Over recent decades, all the biggest advancements in gaming have been driven by technological developments. From the point that Nintendo launched the first home gaming console more than 50 years ago, the race has been on to create better graphical processing capabilities for more immersive gameplay. The advent of the internet ushered in a new era of interactivity between players, with the launch of World of Warcraft in 2004 attracting millions of new users.
Within less than a decade, the emergence of smartphones transformed mobile gaming into the full-color, touchscreen experience we know today, thanks to the advent of smartphones. While many major game franchises, such as Call of Duty, have seen massive success with mobile versions, mobile-first titles such as Angry Birds and Candy Crush Saga have garnered massive global success and recognition in their own right.
The way this evolution has unfolded reveals an interesting feature about the development of gaming versus other types of entertainment media – each iteration has led to new segments that augment the existing market. According to Newzoo, there is still a sizable segment of 630 million console players and over 900 million PC players that co-exist alongside 2.8 billion mobile gamers. Of course, some users will even occupy two or even all segments. Contrast this with developments in movies or TV, where traditional formats are struggling in the age of streaming.
A New Layer to the Stack
So now we’ve reached the next era in gaming – Web3 – representing an opportunity to add a new layer to the multi-dimensional gaming market. According to growth data analyzed by Nansen, the Web3 gaming market could exceed $300 billion within the next five years.
One platform, in particular, occupies a unique position to supercharge Web3 gaming adoption, uniting the gamer experience with messaging and payment features, all on a smartphone screen. For most Web2 users, Telegram is just a messaging app, but over the coming months and years, it seems set to supercharge Web3 gaming by serving as a conduit to the masses.
Key to this is the TON blockchain, originally developed by the team behind Telegram. Even though TON (short for The Open Network) is now run independently by the TON Foundation, Telegram Messenger is well integrated with the platform, allowing users to trade crypto, make online payments, and play Web3 games. In 2024, TON’s Telegram-enabled games have been some of the most popular in the space, with titles such as Hamster Kombat and Notcoin gaining viral success and spawning the “tap-to-earn” genre.
Lucky Funatic, a game from Web3 platform Funtico, is turning into another notable title, gaining nearly 400k users on average each month. A huge part of the appeal of these games is the opportunity for tangible rewards, but with a low barrier to entry, requiring just a smartphone running Telegram and straightforward actions like tapping a button. In this way, tap-to-earn is more attractive to users who might have been put off by the complexity of play-to-earn games, the previous iteration of Web3 games led by titles such as Axie Infinity and The Sandbox.
In Lucky Funatic, the gameplay mechanics are based on energy and the native FUNZ token. Users expend energy units to generate FUNZ tokens by tapping, and taps grow stronger with each level up. Boosters, power-ups, one-off events, and rewards giveaways further augment gameplay and make for a more engaging experience. The game is just one title in the Funtico stable, which has a slew of new releases planned for 2025, along with a commitment to give away $100k each month in tournament prizes.
Harnessing the Engagement Factor
Thanks to the integration with Telegram, Funtico can communicate with Lucky Funatic players directly, while the project also has one of the best-performing Telegram channels in the USA. This activity reflects the typically high level of social engagement among the Web3 community, which has long favored Telegram as a communication platform. According to a 2024 survey by Coingecko, one-fifth of crypto users consider it their preferred social platform, with only X proving more popular.
Ultimately, access to engaged users is perhaps the most significant advantage of a Telegram integration. Projects like Funtico can tap into Telegram’s sizable user base as one of the top ten social networks in the world, with over 950 million users.
Without Telegram and TON, Web3 gaming has struggled to reach mass audiences, partly due to the complexities involved in crypto transactions – managing wallets, paying gas fees, and private key security. However, the ability for Web3 games and apps to reach a global user base via a simple messaging interface could prove to be the catalyst for the next big evolution in the worldwide gaming markets – driven as ever by technological innovation.
