From speculation-driven to real growth, Web3 games are evolving

Author｜Joey @IOSG

Methodology

This study includes two major priorities:

• Analyze the internal structure of the game segment track;
• Build a panoramic map of current mainstream projects in the market.

To this end, we screened top projects with a market value of over $50 million and included large games that have not yet issued coins but have high visibility and attention in the community. If some projects involve multiple areas, they are classified into the most relevant vertical track.

Game Ecological Map

As of January 2025, the Web3 game ecosystem can be divided into three vertical fields: infrastructure, games and ecosystem.

#Infrastructure

The infrastructure covers the technical underlying layer of Web3 gaming, including development frameworks, game engines, AI tools, data management systems, and DePIN (decentralized physical infrastructure network).

In order to avoid excessive stratification, this classification standard is relatively broad. For example, the "data" class includes both a data analysis platform and an in-game data rights confirmation protocol (such as an IP protocol).

#game

Contains all playable Web3 game types and is further segmented by different gameplay categories. Among them, "AA+ level games" represent a higher quality vertical track.

#Ecosystem

The ecosystem project aims to build network effects covering platforms, studios, game guilds, mission systems and incubator/start platforms. The platform mainly refers to an aggregation portal that provides game distribution channels.

For specific project names, please refer to the appendix at the end of the article.

Market panoramic view

Overall trends of Web3 games

#Annual Trading Volume

Although trading volume remains high, it is down from its 2022 peak.

#The scale of funds in the year

From US$84 billion in 2021 to US$5.58 billion in 2024.

• 2021-2022: Speculation drives the influx of funds, with NFT assets, GameFi tokens and the “play while earning” model dominating the market, but lacking sustainable user stickiness.
• 2024-2025: Speculative funds decrease and actual player participation increases, indicating that the industry is transforming to real gaming demand.

#Number of active players per day

The user base continues to grow, and the game adoption rate continues to increase.

#Web3 Game Market Value (CoinMarketCap Data)

After excluding the abnormal peak at the end of 2021, the current market value is smaller than the early stage, reflecting the improvement of industry health:

Early (2021-2022): High speculation, few users, but NFT and token speculation push up market value.

At this stage (2024-2025): Speculation is ebbing, and real players dominate the market.

Game Type Trends

#Developer Structure

The increase in the proportion of independent developers is mainly due to the reduction of venture capital and the maturity of development tools. With the improvement of tools, the number of games is expected to explode in the future.

#Project survival rate

As the 2023 bear market ends, studios and publishers’ interest in Web3 games picks up, and the number of new works has increased significantly.

Web3 Eco-chain Dynamics

#Head chain performance

The Immutable and Arbitrum ecosystems have grown the fastest in the past 12 months:

• Immutable: 181 new games (+71% year-on-year), of which 33% of the projects were migrated from Polygon.
• Arbitrum: With the help of the Orbit framework, 119 new games were added (+68% year-on-year), of which 23 were dedicated to Web3 game chains.

#User Distribution

In terms of user base, WAX and BNB chains still occupy a major position.

#Migration Trends

Polygon has become the chain with the most migration projects, indicating that ecological competition is fierce and stability still needs to be improved.

Smart contract development environment

#EVM dominance

81% of the new game chains are still based on Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), mainly because:

• Development tools for non-EVM chains are not yet mature;
• The migration cost is high.

#Developer selection

The project party is actively seeking a better development environment, which forces the ecosystem to continue to innovate to maintain competitiveness.

in conclusion

Web3 games are moving from speculatively driven to center on real users and sustainable development. Despite the decline in transaction size, the growth of daily active users indicates that the industry is maturing.

• Infrastructure layer:

The improvement of tools has attracted more independent developers, and DePIN and AI technologies have further strengthened the technical base.

• Ecological competition:

Immutable and Arbitrum became the main migration destinations, while the EVM chain still dominated the market.

• The challenges in the future lie in ecological stability, project retention and the development of high-quality games. The next stage will focus:

• Innovation;

• Deep on-chain integration;

• User experience optimization.

Decentralized games will enter a new stage of development.

appendix

Infrastructure

• Development tools: thirdWeb, Metaplex, Altura, Stardust, reNFT
• Engines: MUD, Blade Games, Cartridge, Reflekt
• AI: PlayAI, Carv, Aethir, Arc, Neural, Freysa, MomoAI
• Data: Story Protocol, Helika, Chromia, Spaceport
• DePIN: Deeplink, Gaimin, Shaga, Beamable, Cudos

game

• FOCG: Pirate Nation, Primordium, Alien Worlds, Downstream, Sage Labs
• Speculation categories: Duper, RPS.live, Force Prime, Pump.fun

AA+ level:

• Cards: Parallel, Axie Infinity, Gods Unchained, Splinterlands
• Shooting: My Pet Hooligan, Shrapnel, Off the Grid, Deadrop
• RPG: Metacene, Pixels, Cornucopias, Illuvium, Star Atlas, Mines of Dalarnia, Fusionist
• Metauniverse: Zentry, Decentraland, Sandbox, Nifty Island, Wilder World, My Neighbor Alice, Mobox, (RACA) Radio Caca
• Telegram/Minigames: Notcoin, Hamster Kombat, Catizen, Wizzwoods, WATC, StepN

Ecosystem

• Game Guild: YGG, Merit Circle
• Platforms: B3.fun, Gala Games, Game7, SuperVerse, Bora, TreasureDAO, Myria, Ultra, Ancient8, Sonic
• Studios: Nexus Interactive, Big Time, Mythos, Vulcan, Dapper Labs, Gomble, Ready Games, Playmint
• Task system: Perion
• Incubator: Seedify, Everyrealm