Magic Eden Rolls Out Free NFT Mints for 13 Web3 Games This Month

Magic Eden today announced the ‘Mint Madness,’ a series of free mints for over a dozen web3 gaming projects that will be rolled out during the month of March. ‘Mint Madness’ will begin on Friday, Mar 3, with Planet Mojo, exclusively on Polygon.

As part of ‘Mint Madness,’ Magic Eden will be posting a leaderboard across social media channels, tracking who is trading NFTs from the Mint Madness collections listed on the secondary marketplace. The top 10 traders of Polygon collections by volume will be entered into a prize pool of 20,000 MATIC, with the first-place finisher receiving a prize of 4,500 MATIC.

Among the 13 projects launching mints during the month, nine will be on Polygon, three will be on Ethereum, and one will be on Solana. Developed by traditional gaming studios and web3-native teams, these projects utilize NFTs for in-game capabilities and additional utility.

When asked about what the free-to-own web3 gaming model (pioneered by Limit Break’s Gabriel Leydon) would mean for the future of web3 gaming, Magic Eden’s Chief gaming officer Chris Akhavan told Metaverse Post:

“Free mints (aka free-to-own) has become a dominant strategy in web3 gaming over the past few months. By giving a curated group of gamers access to free NFT mints, game developers are rewarding early adopters who will help them build a community around their games.”

 He added that the free-to-own model is becoming a powerful form of user acquisition in an industry that has seen major challenges building audiences in an extremely crowded gaming market. 

“Early adopters have always been the lifeblood of successful games, and web3 technology enables a much more rewarding connection to these valuable cohorts through on-chain digital asset ownership,” he said.

The full list of games available during ‘Mint Madness’ include:

• Planet Mojo, Meta Star Strikers, Alaska Gold Rush, Shrapnel, Petobots, Blast Royale, Rogue Nation, Tearing Spaces, and Freckle Trivia on Polygon
• Realm Hunter, Legendary: Heroes Unchained, and Shrapnel on Ethereum
• Papu Superstars on Solana. 

Planet Mojo, Meta Star Strikers, and Alaska Gold Rush will be the first games to roll out free minting on the Magic Eden Launchpad within the first two weeks of March. Shrapnel, a popular AAA FPS title, will be the lone project to feature a cross-chain mint through Magic Eden, launching on Polygon on Mar 15 and Ethereum on Mar 22. 

Magic Eden has been making a push into web3 gaming in recent months after announcing its integration with Polygon. Last week, the platform announced that its venture arm, Magic Ventures, has invested in 11 web3 gaming studios.