Bit crypto airdrop bots, new features coming to Eluvium, PGA Tour Rise: Web3 Gamer

Where are all the new Web3 games this year? – Founder of Illuvium

Illuvium founder Kieran Warwick was wide-eyed this month when he suddenly realized how many Web3 games were launched in 2024.

“There should be more games out there these days,” Warwick told Web3Gamer, though he added that building good games takes a long time. Warwick knows this from his own experience over the past four years building Illuvium, an open-world fantasy combat and role-playing game. The much-anticipated game launched its beta version on July 25.

“We've delayed our launch for a while, and we're still in open beta, which means we plan to add a lot of new features to our games over the next 12 months,” he says.

It's not the only big game to drop a taste of the action this year – the highly anticipated blockchain-based extraction shooter Shrapnel released an Early Access game in February. The full game won't be out until 2025.

As for full game releases, Warwick's favorite release so far in 2024 is Heroes of Mavia, a blockchain-based strategy game built on the Ethereum blockchain.

“It's the first polished mobile game I've ever played. The focus is on gameplay first and economics second, which is the right approach,” Warwick explains.

“It was fun, and I played for a few hours,” he said, then had to get back to work running a game company with a market cap of $354 million.

“I'm not a long-term player in these kinds of games, so I stopped playing after a while.”

Sci-fi tournament card game Parallel is another 2024 release that Warwick says is a strong game, though he admits it's not really his “type of genre.” Parallel's goal is to dominate the Earth by battling opponents and building your card deck. Players come out ahead by draining their opponent's health to zero before doing the same.

“It went after Hearthstone players, and although there was still a long way to go, it was the first time that major streamers said they were going to switch to Parallels, mainly because of the card ownership model,” he says.

Tired of losing crypto airdrops to bots? This can be a solution

Will Confection Labs' new system finally remove bots from Web3 games, or will bots find another way to sneak back in? Only time will tell.

Vulnerability Verification is a new Invulnerable (NFT) permission list verification system developed by Confiction Labs – the team behind the co-op rogue-lite shooter Riftstorm – to eliminate the number of bots that install in web3 games.

With Vulnerability Verification, gamers and bots are thoroughly vetted through third-party APIs, data queries, and user input to ensure they are real people who want to join Confiction's Fict One community.

Basically, it's a “deep profile system” where players can share their professionally verified career stories, education, and writing skills to show that they're real people with feelings and a pulse.

Bots can boost numbers like annoying extras at a birthday party, but they're terrible for real, organic growth.

“Long-term bots are very detrimental to the health of any gaming community, and allowing them to roam freely in any ecosystem will always discourage newcomers.

“Games that the player counts as being accessed by bots are nothing more than a measure of futility,” he added.

“The only benefit bots offer to projects is to add a short-term image. In other words, it's advertising.”

Data shows that bots account for the majority of airdrops in games, which may explain why you haven't quit your day job yet.

According to a study by web3 marketing platform Cookie3, 70% of crypto airdrops end up with bot accounts. The problem of bots using airdrops has been a recurring complaint in the Web3 industry for years.

Meanwhile, according to bot prevention service Jigger, 40% of Web3 service users, including those involved in NFT license lists and Web3 games, have been flagged as bots.

“That's why it's so important that we not only reward the right users, but above all, quality users,” says Widhiyasa.

who knows? If it works, you can see many of your favorite Web3 games actually fighting bots and finally getting big airdrops.

PGA Web3 hopes to bring more people to golf

One of the oldest sports, golf, is getting its own Web3 game as part of a collaboration between game developer Stratton Studios and the PGA Tour, the world's largest golf tour.

“We believe Web3 has the potential to introduce new people to our sport,” Tom Jeffs, vice president of media business development at the PGA Tour, told Web3 Gamer.

“PGA TOUR RISE” is a blockchain mobile game that will launch its first mini-game in 2024, starting as an amateur golfer and making his way to the PGA.

You play in online tournaments and can tell your real-life friends some white lies about playing at famous courses like Valhalla Golf Club.

Personally, I can't think of anything worse than a day on the golf course, even with my best friends. I'm not a cricket fan either, but I love cricket video games, so maybe this will be the gateway to having some golf in my life.

The full game will drop in 2026, and we'll soon hear more about what kind of blockchain it's based on. While it's teasing benefits like winning “Legend Bucks,” we don't yet know how Web3 elements like crypto or NFTs will play out in the game.

“Web3 allows our fans to ‘capture' their in-game experience. In doing so, we are looking to Web3 technology as a way to unlock all kinds of innovative ways for fans to engage with the PGA TOUR,” Jeffs said.

Although this is the first official big-name blockchain golf game, you can experience blockchain-based golf games like Crypto Golf Impact, Bloat Golf, and Birdie Shot before its launch.

Other news:

– Online game platform Sandbox Italian football club S.S.C. The partnership gives fans the opportunity to connect and create memories with SSC Napoli fans around the world.

— Blockchain network SKALE has announced SKALE Swell, a new interactive adventure game designed to boost community engagement and reward players, welcoming millions into the Web3 space.

– Uprising Labs, the team behind the Uprising L2 blockchain sold its Genesis NFT collection for 1,111 NFTs in a matter of minutes.

— Autoverse Studios has raised $8 million to develop Auto Legends, a social drag-racing Web3 game that features everything from hosting races to collecting and racing cars.

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Ciaran Lyon

Ciaran Lyons is an Australian crypto journalist. He is also a freelance comedian and has been a radio and TV presenter on Triple J, SBS and The Project.