Game On: The Hottest Upcoming Gaming Token Airdrops

Airdrop season is in full swing, with apps, protocols, and other projects seizing upon signs this spring's bear market vibes to finally drop their tokens—and potentially reward millions of crypto users in the process.

What exactly is an airdrop, though? When it comes to crypto tokens, an airdrop is typically a way for a project to reward its early users and contributors by giving them a share of a newly launched token, all while spreading the tokens far and wide for decentralized governance.

When it comes to blockchain networks and tokens primed specifically for gaming, there are some pretty compelling airdrops on the horizon in the months ahead. Here’s a look at what’s coming for gamers—there may still be time to get involved and score some tokens ahead.

Notcoin

Notcoin is a gaming project that runs on messaging app Telegram, and it racked up over 35 million players who frantically tapped a shiny coin to mine trillions of Notcoin. The "mining phase" ended on April 1, however, and the game currently isn't offering rewards as it gears up to launch its NOT token on The Open Network (TON).

After a couple of missed targets in late April, the NOT token is finally dropping on May 16. Binance and OKX are both offering promotional campaigns for customers, with more than 4 billion NOT tokens offered up between them for staking rewards. We don't yet know when the airdrop claim will open up for Notcoin players.

Nyan Heroes

Solana hero shooter Nyan Heroes, which features cats piloting giant mech suits, held an early access playtest in late March and early April via the Epic Games Store on PC—which included a play-to-airdrop campaign. Now it's back for a second round of play-to-airdrop earning potential.

The Overwatch-like shooter's campaign awarded "MEOW" points to users, which will eventually translate into NYAN tokens for eligible early players. Now it has also added "CATNIP" points to earn, based on your skill. Owners of Nyan Heroes NFTs are eligible for even greater token rewards. It's not yet known when the actual token will launch, however.

Immutable zkEVM

Ethereum gaming platform Immutable has launched "The Main Quest," a rewards campaign tied to the growth of its recently-launched Immutable zkEVM layer-2 network.

Immutable says it will serve up at least $50 million worth of IMX token rewards for early users who play certain games like Guild of Guardians and MetalCore—both expected to launch in the near future—as well as users who trade Immutable NFTs and use Immutable zkEVM decentralized exchanges. More details here.

Saga Protocol

Saga is a new blockchain network designed primarily for gaming, so it makes sense that the way users could potentially earn a share of the airdrop was by playing games. Following “play-to-airdrop” campaigns across several games running on testnet, as well as other networks, the SAGA airdrop took place and the token is now live alongside mainnet.

Now that the mainnet is live, Saga is amping up the rewards engine again with a new set of airdrops planned for SAGA token stakers. The network is teaming up with projects across Ethereum, Solana, and Avalanche to offer stakers packs of tokens and NFTs from various games and apps. The first such airdrop will hand out $10 million worth of SAGA to stakers.

Illuvium

Illuvium is one of the most anticipated crypto gaming franchises, spanning multiple interoperable games—and the team behind them aims to boost adoption amid the upcoming open beta launch by tying in an airdrop campaign.

According to details from the team, Illuvium will reward players with "airdrop points" during the next private beta gameplay period from April 30 to May 28, and then also on the testnet open beta for anyone to play from May 28 until an undetermined date. At some point thereafter, the open beta will launch on mainnet and continue to award airdrop points to players.

Illuvium already has an ILV governance token, so it's unclear whether the project plans to hand out ILV itself or perhaps roll out a separate play-to-earn token within its ecosystem. Either way, the team said in a press release that the airdrop will be collectively valued at $25 million or more.

Nifty Island

Launched in open beta in January, Nifty Island is a sandbox-style game that mashes up the feel of Animal Crossing, Roblox, and Fortnite's Creative mode, letting you customize your own island and play with other users. And it offers a play-to-airdrop campaign with many different ways to potentially earn ISLAND tokens.

According to a tweet thread, Nifty Island will award users points based on factors like how much they play, how many players they refer into the game, and which other NFT assets they own in connected wallets. It's unclear when the token drop will happen, but people are flooding in to get a potential share of the ISLAND launch ahead.

MetalCore

MetalCore, a mech shooter building on Immutable zkEVM, is offering closed beta players "marks" (or points) that will translate into an airdrop allocation of the upcoming MCG token when it's generated. The closed beta runs until May 14. Studio369 previously told Decrypt's GG that it was aiming to launch an open beta and the token sometime in May, though it's unclear whether those estimates remain current.

On top of all this, MetalCore also announced a collaboration with the Mon Protocol that's operating the MON token tied to fellow Immutable zkEVM game, Pixelmon. MetalCore will add special quests that let players earn MON tokens, though it's still unclear when given that the games (and their respective tokens) still aren't open to the public.

Delabs Games

Delabs Games, the publisher behind the Mario Kart-esque Rumble Racing Star and other upcoming games, has launched its Ladybug's Journey Campaign, serving up reward points that will translate to an airdrop of GAME tokens. Points are given for playing games and completing missions tied to social media engagement and other acts. Click here for more details.

Apeiron

Along with Pixels, here's another game running on Axie Infinity's Ronin chain that's doing an airdrop campaign. Apeiron is billed as a glossy mash-up of classic god games (like Populous) and card-battling "roguelite" experiences, delivering an experience that's sure to require careful strategy.

In January, Apeiron revealed a play-to-airdrop campaign that will reward players of the Epic Games Store battle demo with points towards the future ANIMA token drop, along with incentives for completing other actions or owning certain NFTs. Click here for more details.

Pirate Nation

Pirate Nation, a fully on-chain strategy game built on an Arbitrum-based network, has launched a BOOTY reward points system tied to gameplay and social interactions, with accumulated points potentially used to "determine rewards further out to sea." Sounds like an airdrop to us. More details here.

BloodLoop

BloodLoop, an Overwatch-esque 5v5 hero shooter running on Avalanche, debuted its play-to-airdrop campaign on March 4. Over the course of three months, players will be able to test out the game and potentially earn a share of millions of BLS tokens via weekly competitions.

You'll have to play some amount of the game, though, as BloodLoop's Twitter account says you'll need to complete quests on a "battle pass" to unlock airdrop eligibility. Over 500,000 players have reportedly signed up already, making this a potentially buzzy one to watch, but it's unclear when to expect the game to go live. Sign-ups are set to close at the end of April, though.

AI Arena

AI Arena, a game that pairs Super Smash Bros-style brawling with artificial intelligence smarts, recently completed a play-to-airdrop campaign with 40 million NRN tokens up for grabs. Another 40 million tokens will be allocated for the game's NRN prize boxes. The game challenges players to train AI combatants that fight automatically on their behalf.

Following the conclusion of the latest play-to-airdrop competition wave, AI Arena's developers are sorting through the data before the token drops.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.

Editor's note: This story was originally published on December 27, 2023 and was last updated with new info on May 9.