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5 NFT-based blockchain games that could soar in 2022

After the popularity of DeFi, came the rise of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and to the surprise of many, NFTs took the spotlight and remain front and center with the highest volume in sales, occuring at the start of January 2022. 

Growing number of unique NFT buyers on Ethereum Source: Delphi Digital

While 2021 became the year of NFTs, GameFi applications did surpass DeFi in terms of user popularity. According to data from DappRadar, Bloomberg gathered:

“Nearly 50% of active cryptocurrency wallets connected to decentralized applications in November were for playing games. The percentage of wallets linked to decentralized finance, or DeFi, dapps fell to 45% during the same period, after months of being the leading dapp use case.”

Blockchain, play-to-earn game Axie infinity, skyrocketed and kicked off a gaming craze that is expected to continue all throughout 2022. Crypto pundits and gaming advocates have high expectations for p2e blockchain-based games and there’s bound to be a few sleeping giants that will dominate the sector.

Let’s take a look at five blockchain games that could make waves in 2022.

DeFi Kingdoms

The inspiration for DeFi Kingdoms came from simple beginnings— a passion for investing that lured the developers to blockchain technology. DeFi Kingdoms was born as a visualization of liquidity pool investing where in-game ‘gardens’ represent literal and figurative token pairings and liquidity pool mining.

As shown in the game, investors have a portion of their LP share within a plot filled with blooming plants. By attaching the concept of growth to DeFi protocols within a play-and-earn model, DeFi Kingdoms puts a twist on “playing” a game.

DeFi Kingdoms aerial image. Source: Twitter DeFi Kingdoms

Built on the Harmony Network, DeFi Kingdoms became the first project on the network to ever top the DappRadar charts. This could be attributed to an influx of individuals interested in both DeFi and blockchain games or it could be attributed to its recent in-game, utility token (JEWEL) surging.

JEWEL is a utility token which allows users to purchase NFTs in-game buffs to increase base-level stat, and it is used for liquidity mining that grants users the opportunity to make more JEWEL through staking.

JEWEL/USD daily chart. Source: Gecko Terminal 

JEWEL is also a governance token that gives holders a vote in the growth and evolution of the project. In the past four months the token price surged from $1.23 to an all time high of $22.52. At the time of writing JEWEL is down by nearly 16%, trading at $19.51.

Surging approximately 1,487% from its humble start of $1.23 four months ago, back in September, JEWEL token price has increased roughly 165% this last month alone, according to data from CoinGecko.

Guild of Guardians

Guild of Guardians is one of the more anticipated blockchain games in 2022 and it is built on ImmutableX, the first layer-2 solution built on Ethereum that focuses on NFTs. Aiming to provide more access, it will operate as a free to play, mobile RPG game modeling the play-and-earn mechanics.

Guild of Guardians Heroes. Source: Guild of Guardians

Similar to blockchain games like Axie Infinity, Guild of Guardians in-game assets can be exchanged. The project seems to be of interest to many gamers and investors with both its NFT founder sale and token launch generating nearly $10 million in volume.

Launching its in-game token in October of 2021, the Guild of Guardians (GOG) tokens are ERC-20 tokens known as ‘gems’ inside the game. Gems are what power key features in the game such as mint in-game NFTs, interact with the marketplace and are available to earn while playing.

GOG monthly price action. Source: CoinGecko

For the last month, the Guild of Guardians token has performed strongly, reaching an all-time of $2.81. Despite the token being down nearly 50% from it’s all-time high, at the time of writing, some members of the community are looking forward to the possibility of staking and liquidity pools, which are features that tend to help stabilize token prices.

Galaxy Fight Club

Imagine taking a proof-of-picture (pfp) NFT and making it into an avatar to battle other fighters in a galaxy far away? Galaxy Fight Club (GFC) is a blockchain game that switched its gear from a 10,000 avatar collection to the first cross-brand and cross-platform PvP fighting game where players can fight with their collection of avatars.

Focusing on interoperability, GFC uniquely places high value on its original fighters, but allows other avatars to battle for the opportunity to earn rewards.

Artist’s depiction of gameplay in GFC. Source: Galaxy Fight Club Avatar

The game is expected to launch on the Polygon network and it will feature different themes from various partnering collections such as Animetas and CyberKongz, integrating its cross–platform aim. GFC plays on the nostalgia of SuperSmash Bros., except one is battling for loot keys to open loot boxes rather than simply wiping out their opponent.

GFC is currently in beta testing, and is facing minor setbacks, including a delayed IDO. To date, it’s not clear when public access will be made available, but many are hopeful for a Q1 2022 rollout.

GCOIN

Each Galaxy Fighter generates anywhere between 5 to 15 GCOIN daily, and each fighter began generating GCOIN in October of 2021. If a fighter is sold, the new owner will inherit the GCOIN presently accrued. GCOIN is likely to be valuable in the ecosystem because it is needed to power players in game moves, the forging of weapons, opening loot boxes and training and selling second generation fighters.

Despite its minor setbacks, an IDO for GCOIN is scheduled on PolkaStarter for January 6and is set to release 4 million tokens for sale at $0.50 each and a max allocation of $500 per wallet. Sadly, the project’s KYC and whitelist requirements have left many residents sitting out.

According to Ado, a team lead for the project, “The first $1.5M was purchased and sold out in roughly 15 minutes, at which point the remaining $500K reserved only for the Battle Pass holders took another hour to be filled,” indicating a successful IDO. Approximately 2,600 unique wallets are holding GFC fighters, with the top wallet holding nearly 2% of the entire collection.