GameFi Weekly Data Report — September 21–27, 2026
Activity across the nine chains we track rose for a second straight week in the week of September 21–27, 2026 — 1,050,200 daily players and 3,816,000 daily game transactions, both up 0.8% week-on-week, on a weighted cost of $0.0996 per game transaction. Growth was broad but shallow: six chains grew, three slipped, and no chain moved more than 1.9%. This is the September 28 edition of our weekly data report.
1. The week in one table
| Headline metric | This week | Last week | WoW | 4-week mean | vs mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GameFi daily active addresses | 1,050,200 | 1,042,300 | +0.8% | 1,036,550 | +1.3% |
| GameFi daily transactions | 3,816,000 | 3,787,400 | +0.8% | 3,763,975 | +1.4% |
| Transactions per player per day | 3.63 | 3.63 | flat | 3.63 | +0.1% |
| Chains growing (of 9) | 6 | 6 | — | 4.5 | — |
| Weighted cost per game tx | $0.0996 | $0.0997 | −0.1% | — | — |
The shape of the week is continuity. The same six chains that grew last week grew again, the same three shrank again, and the player-per-day intensity held at 3.63 — meaning the added players transacted at exactly the network's existing rhythm rather than changing it.
2. The nine-chain scorecard
| Chain | GameFi DAU | Share of DAU | Daily tx | Avg gas/tx (USD) | Monthly cost at 50 tx/day* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ronin | 304,800 | 29.0% | 1,223,500 | $0.0000 (gas-free) | $0.00 |
| Solana | 209,600 | 20.0% | 1,010,400 | $0.00023 | $0.35 |
| Immutable | 141,500 | 13.5% | 485,600 | $0.0000 (gas-free) | $0.00 |
| TRON | 114,600 | 10.9% | 225,900 | $0.7388 (rental median) | $1,108.14 |
| BNB Chain | 100,400 | 9.6% | 343,500 | $0.0936 | $140.40 |
| Polygon | 68,900 | 6.6% | 226,300 | $0.0204 | $30.60 |
| Arbitrum | 43,900 | 4.2% | 133,700 | $0.0792 | $118.80 |
| Base | 40,800 | 3.9% | 111,900 | $0.0406 | $60.90 |
| Ethereum | 25,700 | 2.4% | 55,200 | $2.9150 | $4,372.50 |
| TOTAL | 1,050,200 | 100% | 3,816,000 | weighted $0.0996 | — |
*Monthly cost = avg gas × 50 tx/day × 30 days.
The weighted average slipped from $0.0997 to $0.0996 with no chain changing its own fee. Every per-transaction price in the table is identical to last week's; the composite moved because the mix did. Ethereum, the $2.9150 chain, shrank 0.8% while every sub-dollar chain except Polygon grew, and a composite average follows the weights, not the prices.
3. What moved, chain by chain
| Chain | DAU WoW | Daily tx WoW | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ronin | +0.9% | +0.9% | Steady at the top of the table |
| Solana | +1.1% | +1.1% | Second week of gains after Transaction V1 |
| Immutable | −0.2% | −0.2% | Third flat-to-down week |
| TRON | +1.9% | +1.9% | Fastest grower, tied with Arbitrum |
| BNB Chain | +0.5% | +0.5% | Modest drift up |
| Polygon | −0.7% | −0.7% | Second down week |
| Arbitrum | +1.9% | +1.9% | Fastest grower, tied with TRON |
| Base | +1.2% | +1.2% | Extends last week's gain |
| Ethereum | −0.8% | −0.7% | Slow bleed continues |
Two chains tied for the week's fastest growth at 1.9%, and they sit at opposite ends of the price table: TRON at $0.7388 per transaction and Arbitrum at $0.0792. When the same growth rate appears on a chain that costs 9.3× more per action, the driver is something other than fee arbitrage — this week both chains had named events (TRON's $30T settlement milestone and ETF distribution; Arbitrum's ecosystem activity around its monthly unlock), and neither was a price cut. Growth on this network keeps refusing to follow price.
4. Where the cost sits
Three structural numbers, all essentially stable: 42.5% of players are on gas-free chains (last week 42.6%), 72.9% pay under five cents an action (last week 73.0%), and TRON costs 7.4× the network average per game transaction (last week 7.4×). The fractions drifted down a tenth of a point each because the denominators grew faster on the paid side than the free side — not because any policy changed.
The full nine-chain route comparison, including what each fee buys and the TRON rent-versus-burn split, is in the cost update.
5. TRON's weekly bill
At 225,900 daily game transactions, the network-wide TRON bill:
| Payment route | Per tx | Daily bill (225,900 tx) | Monthly per 1,000 tx/day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy rental (34 SUN median) | $0.7388 | ≈ $166,900 | $22,164 |
| Burn TRX fallback (100 sun/energy) | $2.1728 | ≈ $490,800 | $65,184 |
The spread between those two routes is the entire TRON cost story: $323,940.60 a day network-wide, purely from route choice. Nothing in the week's events — the $30T milestone, the ETF listing, the Binance Wallet campaign — changed either number. The campaign, covered in the deep dive, applies to wallet transfers, not to the contract transactions in this table.
