Yeah, crypto kitties exposed the network as having scalability vulnerabilities and there doesn't seem to have been a lot done since then to improve the abilities of the network.

It's still strange to me that more dapps aren't looking at Steem as a potential replacement for Bitcoin or Ethereum. The fact that you can get instantaneous transactions is enough alone to create a huge reason to switch or consider it as an option for initial dapp creation. The free transactions are another great bonus of Steem. That means an app like @steemmonsters is going to have a huge advantage over other collectible blockchain-based games when it actually starts its tournaments. Even now they have an advantage because you don't have to pay $0.60 or whatever to make a trade on Ethereum.

GoChain could be a good competitor. I hadn't heard of it before today, but if it can do all it claims to do, it may have a real shot at capturing some dapp business.