Should we expect Game and Layer 2 in 2025 after a dismal year?

2024 saw the growth of the cryptocurrency market with many projects recording impressive growth in value, number of users and technological advances. However, in addition to the resounding successes, some sectors have faced challenges and recorded declines.

According to data from GMCI Indices, the Game and layer 2 sectors experienced a dismal year with significant declines in value, in contrast to the overall growth trend of the market.

The GMCI Gaming Index, which represents the performance of the top 12 digital assets in the gaming sector, dropped about 16% in value in 2024. The dominance of the three projects Beam (BEAM), ImmutaBlex (IMX) and Gala (GALA), which account for almost 60% of the index value, indicates a focus and possibly a lack of diversity in this area.

It is worth noting that this indicator does not include TON, Telegram's cryptocurrency, although games based on the platform have attracted almost a billion users and TON has grown more than 100% for the year. The absence of TON in the GMCI Gaming Index can lead to a picture that does not fully reflect the true state of the blockchain gaming sector.

Similarly, the GMCI L2 index, which tracks the performance of the top nine layer 2 projects, also recorded a drop of about 30%. This drop came mainly from the poor performance of Polygon (POL) and Arbitrum (ARB), two names that dominate the sector with more than 60% of the index value, indicating a large dependence on a small number of projects.

Although Mantle (MNT) had good growth in 2024, it was not enough to compensate for the decline in POL and ARB.

In contrast to the gloom of Game and Layer 2, other areas noted successes:

• Meme coins and AI: These two sectors led the growth trend of the market with good growth, reflecting the growing interest of the community towards meme coin projects and the application of artificial intelligence in the cryptocurrency sector.
• Layers 1:The layer 1 blockchain continues to assert its platform position with value growth, indicating stability and long-term growth potential.

The GMCI 30 is an index representing the top 30 digital assets, growing by nearly 90%, showing the overall strength of the cryptocurrency market.

Although 2024 will bring mixed results, 2025 is expected to bring positive changes, especially for the layer 2 sector.

Specifically, the expected launch of two potential projects, Linea (incubated by Consensys) and Unichain (developed by Uniswap), could boost competition and innovation in the sector. This is likely to attract additional interest from investors and users, contributing to the overall growth of the market.

The cryptocurrency market in 2024 is a picture with contrasting colors, reflecting the diversity and constant volatility of this market. The decline of Game and layer 2 is a lesson to investors about the risk of focusing on a small number of projects, and underscores the importance of portfolio diversification.

Meanwhile, the strong growth of other sectors, along with potential upcoming projects, shows the huge growth potential of the cryptocurrency market in the future.