6. Four weeks of network activity
| Week ending | Network DAU | DAU WoW | Network daily tx | TRON DAU | TRON WoW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 6, 2026 | 1,033,900 | −3.4% | 3,756,700 | 106,400 | −6.8% |
| Sep 13, 2026 | 1,019,800 | −1.4% | 3,695,800 | 109,800 | +3.2% |
| Sep 20, 2026 | 1,042,300 | +2.2% | 3,787,400 | 112,500 | +2.5% |
| Sep 27, 2026 | 1,050,200 | +0.8% | 3,816,000 | 114,600 | +1.9% |
Four-week means: DAU 1,036,550; daily tx 3,763,975; transactions per player 3.63. This week sits 1.3% above the DAU mean and 1.4% above the tx mean. TRON's four weeks read as a steady rebuild: down hard in early September, then three consecutive weekly gains totalling 7.7% from the September 6 low.
The intensity spread is unchanged: a Solana player initiates 4.82 transactions a day, a TRON player 1.97, network average 3.63. High-frequency play concentrates on the cheap chains; TRON's GameFi mix skews toward lower-frequency, higher-value loops — consistent with a chain where each action costs $0.7388.
7. Anomaly check
Trailing four weeks (Sep 6 – Sep 27), ±2σ thresholds:
- Network DAU WoW: σ = 2.13pp, this week +0.8% → z ≈ +0.6. Normal.
- Network tx WoW: σ = 2.64pp, this week +0.8% → z ≈ +0.5. Normal.
- TRON DAU WoW: σ = 4.07pp, this week +1.9% → z ≈ +0.4. Normal.
- Single-chain moves: largest this week was +1.9% (TRON and Arbitrum), far below the 30% single-day trigger.
No anomalies. After last week's +2.2% expansion printed z ≈ +1.0, this week's +0.8% is exactly the kind of consolidation you would expect — the second week of a recovery looks smaller than the first once the easy gains are banked.
8. What a player actually pays
Persona monthly costs at the median TRON rental route versus burning TRX, unchanged this week:
| Player type | Tx/day | Monthly rental cost | Monthly burn cost | Rental saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casual | 3 | $66.49 | $195.55 | 66.0% |
| Regular | 15 | $332.44 | $977.77 | 66.0% |
| Grinder | 50 | $1,108.14 | $3,259.25 | 66.0% |
| Studio | 500 | $11,081.45 | $32,592.50 | 66.0% |
The 66.0% rental saving is a ratio of two frozen prices — $0.7388 against $2.1728 — so it cannot move until either the rental market's median or the energy price moves. On the free chains the same table reads $0.00 across, which is why the persona question only really exists on TRON, BNB Chain, Arbitrum, Base, Polygon and Ethereum.
9. Method and confidence
Chain-level activity comes from our own contract-label set across the nine chains — the same methodology as every week, so week-on-week comparisons are apples to apples. There is no comparable public dashboard for cross-chain GameFi activity specifically; totals will differ from general dApp counts by design. Per-transaction costs are measured from live network parameters: energy at 100 sun per unit, the rental market's 34 SUN median for a standard USDT-sized transfer, and each chain's native gas market. The 4-week statistics use population standard deviation over the trailing four WoW changes. Where this report cites market events, they are documented in the news review.
FAQ
Why did the weighted average fall if nothing got cheaper?
Because the weights moved. The composite is Σ(cost × tx) ÷ Σ(tx); when the $2.9150 chain loses share and sub-dollar chains gain it, the average slips even with every fee frozen. This week it went from $0.0997 to $0.0996 purely on mix.
Is +0.8% growth good or bad?
Neither — it is normal. The trailing four-week standard deviation on weekly DAU changes is 2.13 percentage points, so +0.8% is about 0.6σ above the recent mean. Statistically unremarkable, directionally positive.
Did the Binance Wallet zero-gas campaign move TRON's numbers?
Not in this table. The campaign applies to USDT and TRC-20 transfers sent through Binance Wallet, not to game contract transactions. TRON GameFi DAU grew 1.9% alongside its $30T milestone and ETF distribution; attributing any of that to a wallet transfer subsidy would be guesswork.
Why is TRON tied with Arbitrum for fastest growth?
Both printed +1.9%. TRON had the week's biggest adoption story (the $30T settled-volume milestone, 405M accounts) and Arbitrum had ecosystem activity around its monthly unlock cycle. Fee arbitrage does not explain it — one costs 9.3× the other per action.
What would make the 66.0% rental saving change?
Only a move in one of its two inputs: the 34 SUN rental median or the 100 sun energy price that sets the $2.1728 burn fallback. Both were stable through the window; the last structural change to the energy price was the 2025 proposal that set 100 sun.
Where can I see each chain's full fee breakdown?
In the weekly cost update, which prices each chain's per-transaction cost, the TRON rent-versus-burn routes, and the monthly persona bills in full.
Sources
- Our own nine-chain contract-label set, week of September 21–27, 2026（GameFi DAU and daily transactions per chain, WoW changes, four-week series; modelled from contract interactions, see Method and confidence）.
- TRON chain parameters, read from network state and checked against TRONSCAN, September 2026（energy price 100 sun per unit since the 2025 proposal; standard transfer 64,285 energy; new-address transfer 130,285 energy）.
- TRON energy rental market listings, sampled across the week of September 21–27, 2026（market range 22–38 SUN listed, 26–74 SUN indicated; 34 SUN median used for the rental route; TRX reference $0.338）.
- TRON DAO official announcement, September 24, 2026（$30T cumulative settled volume; 405M accounts; $94B USDT; $28B TVL）.
- Binance official announcement, September 23, 2026（zero-gas TRC-20 transfer campaign September 23 – December 22; 1 USDT per transfer thereafter; wallet transfers only）.
Not financial advice. This report analyses on-chain activity and public network parameters for informational purposes; nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any asset.