Gaming on Arbitrum - A Guide for DAO Members

General
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I’m a 90s kid, and I still remember the day my dad brought home our first PC. The first game I ever played was Prince of Persia. Jumping over spikes, sword fights, and trying to rescue the princess.

I was too young to figure it out on my own, so I’d ask older kids to help me get past the tough parts. That was my first real experience with gaming.

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I’ve never called myself a “gamer,” but the truth is, I still play games almost every day.

Whether it’s a quick match of PUBG with colleagues, a casual mobile game, or something new I’ve discovered on Farcaster, gaming has stayed a part of my life.

That’s why, as a delegate in the Arbitrum DAO, I felt it was important to dive deeper into the gaming industry, especially games being built on Arbitrum.

Our Gaming Catalyst Program (now called AGV - Arbitrum Gaming Ventures) is currently one of the DAO’s biggest bets for the future. To really understand it, I spent the last few months playing, testing games, reading, and doing my research.

This post is the result of that journey. I wrote it to share what I’ve learned with other delegates and friends of the DAO. I hope it helps you get a better view of where gaming and Arbitrum are headed.

Gaming industry in numbers

Here are a few numbers to give you a better understanding of the gaming industry.

  • The gaming industry will be worth $200+ billion in 2025 (more than the film and music industries combined).
  • Mobile gaming leads the charge, accounting for around 50% of total revenue, followed by consoles and PC.
  • There are over 3.3 billion gamers worldwide in 2024. That’s nearly 40% of the global population.
  • The largest markets by user base is Asia-Pacific (especially China, Japan, South Korea), followed by North America and Europe.
  • Average gamer age: 34 years old.
  • Gender breakdown: Roughly 48% female, 52% male globally.
  • One of the highest-grossing games of all time are Minecraft, World of Warcraft, and GTA 5.
  • For example, Fortnite made over $20 billion since launch (mostly from in-game purchases).
  • Honor of Kings: Over $18 billion, largely from China. (mobile game)
  • Candy Crush Saga: Over $12 billion
  • Monopoly Go! achieved $2.5 billion in consumer spending. Making it the mobile game with the highest consumer spending in 2024.
  • AAA game development can cost anywhere from $50 million to $1 billion (e.g. Star Citizen, GTA VI).
  • Indie games budgets can range from $10k to $500k, often crowdfunded or self-funded.
  • Esports market size is between $2 billion and $6 billion, with tens of millions of fans tuning in to major events like The International or League of Legends Worlds.
  • Top streamers on Twitch and YouTube Gaming earn millions via subscriptions, sponsorships, and donations.

State of Web3 Gaming

The 2024 State of Web3 Gaming Report, published by Game7 in collaboration with Naavik, provides an independent and data-driven analysis of crypto gaming. This report was also quoted in the latest Arbitrum Foundation 2024 report and offers some good insights.

Here are a few key findings from the report:

  • Telegram has become a significant platform for Web3 game development, accounting for 21% of new game launches in 2024 as publishers use it for complementary experiences and user acquisition.
  • Immutable and Arbitrum ecosystems experienced substantial growth, with Immutable growing 71% and Arbitrum 68% over the past year, with Arbitrum’s growth significantly driven by its Orbit Framework establishing specialised Layer 3 networks. (ApeChain, Xai, …)
  • Globally, APAC teams added the most new Web3 games (39%) in 2024, closely followed by North America (36%).
  • The industry continues to show more interest in new gaming chains than in new game titles, with 104 new network announcements compared to 252 new game announcements by Q3 2024, although developer exits have seen a notable reduction.
  • A significant portion of Web3 games in major ecosystems are not yet in a playable state (45%) or integrated with blockchain infrastructure (34%)
  • Funding for the sector increased by 17% Year-over-Year up to Q3 2024, marked by a clear shift towards smaller, strategic rounds focused on upcoming token launches, and gaming token launches themselves increased by 200% YoY4.

To learn more about it I suggest reading the report or/and listen to the podcast with Naavik about this topic.

Gaming on Arbitrum

In June 2024, Arbitrum DAO voted and confirmed the launch of the Gaming Catalyst Program (now rebranded to Arbitrum Gaming Ventures), a 200m ARB fund to expand the gaming ecosystem on Arbitrum and establish the network as the top choice for game builders across the landscape.

