Right now, my X flow is full of people who abandon the web 3 game. I understand. More than $ 12 billion in venture capital funding has been consulted there since 2020 and they have not seen the kind of success in small groups that many were waiting for. Even the best games have not reached anything near the general public scale. The prices of the tokens are down. The studios stop. And everyone is exhausted.
But the measurement of the web game3 by token prices alone is like calling the Internet a failure due to the dot -com crash – it ignores how far technology has arrived and where it heads. The real story is missing.
Basically, the web game3 is to give players a real property – not just articles at stake that they buy and win, but also their identities and their achievements. In traditional games, players invest time, efforts and money in digital assets that ultimately belong to the publisher. Web3 changes that. By putting chain assets, players can really have what they earn, whether it be negotiable articles such as weapons or land, or non -transferable reputation badges, a story of guild or verifiable skills. It is not only a question of buying and selling things – it is agency, perseverance and obtaining good recognition for what you have built and what really belongs to you in the ecosystem.
The concept is not new. Players want more control over their assets at stake for years. Look at the Massive CS markets: Go Skins or World of Warcraft Gold. But so far, these savings have been fragmented, limited or risky to be closed if a centralized editor decides to close it or modify the rules. Web3 makes these savings open, interoperable, belonging to players and focused on players.
The property has always been the foundation of the web game3, and the benefit game was an experimental model that showed the potential for open virtual savings without authorization on blockchain. Now, the industry is evolving with a stronger emphasis on lasting economies and the best tokenomic, the deeper gameplay and the long -term commitment of the players.
But if you compare the web3 game to the web2 game, you will be disappointed. The traditional game has had decades to refine the design of games, build massive players’ bases and develop business models that work, while web 3 is still in its experimental phase. Of course, billions of dollars in investment can accelerate things, but throw money into a whole new category does not buy it as if by balance sheet or instantly create new games that people love.
I have been playing games for over 20 years and I saw each major quarter of work be rejected before taking over. No one thought that mobile games could compete with PCs or consoles until they become bigger than both. Free-to-Play was called a scam until she earns more money and reaching more players than ever. Esport was a joke until the stadiums were sold and the calyxes hit millions. Digital skins were “worthless” before becoming a market of several billion dollars.
And now the web game is at this same inflection point.
When I heard about the blockchain for the first time in 2018, all those I knew in Fintech spoke about it. So of course, I thought it was boring and I ignored it. It is only when I learned the cryptokitties that I made in fact. When I saw people collecting, exchanging and having these cute chain cats, it was then that I am excited because I knew they were not like the other assets at stake. Cryptokitties were digital things that no one could take you off. As a person who has spent his life cringing games, and their career convincing others to grind the same thing – without really having anything for that – this idea of digital property gave me a whole new way of thinking.
So I went to the blockchain games. But 2018 and 2019 were really difficult moments. Almost no one else cared at the time. There was no support, no real funding, no clear idea of what these games could be beyond speculation and (apart from a handful of believers), there was very little conviction. The market was in a depth cycle, and many teams abandoned or lacked money before they could start. However, some of us have continued to build. We remained thin, experienced and learned to the hard. It’s just as bad now, but not as bad as at the time. With hindsight, I am so happy that we did not excavate it when the success was just at the corner of the street.
When Axie Infinity pierced in 2021, everything changed. Founders of web3 like Jeffrey “Jihoz” Zirlin by Sky Mavis, Yat Siu of Animoca brands, Sébastien Borget of the Sandbox, and I have gone from being called mad has visionary overnight. Suddenly, we were talking to the main conferences where we used to look in the audience. We made the headlines and “most influential” newspapers and lists. Investors who ignored our emails asked how much they could set up. My reception box by email has filled with fundraising decks which have the next YGG.
Then in 2022, the market crashed, and just as quickly, we started to be crazy. But that never really disturbed me because the madmen are those who do that great things happen.
Now everyone asks: when is the next big big web3 game? The answer is as follows: the right games take time. And if you look beyond the red candles to take note of what already exists today, you will see that we have made the progress that we have made since our industry was seeded in 2018:
- In 2020, Axie Infinity had less than 500 daily players. Today, Ronin – the blockchain it built – has millions of active users, with 17 new games launched, and a growth of 134% of the NFT trading volume in 2024 compared to 2023. It is also without permission, which means that there will be more games, faster development, stronger network effects and unpredictable effects. Some of the biggest innovations in games such as Modding, Libre-Jeu and E-Sport came from unexpected places. By lowering the barrier to the entrance, a Ronin without authorization invites the type of experimentation that could lead to the next success on axia scale.
- Pixels, an agricultural game on Ronin, reached a summit of 1.3 million daily active users (DAUS) and is now loudly loud with around 250,000 DAU, even with its token down 96%. The players spend more than they stop, bought land, improve assets and actually put money into the game, fueling the economy instead of extracting them. This is how virtual savings should operate, with real demand and strong retention. Most importantly, this is an indication that the game-benefit model can work if it is well done.
- Parallel, a game of negotiation cards (TCG) on Ethereum, has just organized a world championship in Las Vegas in The Hyperx Arena – a place that welcomed some of the biggest Esports competitions from “League of Legends All -Stars” to “Street Fighter V’s Capcom Cup”. It was a prestigious event that saw some of the best TCG players in the world from traditional titles like Hearthstone to become some of the first web Esports legends.
These are just a few examples, but they show the type of traction we see: better infrastructure, growing communities, more sustainable virtual economies, digital property.
Those who fud web3 gaming today do not understand it. They missed cryptokitties in 2018, Axie in 2020, Yggg in 2021, and they will also miss the next wave because they will measure the wrong measures. Web3 grows and innovates faster than any other sector in games. It is not time to stop. It’s time to double. Let them call us as they want: crazy, delusional. Visionary, pioneer. This does not change what we do. We have already been here. Stay the way.
