Magic Eden Launches 'Mint Madness' With Free Web3 Gaming Mints

Non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Magic Eden is launching a series of free mints of Web3 games during March.

The launch has been dubbed "Mint Madness," a nod to the NCAA college basketball tournament known as "March Madness." In total, 13 Web3 games across the Ethereum, Solana and Polygon blockchains will be rolled out for free.

The games, developed by both traditional gaming studios and Web3-native creators, all use NFTs for in-game capabilities. Titles include the popular AAA first-person shooter game Shrapnel and gaming metaverse Planet Mojo.

“We’ve observed that many games entering Web3 do not necessarily need to use NFTs as a monetization tool. However, NFTs are a really important user engagement tool for them to share their vision and work with a highly captive and invested audience," said Chris Akhavan, chief gaming officer at Magic Eden.

To enhance engagement, Magic Eden will be posting a leaderboard of the top NFT traders across Mint Madness collections on its social media channels. The top 10 traders by volume on the Polygon collections will be entered into a prize pool of 20,000 MATIC (about $25,500), with the first place winner receiving a 4,500 MATIC (about $5,400) prize.

The NFT marketplace has signaled a growing interest in blockchain gaming. In December, the company hired former Electronic Arts executive Chris Akhavan to be its chief gaming officer, and last week, its venture arm Magic Eden Ventures invested in 11 Web3 gaming studios.

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