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Of all the consumer apps I’ve used in the past year, there’s only a handful I’ve used on a near daily basis. Besides the usual suspects of wallets and NFT marketplaces, one of them has been Fantasy Top, a fantasy sports meets Twitter influencers game.
If you want to learn more about Fantasy and learn how the app has evolved over the past 12 months, check out my pieces on them (clearly I’m a fan…tasy Top player 😜):
So why write about them again?
Last month Fantasy Top announced they were launching a free to play version of their game on Monad’s Testnet (an alt-L1 that recently launched).
Fantasy initially launched on Blast just over a year ago, and although they haven’t grown exponentially, they haven’t faded into irrelevance either, sporting a steady onchain DAU count and a robust treasury balance (~8000 ETH, ~$17.5M) through the ebbs and flows of the market.
Makesy’s reply to the announcement sums it up well:
WTF does that mean TPan?! I know, I had to think about what makesy meant by this for a little while to comprehend it in my own way. And the best way for me is by bringing in examples outside of this bubble.
Mobile apps
Many mobile apps might start off their beta on one of the major platforms (Apple App Store or Google Play) or in specific geos to get a sense of business KPIs, marketing efficiency, user behavior, and ultimately go/no go for investing more into the app’s expansion or launch.
Sometimes, these apps have multiple phases of beta launch and expansion. If everything looks good, they turn on the jets and release it globally and across platforms to make a splash and maximize distribution, adoption, and network effects.
An example of this is one of the GOATs of mobile games, Supercell. They’ve historically been notorious (and rightfully so) for extensive beta testing and killing titles that don’t meet their high benchmarks. As a result, the team has launched some of the most successful mobile titles that continue to be in the top grossing and top downloaded charts today including Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, and Brawl Stars.
They’re no stranger to launching in a calculated manner and then scaling titles that make it or killing titles that don’t.
As mobile games start hitting their benchmarks, they start expanding across operating systems and geos, and we’re seeing Fantasy do their version of ‘geo’ expansion, but through different chains. First Blast and now Monad.
Console Games
The same goes with console games. Although some may have exclusive deals to stay on one particular console, the most successful titles like GTA V go broad to reach gamers where they are.
Brand social accounts
Same with brands and awareness on different social platforms. Like the movie, they need to be Everything Everywhere All At Once lol.
What I want to highlight here is that Fantasy is creating different versions of their app in different ecosystems/chains. Apps typically support multiple chains through a singular app/UI, with the easiest example being crypto wallets. One app supporting multiple chains.
Fantasy is two apps supporting two chains (at least on the frontend).
Do you like McDonald’s? If you don’t, share this with 100 people!
By creating a Monad-specific version of the Fantasy app, the team is able to tweak and create certain features to cater to the ecosystem. Some observations:
Ecosystem-specific heroes
Because each network is different, Fantasy added exclusive heroes that were more relevant and specific to Monad users and the Monad ecosystem.
Every ecosystem has a different cultural flavor and Fantasy is respecting and reflecting that through the heroes available to play. Not dissimilar to how McDonald’s Happy Meal toys are region-specific.
Whitelist Roulette
Fantasy also introduced a new feature, Whitelist Roulette. Players who compete in the free tournaments and participate in X giveaways earn tickets which can be redeemed for whitelist spots to popular Monad NFT mints on Magic Eden.
Smart move to drive user growth, engagement, and retention, while becoming a launchpad partner for the broader Monad ecosystem!
Driving users back to the main app
Even though the Fantasy app on Monad is separately from the Fantasy app on Blast, there are a couple of points that tie the two together.
One is through the third option to earn Whitelist Roulette tickets — purchasing Shiny Packs (promo is now expired) on the main app. This provides Fantasy an additional monetization opportunity while gathering data on how effective
The other is on the left-hand menu, with the ‘Fantasy Core’ link.
This is a form of cross-promotion for the same app under different ecosystems. When I think about cross-promo, it’s usually for different products under the same umbrella (eg: Uber promoting Uber Eats in the screenshot below), but in this case Fantasy is cross-promo’ing the same app (for the most part) from a different ecosystem.
Whether or not Fantasy on X will eventually be consolidated into a single Fantasy app remains to be seen, but is worth noting.
Back to the ‘fat app thesis’ that makesy mentioned earlier. What is that and why is it relevant for Fantasy?
David Phelps provides a great breakdown of The Fat App Thesis (inspired by the Fat Protocol Thesis) which is worth a read or 10 to truly digest. What’s the argument David is trying to make?
The most important flippening in crypto history is underway, one that can trace its roots to Ethereum launching in 2015 as a smart contract environment—a place, unlike Bitcoin, where devs could launch apps. It’s the flippening from protocols to apps, and it requires a whole new thesis.
Or rather, it requires a whole old thesis. Because what I want to claim here has been so patently true for the duration of the internet that it should be boring even to state. Actually, most of the value to be found in crypto today is to be found in apps.
Blockchains have transformed from being wholly and uniquely different to largely overlapping when going down the checkbox list of attributes. Meanwhile, consumer apps have gone the other direction with unique mechanics, habit loops, and features uniquely enabled by blockchain and crypto (plenty of copycats or reskinned versions of memecoin launchpad on ________ too of course).
Is Fantasy a fat app though? Not yet, but it’s gaining some weight now that they’re on Monad.
CTG is back for Season 3! The fan-favorite interactive gameshow with onchain components will be starting next Monday, and the Player NFTs will be on sale to the public tomorrow.
I participated in CTG Season 2 last year and I highly recommend playing if you are tired of pump and dumps, want a unique experience that involves the blockchain, and enjoy connecting with other like-minded individuals in the space. I’ll warn you that it can be consuming though…
How does the game work?
Participants mint Player NFTs for 0.1 ETH (~$215)
There are 800 players, and the last one standing after the 10-day game takes home the 80 ETH pot
Players are assigned a tribe and compete in group and individual challenges to receive immunity
Players are voted off every night
Some differences from the Season 2:
Season 3’s theme is Resurrection Island. Eliminated players will have a second chance to fight their way back into the competition, so the game has a double-elimination component.
Player NFTs are tradeable/transferrable, but when a player is fully eliminated the NFT becomes soulbound, preventing any trading from that point forward
CTG was acquired by Uniswap last year, so the NFTs will be on their new blockchain, Unichain. I also assume there will be some challenges involving Unichain itself.
Some observations so far:
Player profiles are now connected to Twitter accounts. It’ll be interesting to see how this connection is used and how it’ll impact those who connected with the main doxxed account or an alt 🤔
Partnered challenges are still a thing (S2 featured Lens, Wormhole, and adidas), with the first one announced with Farcaster. More to be announced I assume?
The team mailed former players a neck warmer and a handwritten card to drum up interest prior to the Player NFT sale. Nice touch!
So if you’re playing, see you on the island. If not, chances are I’ll share snippets of my Season 3 experience. Wish me luck 🫡
See you next week!
