If you thought Axie Infinity was a great crypto game, wait till you see the actual metaverse come into play. Facebook’s rebranding to “Meta” has put the spotlight on one of the most underserved sectors in crypto, i.e., gaming. The concept of metaverse or virtual worlds is not something new, but the seventh-largest company putting such emphasis has completely changed the narrative surrounding metaverse games, especially the ones built on blockchain.
This is currently having a ripple effect in the crypto industry, where several gaming startups are raising boatloads of money from some of the biggest venture capital firms. Many investors feel that gaming in crypto has a lot of potentials, and we haven’t even scratched the surface yet.
Top 10 Metaverse Crypto Coins With Good Potential to invest in
Recently, Solana Ventures and FTX joined hands with Lightspeed Venture Partners to invest $100 million in companies focussed on building a gaming metaverse. We also saw Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley, lead a funding round of $150 million for Mythical Games, a plat-to-earn game, putting it at a $1.25 billion valuation.
What this shows us is that development and innovation in crypto gaming have hit escape velocity. And we can expect to see fully functional games and metaverses sooner than expected. Before we can have that experience, we can still be a part of these projects by owning their native tokens. In this article, I will list the top 10 metaverse tokens that have the potential to outpace a popular game like Axie Infinity. Let’s get started!
#1 Decentraland (MANA)
Founded in 2017, Decentraland is one of the early projects to challenge building a decentralized virtual reality platform on the Ethereum blockchain. This unique metaverse play allows anyone to buy parcels of LAND and develop that plot into anything they wish. The number of parcels available is limited to 90,601. And each LAND is only 16 square meters. The native token of the metaverse that fuels the entire ecosystem is MANA. There are 2.2 billion tokens in supply, and 1.8 billion are in circulation. Token holders are given voting rights on policy updates and can propose details on LAND auctions.
#2 The Sandbox (SAND)
If things play out well for The Sandbox, it can easily surpass Axie Infinity in terms of market cap. The reason is simple — more utility value. The virtual world developed by The Sandbox is user-oriented and fits well with the fundamental principles of decentralization. The user-generated content ecosystem of The Sandbox has its own NFT marketplace and game platform. As users want to create and build a unique game in the metaverse, the SAND tokens come into play. Players will also be able to buy LAND and ESTATE to create even better and immersive online experiences. SAND tokens’ main use cases are platform access, governance, staking, and core foundation. As the game evolves, we can expect the scarcity of SAND tokens to go up, raising the token price significantly.
#3 Somnium Space (CUBE)
Somnium Space has garnered a lot of attention in the NFT industry as well as gaming in general. We now see NFT collections use the virtual worlds created by Somnimum Space to provide holders a unique 3D experience with their avatars. The WebXR platform of Somnium allows anyone to access any part of the metaverse, even in VR mode. A special thing about this project is that users can develop complete scenes on their land parcels and deploy full-body avatars. So, the integration of NFTs in a metaverse can be witnessed now. The token that fuels the whole platform is CUBE. It is a good value addition for players to make seamless transfers of assets. Unlike other metaverse projects, Somnimum Space decided to go with Polygon and remove the entry barriers for users worldwide.
#4 Bloktopia (BLOK)
Bloktopia is a relatively new project compared to others on this list, but it has attracted some top-tier investors (Animoca Brands) in the gaming space. The project also made several top crypto exchanges like KuCoin and Coinmarketcap launch their virtual offices within Bloktopia. It is also one of the metaverse projects, i.e., powered by the Polygon network. The game uses the most advanced real-time 3D creation engine, which will allow users to create and experience stunning visual effects in VR. The game has 21 levels, and some of the key zones are Spawning, Level One, and Auditorium. Like other metaverses, Bloktopia offers a marketplace for users to buy BLOK real estate via the NFT mechanism. The utility of the BLOK tokens increases with its staking program that provides up to 60% in annual yield.
