The New Growth Engine of the Gaming Industry: How KGeN is Reshaping User Acquisition

1. Introduction

The scale of the gaming industry has surpassed that of movies and music, but it has faced severe challenges in recent years. In 2023-2024, the industry is experiencing a wave of layoffs and consolidation, rising development costs, and reduced investment. Publishing and distribution have also become more difficult, and new projects find it hard to stand out.

Nevertheless, opportunities still exist. The digital native generation will drive continuous market expansion. The global south market is also experiencing explosive rise and will become an important increment in the gaming industry over the next decade.

This report will explore the latest challenges in game publishing, analyze the rise opportunities in the Global South, and focus on KGeN, a blockchain-based gaming platform, assessing its potential to reshape the incentive mechanisms for publishers and players.

2. Challenges Faced in Issuance

One of the biggest challenges currently facing the gaming industry is distribution. Changes in consumer habits, regulatory adjustments, lowered entry barriers, and content saturation have made it exceptionally difficult to successfully promote new games.

Players tend to spend time on familiar games. In 2023, the top ten games ranked by monthly active users were all released over seven years ago. In 2024, 19,000 new games on Steam accounted for only 15% of the total gaming time of players.

The mobile gaming market once had a mature distribution model, but the privacy policy adjustments in 2021 impacted user acquisition strategies. While AI has improved efficiency, it has also lowered the entry barriers. UGC platforms have become a testing ground for independent developers, but content filtering still faces challenges.

Web3 games still need to overcome additional barriers, such as stricter policy restrictions. However, the situation for console releases is gradually improving. The Web3 gaming market remains niche, with about 6-7 million active wallets interacting with over 3,000 on-chain game protocols.

In the past two years, the emerging Web3 ecosystem has intensified challenges. In 2024, 104 new networks will go live, but only 263 new games will be launched. This has led to a battle for player liquidity, with Web3 projects competing for a limited user base.

In this context, some Web3 companies are exploring new user acquisition models based on blockchain. Innovative incentive mechanisms and on-chain reputation systems may become ways to gain competitive advantages. Compared to the saturated T1 market, companies that can leverage blockchain to tap into emerging markets may have huge opportunities.

3. Global South

The Global South refers to countries and regions with relatively low levels of economic development. These areas are rapidly becoming potential game markets, mainly benefiting from improvements in internet infrastructure, the proliferation of smartphones, and income rise.

The characteristics of the global South gaming market are a large player base and a reliance on mobile devices, but the overall willingness to pay is relatively low. As the younger generation grows and benefits from economic development, many believe they will become the new generation of paying players, driving the industry to new heights.

India

India is rapidly rising as the largest gaming market in the Global South. The number of players is expected to exceed 640 million by 2027, and market revenue will reach $1.4 billion by 2028. Mobile games dominate, contributing 77.9% of total revenue.

The internet penetration rate in India has risen from 14% in 2015 to the current 52%, leaving significant room for further growth. Strong macroeconomic fundamentals support technological advancements, including an annual economic growth rate of 7-9% and an increase in the income level of the middle class.

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia is one of the most mature gaming markets in the global south. In 2023, the gaming revenue in the region reached $5.1 billion and is expected to rise to $7.1 billion by 2028. Community and competitive culture are common features of the region, and word-of-mouth is the primary source of information.

The widespread adoption of smartphones and the development of broadband infrastructure are driving market rise. It is expected that by 2026, the average smartphone penetration rate in major countries will reach 90.1%.

Latin America

Latin America is another market worth paying attention to, especially outstanding in the esports field. Brazil is the core of the region, with 101 million players in 2022, generating $2.7 billion in gaming revenue. 60% of Brazilian players have played mobile games at least once in the past six months, and 43% have engaged in in-game purchases.

Brazil will continue to dominate the rise of the gaming industry in Latin America, thanks to a well-established gaming education system, numerous game studios, and a supportive legal framework.

Africa

The African gaming market is at a critical development stage, with revenues expected to exceed $1 billion in 2024. Mobile games account for nearly 90% of the market share. Major challenges include high data costs, hardware prices, and network connectivity issues. Payment systems are both a challenge and an opportunity, with significant differences in payment methods across regions.

Middle East and North Africa

MENA is the fastest growing gaming market in the world, with a revenue rise of 4.7% in 2023, reaching 7.1 billion USD. The compound annual growth rate is expected to reach 9.4% from 2024 to 2030. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt make up the core markets, with a high percentage of young population and widespread adoption of new technologies being the main driving factors.

4. Introduction to KGeN

KGeN is a blockchain-based gaming platform that leverages on-chain and off-chain data, an incentivized task platform, and a decentralized reputation system to drive user participation. The core of the platform is a decentralized player data network that covers millions of micro-game communities, employing the "Player Proof" ( PoG ) engine to create a cross-chain player reputation layer.

