GameFi Weekly Data Report — September 28–October 4, 2026
Activity across the nine chains we track rose for a third straight week in the week of September 28–October 4, 2026 — 1,053,000 daily players, up 0.3%, and 3,822,600 daily game transactions, up 0.2%, on a weighted cost of $0.0992 per game transaction. The gain is the smallest of the three and the gainer roster turned over by one seat: Solana left the list, Immutable took it. This is the October 5 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 | 1,053,000 | 1,050,200 | +0.3% | 1,041,325 | +1.1% |
| GameFi daily transactions | 3,822,600 | 3,816,000 | +0.2% | 3,780,450 | +1.1% |
| Transactions per player per day | 3.63 | 3.63 | flat | 3.63 | +0.0% |
| Chains growing (of 9) | 6 | 6 | — | 4.5 | — |
| Weighted cost per game tx | $0.0992 | $0.0996 | −0.4% | — | — |
The shape of the week is deceleration, not reversal. Six chains grew and three slipped — the same 6-3 split as the previous two weeks — but the roster changed: Solana, up three straight weeks, slipped 0.7% while Immutable turned up 0.6% after three flat-to-down weeks. Player-per-day intensity held at 3.63, so the added players transacted at the network's existing rhythm.
2. The nine-chain scorecard
| Chain | GameFi DAU | Share of DAU | Daily tx | Avg gas/tx (USD) | Monthly cost at 50 tx/day* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ronin | 306,100 | 29.1% | 1,228,400 | $0.0000 (gas-free) | $0.00 |
| Solana | 208,200 | 19.8% | 1,004,600 | $0.00023 | $0.35 |
| Immutable | 142,300 | 13.5% | 488,500 | $0.0000 (gas-free) | $0.00 |
| TRON | 116,400 | 11.1% | 229,700 | $0.7388 (rental median) | $1,108.14 |
| BNB Chain | 100,900 | 9.6% | 345,200 | $0.0936 | $140.40 |
| Polygon | 68,100 | 6.5% | 223,600 | $0.0204 | $30.60 |
| Arbitrum | 44,300 | 4.2% | 134,900 | $0.0792 | $118.80 |
| Base | 41,500 | 3.9% | 113,800 | $0.0406 | $60.90 |
| Ethereum | 25,200 | 2.4% | 53,900 | $2.9150 | $4,372.50 |
| TOTAL | 1,053,000 | 100% | 3,822,600 | weighted $0.0992 | — |
*Monthly cost = avg gas × 50 tx/day × 30 days.
The weighted average slipped from $0.0996 to $0.0992 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 — and moved more than last week because Ethereum's transactions fell 2.4% while every sub-dollar gainer added share.
3. What moved, chain by chain
| Chain | DAU WoW | Daily tx WoW | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ronin | +0.4% | +0.4% | Steady at the top of the table |
| Solana | −0.7% | −0.6% | First decline after two weeks of gains |
| Immutable | +0.6% | +0.6% | Turns up after three flat-to-down weeks |
| TRON | +1.6% | +1.7% | Fourth straight weekly gain |
| BNB Chain | +0.5% | +0.5% | Modest drift up |
| Polygon | −1.2% | −1.2% | Third down week |
| Arbitrum | +0.9% | +0.9% | Extends September's gains |
| Base | +1.7% | +1.7% | Fastest grower this week |
| Ethereum | −1.9% | −2.4% | Slow bleed steepens a touch |
For the first time in three weeks the fastest grower is neither TRON nor Arbitrum but Base, at +1.7% on a $0.0406 fee. TRON's fourth straight gain is the quieter story: +3.2%, +2.5%, +1.9%, +1.6% — a recovery whose magnitude shrinks each week while the level keeps rising, now 9.4% above the September 6 low. Growth on this network keeps refusing to follow price: TRON charges 7.4× the network average per action and 18.2× the $0.0406 fee on Base, this week's fastest grower, and still added players for a fourth straight week.
