Blockchain Gaming World

Animoca Minds, MapleStory integrates Verse8 AI game-making tools, GOAT Gaming shuts down and Forkast esports prediction market.
[1:11] This week has seen an explosion in interest about AI agents, notably Clawbot and Moltbook.
[3:10] With ClawBot, you can create an AI assistant with access to your entire computer.
[5:14] It was also a massive security issue.
[6:20] Other people criticized it for just being Stochastic Parrots, not real intelligence.
[9:50] Animoca Brands has announced Animoca Minds, based on CryptoSlam's Ethoswarm tech.
[11:53] A key issue for this technology is its cost, particularly who will pay for the tokens.
[13:00] Animoca Minds is focused on onchain activity, such as token trading.
[15:36] What are the synergies between AI agents and blockchain?
[18:00] Likely Animoca Minds will be fairly limited in functionality at launch.
[20:54] AI agents will need crypto to operate online and pay for their activity.
[23:13] Also, humans will need to prove they are humans, which is easy to do onchain.
[25:40] Will we see more cozy games and human-centric activities like jigsaws and coloring?
[27:40] Nexpace is integrating genAI game-making tech Verse8 into MapleStory Universe.
[33:52] GOAT Gaming is shutting down as Wearemighty shifts to making games using AI tools.
[38:18] BCGW 206 was about esports and emerging markets-centric prediction market Forkast.
[44:36] Ubisoft's Might & Magic Fates is live on mobile/PC on Immutable.

Jon Jordan talks to Forkast CEO Chris Gonsalves and Arbitrum Gaming Ventures Ethan Sy.
[1:12] Ethan's history. He was previously at Play Ventures, investing in web2/3 gaming.
[3:05] Chris started at Bitcoin Center. Moved to Consensys, then co-founded Community Gaming.
[4:26] Esports prediction markets launched within Community Gaming, which became Forkast.
[4:56] Chris believes prediction markets will take market share from all trading apps.
[9:15] The worst time to invest in blockchain gaming was when everyone was investing.
[12:07] Arbitrum is the solo LP in AGV, but the fund is returns-focused, not just ecosystem-focused.
[15:06] How does Forkast compete with Polymarket and Kalshi etc?
[16:19] Forkast is a prediction market for gamers and esports fans, focused on emerging markets.
[17:55] "We think esports predictions are a huge, untapped global market."
[23:25] Forkast includes rewarded quests and gamified features to encourage engagement.
[24:50] Trading on the metrics of individual companies such as Apple and Tesla will be huge.
[27:17] Allowing users to create their own prediction markets is tricky due to how they are resolved.
[28:45] Is the 'financialization of everything' a good thing for society?
[35:27] What do esports teams think about prediction markets like Forkast?

In this episode, we look at the rise of Animoca, and the rise and fall of its metaverse project The Sandbox.
[0:24] This week's show focuses on the details arising from Animoca's 2022 financials.
[1:11] 2022 was a long time ago, but the report also discloses more recent financial details.
[4:00] Animoca's business is particularly complex, even without worrying about crypto.
[6:58] The most interesting details are about The Sandbox.
[8:45] Around 50% of Animoca's balance sheet is illiquid tokens such as SAND, MOCA, and EDU.
[9:40] Animoca bought The Sandbox dev Pixowl for $5 million in 2018.
[11:10] At one point in 2021, The Sandbox was Animoca's main financial asset.
[13:35] In 2022, Animoca spent over $100 million buying game devs, which it's since written off.
[20:28] Animoca bought 30% of The Sandbox's holding company from its co-founders for $125 million.
[25:20] The Sandbox first launched its alpha season in 2021. It's still in alpha.
[28:25] Could genAI and AI agents help resurrect The Sandbox?
[31:20] Now the valuation of The Sandbox is marginal for Animoca as a whole; less than 10%.
[32:29] Animoca listing on Nasdaq will be good for the whole crypto sector.

Jon Jordan talks to Skale Labs CEO Jack O’Holleran about how the Ethereum-centric L1 blockchain network is expanding to Base, helping launch mobile game PGA Tour Rise, and preparing for the explosion of onchain AI agents.
[1:30] The background to mobile game PGA Tour Rise, which is launching on Skale and Base.
[2:55] The game mixes golf course building tycoon strategy with golfing mini-gameplay.
[5:20] Blockchain gaming is gaming with much better economic rails.
[7:13] Skale is expanding to Base via its SKALE Expand v1 program
[10:35] This expansion is seamless for users; they just get faster, cheaper transactions.
[12:08] If this works well, Skale will expand to other EVM chains, and perhaps even Solana.
[13:58] This allows users being able to deploy their liquidity across multiple chains without bridging.
[17:08] "Games will be a major place for agentic commerce." The two are complementary.
[20:22] a16z reckons AI agents will be a $30 trillion market. That's the potential.
[22:16] Skale is also rolling out a new privacy L1 called FAIR, which will be important for agents.
[26:14] "The AI movement will drive a lot of attention back into blockchain gaming."

Read the full article at https://www.blockchaingamer.biz/features/41347/top-50-blockchain-game-companies-2026/
[6:55] One of the trends is the rise of games with degen mechanics, notably YGG at #3.
[8:35] YGG's positioning of LOL Land as a "Casual Degen" game - a casual game with degen rewards.
[10:30] These games have been a (relative) success. Mass-market web3 games haven't been.
[12:55] Also in the Top 50, Cambria, Gigaverse and Fishing Frenzy use this degen mechanic.
[15:37] Even Mythical Games is moving towards this with its Pulse Arena platform.
[19:35] Sky Mavis' Ronin blockchain has a lot of these degen games running on it.
[27:02] Dacoco's Alien Worlds is an underappreciated web3 game for its DAO focus.
[35:00] CCP's EVE Frontier is the prime example of a bottom-up, fully onchain MMORPG.
[41:18] Roblox-with-blockchain Hytopia launched in 2025 with 2.5 million mobile downloads.
[44:27] The #1 company is MapleStory Universe dev Nexpace (Nexon).
[52:04] Also ... Bitcoin game payment company ZBD announced a $40 million Series C funding round.