KGeN provides publishers with a highly engaged target user base, at a cost far lower than many existing platforms. Since January 2024, registered account rise has exceeded 700%, and monthly active users have risen by 1333%, making it the most active Web3 task and player reputation platform.

4.1 grassroots rise

The core of KGeN's rise lies in its grassroots tribes and tribal leader network. The tribes represent thousands of micro-communities joining the ecosystem, such as colleague groups, esports organizations, and more. As of December 2024, KGeN has 2,525 tribes, of which 152 have more than 100 members.

Tribes are the core method by which KGeN promotes user acquisition based on recommendations. Approximately 1.7 million KYC-verified accounts ( account for 39% of MAU, which are acquired through tribes. Tribe leaders are not only incentivized to bring in new members, but also need to coordinate activities and maintain community engagement.

KGeN's largest market currently is India, but over 30% of active wallets are on LINE's proprietary blockchain Kaia, indicating strong rise potential in Asia.

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) 4.2 KGeN Play

KGeN Play is the front-end interface of the platform, where all reward tasks are published. Users can access it through the PC portal or mobile application. The system automatically creates a blockchain wallet for users to store assets and player reputation NFTs.

The task activities are divided into K-Drops### for automatic real-time verification( and K-Quests) for manual verification(. Both are limited-time participation events with limited availability, and rewards include K-Points, achievements, K-Cash, or tokens.

![Let gamers prove: how KGeN redefines user acquisition])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-0edfaf9accefa4de93c0fa72feaa027c.webp(

) 4.3 PoG engine

The PoG engine is a decentralized player rating system that consists of five core pillars: Human Proof ### PoH (, Game Proof ) PoP (, Skill Proof ) PoS (, Commercial Proof ) PoC (, and Social Network Proof ) PoSN (. These data points track players' skills, "humanity", engagement, wealth, and social networks to build a multifaceted cross-chain reputation system.

The PoG engine currently includes over 270 million data attributes, coming from more than 13 million registered accounts and 4.4 million MAUs. Since January 2024, relevant data for each pillar has achieved significant rise.

KGeN utilizes the PoG engine to implement the "Effective Customer Acquisition Cost" ) eCAC ( framework, charging only active users who reach the middle or bottom of the user funnel. This approach has significantly reduced customer acquisition costs in multiple cases.

![Let gamers prove: how KGeN redefines user acquisition])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-e150f998ddcdedf65ff8cbb46b3245f9.webp(

) 4.4 Token Economy

The KGeN economy consists of two assets: KCash and KGEN. KCash primarily serves as a reward currency and can be used for purchases on KStore. KGEN is a utility token that drives ecosystem rise, with 40% allocated to the community.

rKGEN airdrop activity. rKGEN can be converted 1:1 into KGEN tokens, and some users can stake rKGEN before the TGE to earn additional rewards.

The KGEN token will be used for incentives, discounts in the KGeN Store, and possible subscription fees. The staking mechanism is aimed at tribe leaders and publishers, providing non-inflationary incentives.

![Let gamers prove: KGeN how to redefine user acquisition]###https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-238d7cd2ae2476494e3b286b5e1f8c37.webp(

) 4.5 oracle network

The KGeN oracle network is the backbone of the PoG engine, consisting of permissioned nodes. The oracle is responsible for storing PoG data, calculating and verifying PoG scores, and submitting the scores to the blockchain. Operators will earn KGEN tokens and stablecoin rewards.

Decentralization of the network is a gradual process, expected to take at least three years. The oracle key is the NFT required to participate in the network, and it may be open for public sale in the future.

5. Competitive Landscape

5.1 King of Advertising Technology: Past and Present

Facebook and Applovin are typical cases of synergy with the KGeN business model in the Web2 market.

Facebook found its foothold during the late stage of web games and the rise of mobile games by precisely tracking user behavior to optimize ad placements. KGeN employs a similar strategy but focuses more on mid-core and hardcore game categories.

Applovin is a mature advertising technology platform with a presence on both ends of the mobile advertising market. Its AXON machine learning engine combines user behavior data with bidding data to predict which applications users are most likely to download. KGeN has the opportunity to drive SDK integration through collaboration, enriching the PoG database.

Mystplay is one of the fastest-growing reward-based user acquisition platforms in the Web2 space. Its social features and AI-driven recommendation engine enhance user engagement, which is a direction that KGeN can reference.

5.2 Web3 Competitive Landscape

The Web3 market competitors are mainly divided into publisher ecosystems and task platforms.

The publisher ecosystem (, such as Ronin and Immutable, incentivizes user acquisition through token subsidies or inflation. They do not compete directly with KGeN, but have an advantage in user data visibility.

The task platform competes directly for user attention with KGeN. KGeN has a first-mover advantage in India and Brazil, but this