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The chain games of the previous cycle are facing collective death
2025-05-26 10:55

While Meme Lauchpad, the son of the version, is in full swing, some projects are becoming abandoned children of the version. For example, the chain game projects that were once popular in the previous cycle have recently experienced a wave of shutdowns.

On May 16th, Nyan Heroes, a star game project in the Solana ecosystem, announced that it was officially shut down due to "lack of funds". Developer 9 Lives Interactive issued a statement on the X platform, admitting that "they cannot obtain more funds to complete the game". In just one day, NYAN tokens fell by as much as 37.2%, and then FDV fell to only about 5M, evaporating nearly 99% from the historical high.

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How lonely it is in the trough, how glorious it is in the peak. Recall that this game once attracted 1 million test players, Steam wishlist reached 250,000; and now its market value may even be lower than a Meme dog. However, the fall of Nyan Heroes is not an isolated case. Recently, many chain game projects have announced the suspension of operation or development one after another, and the previous financing amounts ranged from millions to tens of millions of dollars, but without exception, they all came to an end.

The cyclicality of the crypto industry is fully reflected in blockchain games. High financing when the wind is favorable, asset development before product development, and gradually lying flat or even returning to zero when the wind is unfavorable...

Some community comments jokingly say that the decline of blockchain games is a "natural selection".

A group portrait of prosperity and decline

Coincidentally, in 2025, several blockchain game projects such as Blast Royale, The Walking Dead: Empires, and The Mystery Society announced their suspension of operations or development. These projects once attracted countless attention with high financing and P2E (Play-to-Earn) models, but in just a few years, they have gone from being popular to falling apart.

Nyan Heroes: The Bubble of Cat Heroes Bursts
This was indeed a star project in the Solana ecosystem. With the creativity of the cat-themed hero shooter game, it has raised a total of $13 million, including a $2.50 million seed round in November 2021, a $7.50 million A round (valued at $100 million) in May 2022, and a $3 million additional round in March 2024. Game testing once attracted 1 million players (official data), and Steam and Epic Games Store wishlists reached 250,000. The launch of NYAN tokens in May 2024 further boosted market enthusiasm. However, on May 16, 2025, developer 9 Lives Interactive announced that it would stop development due to "inability to obtain more funds".

Blast Royale: The Depressing Exit of the Battle King
Blast Royale is a mobile Battle Royale (Battle Royale Survival) game based on Polygon, featuring 6-minute fast-paced battles and P2E mechanics. In April 2022, the project raised $5 million through an ICO, with investors including Dragonfly Capital and Mechanism Capital. The game attracted early players with its lightweight gameplay, but failed to achieve a large-scale breakthrough. In May 2025, developer First Light Games announced the termination of development due to "internal review" and plans to officially shut down on June 30th.

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The Walking Dead: Empires: IP halo doesn't work either
Developed by Ember Entertainment and published by Gala Games, this survival MMORPG is based on the IP of the well-known American TV series "The Walking Dead" and incorporates an NFT ownership mechanism. Although the specific financing amount of the project has not been disclosed, relying on Gala Games' financial support and IP advantages, it has been open for testing for more than a year, attracting fans to build bases and participate in battles. However, in May 2025, Gala Games announced that the project would be terminated on July 31 due to "comprehensive considerations".

The Mystery Societ: The Mystery Game
Built by the former Disney and Club Penguin teams, it focuses on Web3 social reasoning gameplay. In September 2024, it received $3 million seed round financing led by Shima Capital. The project received positive reviews for its community-driven and innovative mechanisms, attracting active players to participate in early testing. However, on February 25, 2025, developer Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow announced that it would suspend development due to "industry challenges and insufficient funding".

We have also made a table summarizing the chain games that have announced the cessation of operation or development. It can be seen that these games have basically raised a decent amount of money in the previous cycle, and coincidentally used NFTs and token assets combined with game mechanisms for consumption. Well-known VCs are investing heavily, but it is still a reality of failure.

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Beneath the surface, player churn, P2E model imbalance, and mismatched asset and development priorities are the real drivers. They boast about financing and grand visions, but rarely deliver playable products. And some things are also an unspoken industry understanding: the product itself is not the focus, and no one really wants to play these games. A race track that competes in creativity and content density encounters maoist players who compete in physical strength and financial sense, and the result can be imagined.

Prosperity and decline, prosperity lies in financing, decline lies in playing.

Genes determine fate

You may have noticed that the more ironic part is the reason why these blockchain game projects announced their shutdown - " shortage of funds ".

Almost all of the suspended blockchain game projects will officially announce that the reason for their resignation is insufficient funds, making it difficult to create a high-quality game. Are these blockchain games really short of money? From the perspective of pure game development, perhaps not. For example, Nyan Heros financing's $13 million, regardless of the game, what is the concept of $13 million?

Not to mention the top 3A, let's take the seventh generation of the top single-player game IP "Chinese Paladin" as an example. According to public reports, its development cost is 67 million yuan. That is to say, Nyan Heros' financing funds are all used to make games, and it is more than enough to seriously create a Chinese Paladin.

And overseas cases are even more astonishing.

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The well-known development game "Stardew Valley" (Stardew Valley) by the single developer Eric Barone spent four years, only invested about $50,000 to build, after the launch of 2016 global sales of more than 30 million copies, become an independent game legend. The game's graphics, and some of the financing of more than one million game project is not much different.

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This also shows that games are products that pay great attention to creative quality and content density. One person, 50,000 dollars, can win by creativity and gameplay. In comparison, chain games have responded to "insufficient funds" to suspend development, and the contrast is very obvious --- Funds will always be insufficient, especially when you don't want to use funds to develop games.

The genes of blockchain games have determined that they cannot develop games in the direction of high quality and slow and meticulous work in the traditional gaming industry. They are more like resource bureaus and capital schemes, requiring appropriate operational rhythms and investment rules to meet the needs of various first and second-tier investors. Financing first and then doing things has become the optimal solution for this track. Whether it can be done or not is another story. Looking at the success of traditional games, it is actually about doing things first and then financing.

For example, "Black Myth: Wukong" only developed and designed a few scenes in 2020. After releasing trial footage to impress players with quality and prove its potential, it received more financing in the future. On the other hand, domestic second-tier new forces such as "Genshin" and "Mingchao" also adopt a phased development and iterative approach. Each version attempts to present new plots and characters. After players feel immersed and pay for the characters, they slowly accumulate funds to develop more versions and works.

These games are content-centric, with storylines, art, and mechanics taking the lion's share, and financing serving as an aid rather than an end in itself. Web3 and traditional games are almost opposites, with speculative genes running through them all: Players are investors, and games are Ponzi - It is incompatible with the patience and ingenuity required for the game. The track itself is not hopeless, but the "financing before the game" model is a dead end.

The rise and fall of blockchain games is actually the inevitable result of the mismatch between industry genes and user requests. Capital and concepts can generate short-term popularity, but cannot support a truly vibrant game ecosystem in the long run. When more and more games are proven false, the elimination of falsehoods and the preservation of truth after the wave of shutdowns is worth looking forward to.

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