business models)
1 day after the private placement, they announced a NASDAQ symbol change from OCTO to ORBS (their 2nd ticker change)
Funnily enough, ORBS' stock has been trading like a crypto gaming token and is down -99.75% from its ATH. The company IPO’d in 2022 at over $3.4K a share, and is now trading at $8.50 a share
When the news of the $270M private placement came out this year, the stock went from $1.45 to over $45 (+3003%), but since that local top, it’s trending back to zero again
The lore even goes deeper, as Cryptyde (now EightCo) spun out of Vinco Ventures (symbol BBIG). Vinco got delisted from the NASDAQ in October 2023. Now at a mere $3.36K market cap, down 99,999% from its ATH
So, to recap, it started as a consumer product company, then it spun off from a meme stock (down 99,99%) in 2022 as Crptyde (now EightCo), which is now down 99.75% from its ATH. Then, it received $270M of “investment” to continue as a Worldcoin treasury company on the NASDAQ
But enough talk about the NASDAQ and stocks, and let’s get back to crypto. This makes Mythical Game’s sixth fundraising round:
Seed 2018: $1M / Series A 2019: $19M / Series B 2021: $75M / Series C 2021: $150M / Series C1 2023: $37M / Series D 2025 (this raise): undisclosed
The most notable being the Pico 2021 raise of $150M at a $1.25B valuation, led by A16Z (one of the reasons the token has underperformed since)
Overall, this reads to me as Mythical getting an “easy” paycheck, but in return, they have to conform to the World ID state:
Ives (EightCo chairman): “Mythical’s 9.6 million wallets represent an installed base of users that can build on World ID’s over 17 million verified user count,”
YGG PLAY’S LAUNCHPAD GOES LIVE
Yesterday, YGG Play’s launchpad officially went live with its 4 games: LOL Land, GIGACHADBAT, Gigaverse, and Proof of Play with Pirate Nation. On the pad, players can explore new titles, complete quests, plus there’s a token launchpad
LOL Land’s $LOL token will be the first on the launchpad. It’s a more curated take on the Virtuals model with plans to launch a new game token every 1/2 months:
To participate players need to collect YGG Points through completing quests or stake (commit) $YGG tokens. These points will then be exchangeable for $LOL
Another option is to participate in LOL Land’s P2A campaign, distributing 5% of the $LOL supply, with the top 50 players getting 94.95% of the distribution, and a minimum in-game spend of $100 required to partake
The token is set to launch in late October 2025, starting at a $900K FDV
The newest YGG partner, Proof of Play, was announced just this week:
From Adam Fern: “We are extremely happy about how the Proof of Play Arcade on Abstract is performing so far and are looking to bring it to a wider audience, which we know YGG will be able to deliver…”
This week $YGG also got listed on Upbit, which made the token temporarily shoot up ~50%
Gabby recently went on the BidClub podcast, a platform that focuses on buyside research for liquid Web3 investments. The interview gives us a better idea of the business side of YGG (Play). Here are some of the highlights:
YGG has an annual burn rate of around $10M, this number is primarily paying for salaries (YGG has over 80 employees)
LOL Land costs $500K to develop and has a monthly upkeep of $200K
The studio HypeReel is incubated by YGG, they own the IP and revenue of the game
To date, LOL Land has made close to $5M in revenue
The caveat is that the return on reward spend (RORS) is almost 1:1. This means for every $1 they receive in revenue, they roughly give out $1 in YGG back to the player (they’re essentially OTC’ing out $YGG tokens)
~90% of these token rewards are immediatly sold by the players
Aggregrated, there are ~600,000 users, paying users being around 5% (3,000). The ARPPU is ~$1,400, the largest whale has spend $250,000 in the game
With “only” a 5% conversion rate, this is probably telling of how many bots are likely farming the game for potential Abstract XP and other incentives
The thesis for YGG Play is to become an aggregration platform of spot demand through the growth of LOL Land and 3rd-party publishing, which they can then use to distribute different tokens (and so create a launchpad)
This demand then accrues value to the YGG token, as players stake (commit) their tokens to generate points to participate in the launchpad and sink the tokens in other ways, like through in-game NFTs
Only, when looking at the YGG chart that thesis hasn’t played out yet, selling pressure seems too significant for now
Overall, YGG continues to innovate and head into a interesting direction to find (new) PMF. I’m curious to see how much demand the platform can aggregrate over the next 6 months, and how/whether that will trickle down to more upside
FLASH NEWS
12.2M RON ($5M+) was contributed to Moku’s Grand Arena presale
Ronin launches Fortune Master Missions (Quest → Earn → Spin)
MapleStory is going chain-agnostic through Chainlink’s CCIP integration
🆕ALPHA CORNER
Early Games: None for this week.
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