Timeline of the GCP

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Source: EOY 2024 report: https://docsend.com/view/8bnfviruwfc4igjp

Listen to Steven Goldfeder, co-founder of Arbitrum and CEO of Offchain Labs talk about Arbitrum Gaming Ventures and how Arbitrum DAO will benefit from it.

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LISTEN HERE: https://youtu.be/v39AGfPQeSw?si=Omn7K7EsG1UxpF8k&t=4889

The AGV website was recently updated to provide some clearer information about the fund, how it works, and the team behind it.

This is the team behind Arbitrum Gaming Ventures (at the moment of writing this post):

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Source: https://arbitrumgamingventures.com/about-us

In early May 2025, after operating in stealth mode, Arbitrum Gaming Ventures officially launched and announced its first batch of investments to the DAO: https://x.com/ArbitrumPlay/status/1920545754432877026

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In March 2025, the Game Developers Conference (GDC) took place in San Francisco, where AGV made a strong impact.

The event received high praise from many Arbitrum staff and delegates. Some of the companies presented in the Arbitrum booth can be seen in this X post.

Also, check out this great video recap of GDC by Yellowpanther, a gaming content creator and Arbitrum global ambassador: https://x.com/yellowpantherx/status/1909600984806179238

How to get more involved in the AGV

  1. Join the open monthly calls (calendar link)
  2. Follow the AGV X account: https://x.com/ArbitrumPlay

Guide: Try out games and get involved in Gaming on Arbitrum

To get a real feel for the games AGV (or Arbitrum DAO) has invested in, I recommend trying them out yourself.

I put together a guide with all the key info (links, video guides, short descriptions), and how much time each one takes to explore.

Just keep in mind that some of the games are still in early stages.

Pirate Nation

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Pirate Nation is a free-to-play, onchain pirate-themed role-playing game (RPG) played on Proof of Play Apex. It offers activities where you explore the Infinite Isles, build ships, assemble pirate crews, and hunt for treasure.

The main activities involve using energy to send pirates on quests, gather resources, and engage in combat (combat decks). Doing these things rewards you with experience points (XP), allowing your pirates to level up and unlock new abilities. The game is designed to be easy for both casual and experienced gamers and is available directly in your browser.

While the gameplay, logic, data, economy, and NFTs reside on the Arbitrum Orbit-based network (marketplace link), the $PIRATE token itself is an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum Mainnet.

Players can convert $PIRATE to Gems for use in the game, creating a link between the two networks. Staking $PIRATE tokens and Founder’s Pirates NFTs also involves interactions with the onchain system.

Captain Laserhawk: the G.A.M.E.

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Captain Laserhawk: the G.A.M.E. is a competitive top-down multiplayer shooter developed by Ubisoft. It is set in the dystopian world of Eden and is inspired by the Netflix series Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix.

The game is linked to an exclusive, limited-edition NFT collection. Holding one of these NFTs serves as a gateway to the game experience, giving players access to features like its governance model, user-generated content, and reward systems.

This allows players to influence future game updates, contribute their own creations, unlock rewards, and enhance their NFT’s value.

The NFTs are called Niji Warrior ID Cards (secondary market costs $3-$4) and their metadata evolves based on player activity and skill, measured by an Eden Score, which affects perks and governance influence. NFT holders also receive early access to the game and membership in an exclusive community.

Wildcard

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Wildcard is a 2v2 action game, a player-versus-player (PVP), collectible card-based, multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game.

It combines elements from MOBAs and trading card games. In the game, players take control of powerful Champions, build decks of collectible cards to summon unique companion creatures, and battle in arenas.

The goal is to outplay opponents, get past their goalie, and destroy their goal. The game is designed with spectating in mind and aims for esports aspirations.

Team Liquid, a global esports organization founded in 2000 and known as the most successful in the Western market in terms of competitive achievement, viewership, and fan engagement, has announced a collaboration with Wildcard. This partnership is expected to significantly boost Wildcard’s esports aspirations.

Team Liquid has been intimately involved in crucial behind-the-scenes playtesting, led by their content creators and former League of Legends pros, Samson “Lourlo” Jackson and Bo Yuan “bobqin” Qin. Read more about it here in this article on VentureBeat.

