Crypto Gaming Rising: RON, BEAM and GALA Outperform BTC After Poor Start to 2024
Which Crypto Gaming Tokens Will Outperform BTC? Credit: Hameem Sarwar
Key Takeaways
- Two new crypto games raised more than $20 million in funding last week.
- The gaming narrative has taken a step back to memecoins in this cycle.
- Despite overall underperformance, some gaming tokens have emerged as standout performers.
Crypto gaming was one of the biggest narratives in the previous market cycle. While it has not picked up traction in the current cycle, the RON all-time high and renewed investment this month could be what is needed to bring back interest into crypto gaming.
The underperformance of certain established gaming tokens like AXS and SAND contrasts sharply with the swift rise of newcomers like RON and BEAM, posing a critical question: Can these rising stars revive the gaming narrative this cycle?
How Have Crypto Gaming Tokens Fared This Cycle?
Last week, MetaCene announced it had concluded a $10 million private A round funding, in which Animoca Ventures participated. MetaCene aims to become the principal MMORPG in Web3.
This was followed by the announcement of the launch of MadWorld, a mobile NFT shooter. The game raised $11 million in funding, backed by Andreessen Horowitz.
In contrast, Axie Infinity raised only $1.5 million in its own seed round.
Despite this renewed interest in crypto gaming, it is worth noting that a basket of the six biggest gaming cryptocurrencies (white) has severely underperformed Bitcoin (orange). More specifically, BTC has increased by more than 60% while the gaming basket has increased by 35% since the start of the year.
While the movement of the gaming basket mirrors BTC, it has increased at a slower rate. Despite the underperformance of the sector, some of the coins individually have outperformed Bitcoin.
Can RON, BEAM and GALA Break the Trend?
A closer look at the movement of each of the cryptocurrencies that comprise the basket reveals that the performance is greatly hampered by APE, AXS and SAND, the latter of which (yellow) has only increased by 6% since the start of the year.
In contract, RON, BEAM and GALA have all increased by roughly 100%, led by RON with 102% increases (green).
APE is a relatively new coin, while GALA launched in 2021. The fact that both old and new coins comprise the highest gainers and losers breaks a trend seen in memecoins. There, new ones have increased at a much faster pace than old ones.
In the case of RON, there are new games that have released, potentially taking the place of AXS and bringing back interest in the Ronin sidechain.
Crypto Gaming Narrative Being Underestimated?
To conclude, the gaming narrative has taken a step back this cycle due to its underperformance. But, upon closer examination, this has only occurred because three large cap cryptocurrencies have performed terribly, dragging down the performance of the entire basket.
In contrast, RON, BEAM and GALA have outperformed Bitcoin this cycle, something that can continue the rest of the year.
