Animoca Brands Reports Strong Growth in 2024, Driven by AI and Strategic Diversification

Key Takeaways:

• Animoca Brands’ bookings increased by 12% in 2024, reaching $314 million.
• The company took a calculated approach to diversification, spearheaded by Digital Asset Advisory.
• Operating expenses decreased by 12%, driven by AI and optimization efforts.

Animoca Brands, a leading player in blockchain games and Web3 investments, has published its unaudited financial results for 2024, showing substantial growth and shifting its strategy. Bookings increased 12% year over year to $314 million, up from $280 million in 2023, the report notes. The uptick is a clear indication of Animoca Brands’ determination to double down its focus on – and security in – a changing digital economy, expanding its focus from gaming and NFT sales to advisory services.

Shift to Revenue Streams — Digital Asset Advisory Dominates

Solidifying this success is the lucrative performance of Animoca Brands’ Digital Asset Advisory (DAA) business, which continued to perform of late with a massive 116% increase in bookings, bringing in a total of $165 million. DAA offers a full-service suite for Web3 projects, including token advisory, tokenomics, marketing, listing advisory, node operation, and trading support, the company said. Indeed, this expanded focus is a smart response to an increasingly complex marketplace and provides fresh areas for growth.

Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, emphasized that the soaring growth numbers also demonstrate how much of this can be attributed to active innovation. “The DAA is a practical demonstration of the benefits and power of Web3’s shared network effect,” said Siu, referring to the synergistic relationship between Animoca Brands’ expertise and the requirements of its portfolio companies.

For example, to demonstrate this change, let’s think of a real-life example. In the year of 2023, many Web3 companies had difficulties dealing with complex regulations and trying to play the game of token economy well. The DAA of Animoca Brands enabled these companies to access the type of mentorship that would ultimately lead to increased adoption of both the company assets and Animoca brands as well. This highlights the need for diversification in a fast changing market.

Optimization and AI: A New Era for Product Integration

Operational efficiency has improved which means creating revenue more effectively by optimizing resource management. Operating costs fell 12%, from $246 million in 2023 to $217 million in 2024. This significant cost reduction is the result of optimization initiatives that began in Q2 2023, combined with effective use of new AI tools.

According to Siu, such optimization was a must, driven by the ever-changing crypto and global markets. It has since reduced its emphasis on the US market and shifted to supporting its portfolio companies, he said, adding that the move was a “strategic” decision as regulators were more focused on companies over recent months.

Animoca Brands will adopt AI in multiple aspects of its operations, including investment decisions, gaming development, and cost optimization. Indeed, Siu said the company is even “training AI agents using the experience and skillsets” it has amassed internally. Animoca Brands’ progressive strategy of integrating AI places them at the vanguard of innovation within the Web3 domain.

Q4 2024 Highlights: A Year-Ending Strong

Bookings for the fourth quarter of 2024 were especially bright for Animoca Brands, totaling $108 million, a significant 167% increase from $40 million in the same quarter the previous year. Bookings jumped with strong performance across its different business segments, including digital asset advisory ($57 million), Web3 operating businesses ($37 million) and investment management ($14 million).

The solid Q4 results were driven by the success of multiple projects such as The Sandbox, Moca Network, Anichess, and Gamee. These projects have delivered not just significant revenue, but also contributed to Animoca Brands’ brand awareness and ecosystem growth.

In fact, over 580,000 unique players took part in The Sandbox’s Alpha Season 4 alone, amassing over one million gameplay hours. Such engagement is a testament to the platform’s continued relevance and ability to capture the attention of a wide demographic. Animoca Brands acquired The Sandbox in 2018 and has since become one of the company’s primary game operating businesses. The majority of The Sandbox’s top-line bookings are from SAND token sales and NFT sales.

Developing Allies and Investors: Building the Ecosystem

Animoca Brands also continues to invest in and partner with other innovative companies in web3. The firm invested in over 70 projects across 20 different sectors in 2024, from AI and decentralized finance (DeFi) sectors to infrastructure projects.

Some of their notable investments are 0G Labs, Cookie 3, FLock. io, MyShell, and Talus. In 2024, the company devoted its resources to the AI sector by investing in the liquid tokens of its own AI-themed projects and start-ups such as Virtuals, ai16z, Aixbt, Griffain, and HeyAnon. As of December 31, 2024, the fair value of the Company’s private investment holdings was $564 million, including equity and SAFT investments in private companies as well as web3 projects.

One of the most notable partnerships is between Moca Network and Square Enix’s Symbiogenesis. This partnership is designed to make it easier for new users to join the Web3 ecosystem while emphasizing the significance of accessibility and user experience. Moca Network was built upon the Mocaverse project, the latter now serves as Moca Network’s consumer-facing brand that offers curated experiences and rewards to users according to their activity and reputation through the digital identifier (DID) Moca ID and products like Mocana, MocaDrop, and MocaList.

It has collaborated with SK Planet, the largest South Korean information and communications technology platform, to create user experiences based on blockchain. The partnership aims to bring SK Planet’s 28 million verified users to Web3 by incorporating Moca Network’s identity and reputation SDK. MOCA Coin was listed on two of South Korea’s largest digital asset exchanges, Upbit and Bithumb, in December 2024. Binance Futures also introduced a USDⓈ-Margined MOCAUSDT perpetual contract, adding more trading opportunities for MOCA Coin.

Animoca Brands welcomes collaborations and investments to build opportunities for a thriving Web3 ecosystem.

Looking Forward: More Growth and Coverage

Animoca Brands, which is looking forward to 2025, is set to continue the growth they started, based on a combination of strategic diversification, AI adoption, and Web3 investments. Despite recognizing potential economic headwinds like tariffs, Siu highlighted a potentially more crypto-friendly U.S. political landscape as a positive catalyst.

Animoca Brands has set itself up for success within the ever-changing Web3 landscape with its diverse business model, its proactive approach to embracing AI, and its forward-thinking investments.