Caliverse (Lotte Group)

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Caliverse, developed by Lotte Innovate Co., is a hyper-realistic metaverse platform designed to seamlessly blend digital and physical experiences.

Unveiled at CES 2024 and expanded at CES 2025, it allows users to interact with ultra-realistic virtual content, purchase digital goods that can be delivered physically, and engage in immersive entertainment and shopping experiences.

At CES 2025, Caliverse featured eight interactive zones showcasing its capabilities, including VR concerts with K-POP and EDM artists, AI-driven 3D content, and virtual shopping tied to Lotte’s retail brands. Its emphasis on user-generated content and digital-physical integration positions it as a leading next-gen metaverse platform.

Tollan Universe

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Tollan Universe is a strategy and adventure game on Xai (Xai is an Ethereum Layer-3 that leverages Arbitrum), inspired by ancient Mesoamerican myths and futuristic worlds.

Players control powerful characters called Tollans and compete to explore new realms, build alliances, and earn rewards.

The game runs on the Xai blockchain, so all items and characters truly belong to the players, with fast and smooth gameplay.

Hyve Labs

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In this podcast, co-founder/CEO, Lucas Fulks and co-founder/CTO Cori Grohman dive deep into how blockchain is seamlessly integrating into gaming, making traditional app stores and clunky downloads a thing of the past: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY0LypuWebA

Did you like this kind of guide?

If you’ve made it this far, thank you!

I hope you enjoyed the post and that it helped you better understand gaming, web3 gaming, and Arbitrum’s role in it. Writing it definitely made me feel more confident about the future.

At the Arbitrum DAO, we need to be more engaged. Gaming (one of our biggest bets) deserves more attention.

If you found this guide helpful, please like, comment on, or share it!

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Great job looking into this @Tekr0x.eth!

The first cohort from AGV was fantastic and the growth trajectory is looking great.

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Thanks for the detailed review

I also read the report and tried to launch some games, to be honest, it didn’t work with all of them, and on WildCard I couldn’t even fully load the video to watch the gameplay

In addition to the general review, I would like to hear your opinion - what do you think -

  1. are we on the right track?
    I see from the statistics that gaming is growing in Arbitrum, but perhaps this is a consequence of the fact that before this there was practically nothing there, and Treasury left Arbitrum and there were no attempts to negotiate with them to keep them.
  2. In addition, the complete disregard for the blockchain by the top game developers you mentioned, who create League of Legends Worlds, Minecraft, World of Warcraft, and GTA, is disconcerting. Why do you think that is?
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The link I shared for Wildcard is a gameplay clip from one of their YouTube streams. There was also a stream on the Arbitrum X channel two weeks ago. You can watch it here: https://x.com/ArbitrumPlay/status/1923453837341245627

Right now, the game isn’t publicly available. You need to be accepted into the Playtest to try it out (you can request access through Steam). Even if you’re accepted, playtests only happen on specific dates. The most recent one was on Sunday, May 25th.

You asked some great questions. :slight_smile: One of my main goals in testing these games and listening to reports and podcasts is to give other delegates a chance to form a deeper opinion, beyond just what I post. That’s also why I try not to include too much of my own opinion, but I can try with a reply here:

It’s still early to say, but the first six investments are a very positive sign to me. The portfolio is already showing good diversity. According to their latest reports, we can expect around 5 to 15 more investments from AGV this year.

The games we’ve seen so far weren’t built as a result of AGV funding. Those investments happened recently. But they might give us a sense of where the teams could go. Like most VCs, AGV likely invested in the teams themselves, not just the products.

As for Treasury leaving Arbitrum, I think it was more of a power move by a few individuals on the team, and not really about the chain or the wider community.

At the peak of the last Web3 gaming cycle, a lot of AAA studios started talking about blockchain. I think the reason we haven’t seen much action from them yet is because these companies are big and slow to move. It’s also a risky shift. It’s more likely we’ll see smaller studios lead the way, and if they succeed, that momentum could influence the bigger names through user demand.

That said, the gaming industry is massive and very profitable, and I believe Web3 will find its place in it. I agree with a take from TG that things like Play-to-Earn didn’t play out fine. The next wave of success will likely come from developers who use blockchain more subtly, mostly in the background, for things like asset trading and maybe even account management.

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