Move over DeFi and NFTs, it looks like play-to-earn (P2E) or GameFi is turning into the next big thing in the crypto industry. According to the BGA Blockchain Gaming Report, nearly 50% of all crypto wallets are connected to games.

Out of the 1.54 million Unique Active Wallets (UAW) seen during Q3 2021, the number of UAWs connected to gaming dApps stood at 754,000 – almost 50% of the total figure. Thanks to the explosive growth in the P2E segment through the previous quarter, the number of UAWs seen in the overall blockchain industry posted a growth of 25% QoQ and 509% YoY.

In addition, GameFi’s success is also lending a boost to the NFT space, with in-game NFT collectibles accounting for $2.32 billion in sales over the third quarter of the year. This was 22% of the entire trading volume that came in from NFTs during the period.

Axie Infinity’s NFTs went on to become the most traded collection, crossing leaders such as NBA Top Shot and CryptoPunks. Till date, the leading P2E experience is responsible for more than $2.5 billion worth of trading volume.

While the P2E movement shot into limelight with Axie Infinity, there were soon others in the space that went on to overtake its popularity. Trading card game Splinterlands went on to become one of the most played games over blockchain, seeing more than 245k daily UAW through the month of September – a spike by over 3,000% from the end of Q2 2021.