This week was marked by giveaways, from Reddit to Super Bowl. Did you grab any of the free NFTs offered?

Also in our weekly digest:

• Square Enix and Polygon partner up for a Web3 title
• Limit Break's Super Bowl ad considered a fiasco by some
• LeBron's NBA Top Shot NFTs skyrocket after record-breaking NBA performance
• Are E-sports tournaments dipping their toes into blockchain?
• Amazon invests in Web3 Friendly studio in a $20M round

Web3 Gaming News 🎮

• Square Enix, creator of Final Fantasy, partners with Polygon for NFTs to offer a unique experience tied to a storyline that players will unfold in a virtual (turn-based) adventure.
• Cross the Ages is now officially live on the ImmutableX marketplace and their collection blasted off to the top 3 with a $750,000 trading volume in just 24 hours
• Limit Break paid $6M for an ad during Super Bowl with a QR code directing to CEO’s Twitter. Despite complaints, the 10k NFTs were distributed and then traded on secondary markets
• Dookey Dash race has ended! Fortnite pro player @Mongraal wins the competition promoting this exciting Yuga Labs Ethereum NFT racing game
• Merit Circle DAO started a grant program focused on Web3 gaming, offering $10k for researchers and $25k for developers that participate.
• Lebron broke the NBA all-time scoring record and his NBA Top Shot NFTs are flying with nearly $234k in secondary sales within 4 days.
• Avatar, a mysterious Chinese project with GameFi label, has amassed over 25M $MATIC becoming the 5th biggest whale and its legitimacy concerns some holders.
• Animoca Brands invests in Virtual Arts, the creator of DanceFight, in which users compete in 1v1 battles recording signature dance moves starting in May 2023.
• Ev.io launches monthly survival tournaments with each event having a reward budget of $5,000 shared between all the participants
• Gaming chain Oasys onboards Japanese group Softbank as validator to verify transactions on-chain which makes it 25 validators in total with Bandai Namco, SEGA, Square Enix as the biggest ones
• Is play-to-earn 2.0 coming? Check out YGG's guild advancement plans today on live-stream

Web3 Gaming Trends 🚀

• Reddit has minted about 1.3M Super Bowl NFTs on Polygon onboarding millions to Web3 by leveraging mainstream events and positioning the industry for wider adoption in 2023.
• Esports organizations have begun using blockchain to host tournaments and distribute prize pools, according to Dave Harris, managing director of esports investment firm Guinevere Capital.
• Blockchain gaming active users dropped 30% in three months but John Linden, CEO of Mythical Games with a $1B valuation, is hopeful for the future as multiple Web3 games started surpassing a million users already.
• Footprint Analytics 2022 GameFi report displays a rising trend in new game developments. In 2022, BNB attracted the highest number of new protocols - 296. Polygon doubled its gaming protocols from 153 to 306, Wax from 53 to 137. The trend is expected to rise even more vigorously in 2023.

Exploring the Metaverse 🛸

• Designer Vivienne Tam partnered with Animoca Brands and Hepha to create a metaverse environment at her New York Fashion Week show demonstrating the potential of Web3 in art and entertainment.
• Metacoms partnered with Polygon. The users can navigate through Metaverse to create and sell their own apps with the help of AI.
• Leading Web3 Game Incubator Seedify officially launched its Metaverse, Seedworld. The mint of their first NFT collection is scheduled for February 20
• Sandbox partners with ZeptoLab, creator of Cut The Rope with more than a billion downloads, to offer a unique Web3 experience

Funding News 💸

• Finnish game developer Tower Pop has raised $2.1m in funding for its new game, Omega Royale. After this round, Tower Pop has raised $2.8M in total.
• Mino Games raised $15M to create a Dimensionals Web3 game. The company has so far raised $25M for its various Web3 gaming projects.
• Amazon Funds Web3-Friendly Studio Superplastic in $20M round get first dibs TV shows, films and gamified experiences

This is a guest post from Yoda Labs that has been edited for style. Find the original publication here.

Where to find Yoda Labs:

Website | Twitter | Blog |