#5 High Street (HIGH)
Another metaverse providing a play-to-earn opportunity to users is High Street. This project differs from others as it follows a hybrid virtual experience with half digital and half physical. It is the world’s first commerce-centric metaverse that would bring retail to a whole new world. NFTs are also an integral element of High Street’s virtual worlds. The platform adopts smart bonding curves to give instant liquidity to token holders. The utility of these tokens is, in some ways, better than others. As it allows users to buy ownership of real-life items, it becomes easier to top onboard brands and use their products as NFTs. Apart from this, users can simply spend time playing the game, completing quests to earn in-game tokens.
#6 Meta Hero (HERO)
Meta Hero brings a new type of technology to the metaverse with 3D scanning and modeling. With the help of this tech, users can seamlessly transform their real-world assets into NFTs of a metaverse. Meta Hero partnered with Wolf Studio, a world leader in 3D scanning, to perform extensive testing on some of the most popular gaming titles like CyberPunk 2077. The incorporation of meta scanners in the metaverse creates many use cases such as 3D printing, scanning network, and in-game character creation. The 4K HD scanners are now functional, but the team is already planning to upgrade to 16k ultra-HD. The utility token, HERO, is mainly used for transactions on the NFT marketplace, paying for scans and royalties.
#7 Epik Prime (EPIK)
Epik has a different business model compared to existing blockchain-based gaming projects. It helps businesses license and produces immersive blockchain-powered in-game experiences and NFTs. Epik is regarded as one of the industry leaders in empowering early-stage games and leading them into the mainstream gaming space. It has a client base of over 300 and has worked with many AAA gaming companies. Epik was also an early adopter of NFTs in 2018. It collaborated with many brands, companies, and global leaders to launch its NFT collection. What makes Epik different is that Epik is both an NFT technical platform and the world’s leading digital agency already producing unique in-game drops worth millions of dollars.
#8 Star Atlas (ATLAS)
A blockchain game with a dual token economy that is building one of the finest AAA gameplay is Star Atlas. After its trailer launch, the game has made quite a following on social media, and people are eager to witness this Solana-powered metaverse. The game is being built on Unreal Engine 5, giving it that cinematic feel and real-time environment. The token system is not the only differentiator for Star Atlas — it also provides an option to create cash flows via staking, battles for acquiring rare in-game items, and exploring different worlds for forming alliances. The game is still in its early stages, but the roadmap and team behind it — show us we are in for a masterpiece.
#9 Netvrk (NTVRK)
With a major emphasis on virtual reality and diversity in earning opportunities, Netvrk is addressing many existing market challenges. The target audience of this project is not limited to any age group or profession. Anyone from content creators to developers can benefit from the VR environments created by Netvrk. We see such concepts taking off in the near future because brands and businesses are exploring new ways to collaborate and advertise. And what better way could there be than a cost-efficient virtual interface. What’s so special about Netvrk is its customization features. Users can create games, build in a virtual space, and sell it to other gamers or turn it into an NFT. This opens up endless possibilities inside the metaverse, making it a better alternative than other top projects.
#10 RedFox (RFOX)
Red Fox Labs is a technology company that is currently building a virtual space for retail. It wants to be a standalone metaverse that offers immersive shopping experiences by combining gaming elements in RFOX VALT and Callinova Auction. Red Fox also has two tokens to facilitate the operations and other transactions within the ecosystem. The RFOX tokens are for buying land and virtual assets, whereas the VFOX is a rewards-based token. This company is also developing several other products such as RFOX Finance and RFOX Games that can complement the final metaverse.
Conclusion
The crypto industry is experiencing a sectoral rotation into gaming, and it will drive up the price of many of these metaverse tokens. But it is extremely important to understand that good games take time to develop. It will take 2 or 3 years to witness a fully functional game, so don’t FOMO into any of these projects if you are not committed long term. Understand the inner workings of the game before making any investment. I would suggest you play some of these games and gain first-hand experience. So you will know which one has the highest potential.