In another signal that Web3 gaming is having a moment, the floor price of Neo Tokyo, an NFT membership club with eyes towards the open metaverse, has risen from under 5 ETH to nearly 20 ETH in just 30 days. It has experienced an upsurge in trading volume as well, consistently amassing over 24 ETH in volume per day over the past 14 days, with a high of 245 ETH two days ago.
The statistics come from the Neo Tokyo Citizens collection, which has just 1,844 NFTs in total, of which only 3% are listed for sale. Neo Tokyo’s secondary collection, called Outer Identities, has experienced a similar revival, doubling in floor price and recording an upsurge in trading volume.
Other parts of the Neo Tokyo ecosystem are rising as well. The floor price of the Land Deeds collection has jumped from 1.3 ETH to 3 ETH as of this writing, with a large bump in trading volume too. All told, the three collections have combined for 36,982 ETH in volume since debuting in June 2023 (according to OpenSea), which amounts to $75.4 million.
Neo Tokyo (NT) is an unusual Web3 gaming project in that its NFTs largely function as membership tokens. On its site, the team writes that NT is a collection of “builders, developers, founders, and investors” who believe in the future of crypto gaming and metaverse experiences. In the copy on its page, the team adds that it believes a “Ready Player One” moment will happen, and that it wants to be the team building there before this moment occurs.
Ready Player One refers to the book of the same name by Ernest Cline, which features an immersive metaverse called Oasis, where most of humanity escapes to because of the slow destruction of Planet Earth. Those who are holders of NT NFTs can join divisions within the community, which have already produced various projects.
Neo Tokyo is the brainchild of Alex Becker and EllioTrades, two crypto influencers who post on both X and YouTube. They are known for market analysis and command strong followings. While there are multiple ways to join Neo Tokyo, people unfamiliar with collection are advised to simply purchase an NFT rather than try the more complex ways of creating one.
Web3 Gaming on the Rise
Neo Tokyo’s rise in floor price seems emblematic of the larger push in Web3 gaming: This part of the industry is having its moment in the sun. From Mythical Games debuting new titles to Immutable partnering with Amazon, more and more Web3 gaming companies are making news — a good sign for the space at large.
As a DappRadar report revealed about a month ago, Web3 gaming is succeeding while much of the space struggles. Among its highlights this year is fundraising: $2.3 billion raised through three quarters, with $600 million coming in the third quarter. In addition, that quarter saw an upsurge in unique active wallets, especially for move-to-earn games like Sweat Economy and SuperWalk.
Treasure DAO, a casual gaming studio, has also had a good year, accounting for $29 million in trading volume for Q3. Of course, there are the top companies, those that are trying to bridge the gap between Web3 and Web2 like Mythical Games and Immutable. Mythical Games titles have seen an upsurge in users and downloads on various app stores.
As a Mythical Games representative noted in our interview with them, Web3 gaming appears to be moving away from play-to-earn, with companies focused on creating games that are fun to play. According to Game7, a gaming company, the majority of Web3 games don’t even require NFTs, instead adhering to a free-to-play model.
With Web3 gaming on the rise and Web3 titles set to capture more of the video game industry market share, the sky is truly the limit. While time will tell if this part of Web3 reaches its potential, we are confident, especially given these signs, that it will.