Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) experienced a strong bull run from January 1 to mid-February. During this period, OpenSea volumes topped $5 billion and then fell to $3.6 billion towards the end of February. This could have been a sign that the overall crypto and NFT market stance was correcting.
As the second quarter approaches, volumes and total NFT sales have been on the decline, leading new entrants and investors to wonder if the sector is dying. According to data from DappRadar, OpenSea’s trading volumes have fallen by almost 11% in the last week and, so far, the total volume in the market continues to cool down, as the number of users fell by 13% in the last 30 days. . It seems that the NFT community has realized that it has exhausted the options of “blue-chip” derivatives and investors are looking for a more sustainable and less speculative placement of value.
Regardless of where the Proof of Profile (PFP) movement is headed, blockchain game developers and communities are constantly developing and improving.
For example, blockchain play-to-earn (P2E) game Axie Infinity surpassed $4 billion in lifetime NFT sales during the month of February. This makes it the third largest NFT platform in terms of sales and the first collection to reach the milestone.
the @AxieInfinity have become the first #NFT series to exceed $4B in all-time sales. #CryptoPunks is the next collection to make impressive gains, reaching $2B as all-time sales volume.https://t.co/az7S9bV6aW#ethereum #gamefi #playtoearn $AXIE #NFTs pic.twitter.com/1Rl5B1atpC
— Ethereum Daily (@ETH_Daily) February 23, 2022
Axie Infinity was created in 2018 and the game is a shining example of what is possible in a bear market. Axie Infinity created a minimum viable product (MVP) that brought millions of people on board with Web 3.0, blockchain, and cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain games are focused on developing and are struggling in this bear market to resist the negative trend. These three blockchain games are focused on increasing capital flows, expanding their infrastructure, and establishing stable user bases.
New Funding Could Boost Guild of Guardians’ Growth
Blockchain games are positioning their positions through strategic partnerships to further develop their products. As the NFT game developer has revealed, Immutable X in its recent closure of a financing round of USD 200 million. In light of this news, a “large chunk” of their funding will go towards current projects, including Guild of Guardians.
According to the Guild of Guardians Discord channel, this news comes at a difficult time where the war in Ukraine has created setbacks in development. Since Guild of Guardians is partially developed by the Ukrainian studio Stepico Games, the overall development of the game has inevitably been delayed.
Like the cryptocurrency market, the native GOG token of the Guild of Guardians game has crashed and is currently valued at $0.37, down almost 87% from its all-time high of $2.81.
Guild of Guardians will use the new funds raised for marketing initiatives and scaling solutions for the game and the community. The new funding should ensure the sustainability of the project in a bear market and focus on the project’s ambitious goal of hiring 200 employees in the next 12 months.
The Guild of Guardians has launched and opened requests for their pre-alpha demo of the game as a test and engagement with community feedback.
Other NFT projects are also transitioning their communities into a gaming ecosystem by partnering with other networks to facilitate change.
CyberKongz drives “play and collect” at Polygon
The CyberKongz NFT Collection started out as a traditional PFP on the Ethereum network, and although it continues to function as such, it has transitioned to the Polygon network for its play and collect gamification feature.
Although the launch has faced some minor delays, the team is currently preparing the community with a soft launch with a bridge to the Polygon network. CyberKongz has also announced its integration with the ChainLink decentralized network of oracles and its verifiable random function (VRF) to the play and collect ecosystem.
@CyberKongz Integrates @chainlink VRF to Randomize In-Game Features on @0xPolygon
#CyberKongz now has access to a tamper-proof & auditable source of randomness to support randomized in-game features in their upcoming adventure game.
More details: https://t.co/PhuPaVo6N1 pic.twitter.com/bU7VflEYsC
— PolygonDaily (@PolygonDaily) March 8, 2022
The VRF function will randomize the game features via the oracle node’s pre-committed private key, generating a random number and cryptographic proof in combination with unknown block data. This collaboration has increased the integration of sophisticated technology features while prioritizing security.
Currently, the in-game characters required to play CyberKongz VX cost 2.59 Ether (ETH), or $6,674.09, on the Polygon network via OpenSea. Interestingly, assets on the Ethereum network that are not yet bridged are cheaper, priced at 1.95 ETH, or $5,024.90.
Galaxy Fight Club focuses on gaming and Web 3.0 development
In its latest update, the Galaxy Fight Club P2E game announced a partnership with Vaynerchuk Sports and Gary Vee’s brother, AJ Vaynerchuk, to introduce the game to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) athletes.
GFC’s native token, GCOIN, is also set to launch on the Huobi exchange, which could give it the boost it needs to reverse the current downward trend. In the last week, GCOIN is down 11% and the token is almost 85% off its all-time high of $2.16.
Like Guild of Guardians and CyberKongz, GFC has also faced some hiccups due to a Discord exploit. However, he seems to meet adversity by focusing on results.
The team has developed new features for its beta version and there are plans to integrate play-to-earn mechanics in the next two weeks. To unlock GCOIN earning in the game, players must own Galaxy Fighters genesis. The cheapest brawlers and lowest earning tier are currently priced at 0.47 ETH, or $1,271.60, and the minimum price of the highest earning tier is 3.99 ETH, or $10,795.10.
Despite the uncontrollable setbacks and challenges, blockchain games seem to understand that growing pains are inevitable, but in order to be successful, they must have one thing on their minds: creating a fun game. As the market heads into the second quarter, investors will be watching to see who has used this quiet time wisely.
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