The rise of user activity on the Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution platform, Polygon, is causing ripples in the blockchain gaming industry. According to a recently published “Blockchain Games Report,” the number of unique active wallets (UAWs) using Polygon increased by 53% in March, reaching 138,081. This surge led to Polygon becoming the second-largest blockchain gaming network, trailing Wax, which boasts 314,000 UAWs, while Hive and BNB Chain had 84,000 and 80,000, respectively.
Polygon’s UAW surged by 53% in March
One significant contributor to this increase was the massively popular Hunters On-Chain game by BoomLand. According to DappRadar data, UAWs for the game increased by over 17,000% in the last 30 days. This Minecraft-style role-playing game was launched in January and leverages nonfungible token (NFT) integrations. On March 9, the game reached a record-high UAW count of approximately 55,300. However, the exact causes of the recent surge in interest are still unclear, although anticipation for an in-game NFT sale on March 31 could have been a contributory factor.
The platform deepens activities in the NFT sector
Apart from gaming, the platform is also becoming a frontrunner in the NFT industry. Recently, Polygon Labs, the team behind the platform, has entered high-profile partnerships with companies like Adidas, Reddit, and Adobe, indicating bullish momentum in the NFT space. The team also launched an open-source Ethereum Virtual Machine equivalent zero-knowledge rollup on March 27, allowing DApps to scale rapidly by unlocking higher performance while reducing gas fees for transactions.
Though on-chain gaming activity decreased by 3.33% in March, according to the report, the entire gaming industry still contributed to 45.6% of the DApp industry activity in Q1 2023. These developments all point to a positive future for Polygon as it solidifies its position in the blockchain gaming realm and beyond.