4. Where the cost sits
Three structural numbers, all essentially stable: 42.6% of players are on gas-free chains (last week 42.5%), 72.8% pay under five cents an action (last week 72.9%), and TRON costs 7.4× the network average per game transaction (last week 7.4×). The fractions moved a tenth of a point each on mix alone.
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 229,700 daily game transactions, the network-wide TRON bill:
| Payment route | Per tx | Daily bill (229,700 tx) | Monthly per 1,000 tx/day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy rental (34 SUN median) | $0.7388 | ≈ $169,700 | $22,164 |
| Burn TRX fallback (100 sun/energy) | $2.1728 | ≈ $499,100 | $65,184 |
The spread between those two routes is the entire TRON cost story: $329,389.80 a day network-wide, purely from route choice. Nothing in the week's events — the TRXS ETF's closing bell, the mandatory node upgrade, the TRON Inc. purchase — changed either number. Those items move adoption and uptime, not the fee stack; the full route arithmetic is in the cost update.
6. Four weeks of network activity
| Week ending | Network DAU | DAU WoW | Network daily tx | TRON DAU | TRON WoW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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% |
| Oct 4, 2026 | 1,053,000 | +0.3% | 3,822,600 | 116,400 | +1.6% |
Four-week means: DAU 1,041,325; daily tx 3,780,450; transactions per player 3.63. This week sits 1.1% above both means. TRON's four weeks read as a steady rebuild: three weekly gains before this one made four, totalling 9.4% 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 13 – Oct 4), ±2σ thresholds:
- Network DAU WoW: σ = 1.29pp, this week +0.3% → z ≈ −0.1. Normal.
- Network tx WoW: σ = 1.46pp, this week +0.2% → z ≈ −0.2. Normal.
- TRON DAU WoW: σ = 0.61pp, this week +1.6% → z ≈ −1.1. Normal.
- Single-chain moves: largest this week was +1.7% (Base), far below the 30% single-day trigger.
No anomalies — with one honest caveat about the ruler. Both network σ figures are roughly half of last week's (2.13pp and 2.64pp) because the −3.4% week of September 6 rolled out of the trailing four-week window. A narrower σ makes the same week look more unusual on a z-scale; that is a property of the window, not of the network. Read the levels, not just the z-scores.
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 — further than last week. The composite is Σ(cost × tx) ÷ Σ(tx); Ethereum, the $2.9150 chain, lost transaction share (−2.4% on tx) while sub-dollar chains gained it, and with every price frozen the mix alone moved the average from $0.0996 to $0.0992.
Is +0.3% growth a stall?
It is a deceleration inside normal variation. The trailing four-week standard deviation on weekly DAU changes is 1.29 percentage points, so +0.3% sits about 0.1σ below the recent mean — statistically indistinguishable from flat. Three straight weekly gains is still a recovery; the shrinking magnitude (+2.2%, +0.8%, +0.3%) says it is converging, not accelerating.
Why did Solana slip while Immutable turned up?
One week is not a trend, and the magnitudes are small — −0.7% and +0.6%. What is worth watching is intensity: even down, a Solana player still initiates 4.82 transactions a day, the highest in our set. A one-seat roster turnover after three weeks of identical rosters is churn, not migration.
Did the Bitget disruption move TRON's numbers?
Not in this table. The disruption was venue-side — Bitget paused its own withdrawal processing — and USDT withdrawals on TRON resumed September 30. TRON GameFi DAU grew 1.6% to 116,400, its fourth straight weekly gain. Attributing any of that to exchange events would be guesswork.
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 28–October 4, 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 28–October 4, 2026（market range 22–38 SUN listed, 26–74 SUN indicated; 34 SUN median used for the rental route; TRX reference $0.338）.
- Canary Staked TRX ETF fund page, data as of September 28, 2026（net assets $50,393,148.47; 89.85% of assets staked — context for TRON's staking economics）.
- Ronin blog, September 28, 2026（Karst upgrade live October 7 at 16:00:01 UTC; terms published — op-contracts v7.0.0, op-reth v2.2.3, ~16.8M per-transaction gas cap; none touch fees）.
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.