News

The crypto and NFT gaming space is busier than ever lately, what with prominent games starting to release, token airdrops piling up, and a seemingly constant array of other things happening at all times. It’s a lot to take in!

Luckily, Decrypt ’s GG is all over it. And if you need a quick way to get caught up on the latest moves around crypto video games, we’re happy to present This Week in Crypto Games.

Our weekend roundup serves up the biggest news from the past week, along with a few other tidbits you might have missed. We also showcase a few of our original stories from the week.

Biggest news

X Empire airdrop details: Rising Telegram game X Empire , formerly known as Musk Empire , revealed that its “ mining phase ” will end September 30 and gave details on how the airdrop will be allocated . Any in-game progression after the mining phase ends will not be considered when it comes to the airdrop. The ending of this phase will be one of the final major steps towards the airdrop.

Three criteria were later detailed for players to consider. Primarily, players must have a TON wallet connected to the game—otherwise there will be nowhere for tokens to be airdropped to. The post also highlights that in-game profit-per-hour is a key metric that the game is using for airdrop allocation. Finally, inviting friends has been a key gameplay mechanic and will be considered in the airdrop, especially if you onboarded “quality” players of the game. It's not yet clear how "quality" will be judged.

Citizen token launch date: Catizen , a Telegram-based puzzle game, announced that its token will launch on September 20 following a delay that pushed its CATI token—which will be minted on The Open Network (TON)—out from its original July target.

On Thursday, crypto exchange Bybit posted that it will list CATI for spot trading on September 20. Catizen shared the news through its official channels, as well, confirming the date in the process. Airdrop timing has yet to be confirmed, but its likely to happen alongside the token generation event.

SuiPlay0x1 specs revealed: More details about the upcoming crypto gaming handheld console SuiPlay0x1 were revealed on Tuesday by Playtron alongside Mysten Labs, the core team behind the Sui blockchain. Pre-orders for the device have also opened, with the first 1,000 buyers receiving a soulbound NFT reward with future perks teased.

The crypto gaming device is currently priced at $599 plus shipping and tax. It has been confirmed that the SuiPlay0x1 will come with 512GB of SSD storage, packed with an AMD Ryzen 7 7840U CPU and AMD Ryzen 780M graphics card. Pair that with a 1,920x1,200 7-inch LCD screen and the Linux-based operating system Playtron , and it's poised to be a unique challenger to Valve's Steam Deck. .

ICYMI

• Overwatch-style shooter Nyan Heroes returned to the Epic Games Store with a new airdrop campaign .
• Telegram game W-Coin picked TON for its token after players shunned Solana and Ethereum in an in-game poll.
• Ronin farming game Pixels revealed details of in-game events and further teased its Telegram game.
• Pixels also hosted an in-game wedding for two of its players, which took place at the same time as their real-world wedding.

• Skale Labs teamed with Moxy , an esports startup from Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, which will build on Ethereum layer-2 network Skale.
• Ronin game Ragnarok: Monster World will hold its next beta test beginning September 10. We enjoyed the last one .
• Bored Ape Yacht Club maker Yuga Labs' Dookey Dash Unclogged game will hold a $1 million competition starting on September 12.
• Solana-based gaming network Sonic will host a node sale beginning September 16.
• Metaverse gaming startup Futureverse selected Ripple to handle custody for its digital assets.

GG spotlight

Here are a few of our original stories from this past week that we think are well worth a weekend read: