So far, my X feed is full of people who give up on web3 playing. I take it. More than $ 12 billion Venture Capital funding has been here since 2020 and they have not seen the kind of breakout success that many expect. Even the best games didn’t get to any close to the mainstream scale. Token prices have dropped. The studios are confined. And everything is tired.
But meb3 playing by token prices only is like calling the Internet a failure due to DOT-COM crash-ignoring how far has come with technology and where it heads. The true story is missing.
At its core, Web3 Gaming is about providing players truly ownership-not just in-game items they buy and earn, but also their identities and achievements. In traditional games, players have invested time, effort and money on digital possession that eventually belong to the publisher. Web3 changed it. By placing on-chain assets, players can truly own what they will earn-whether trading items such as weapons or land, or indifferent reputation badges, guild history, or proven skill. It’s not just about buying and selling things – it’s about agency, persistence, and getting proper recognition of what you have developed and what you really are in the ecosystem.
The concept is not new. Players have wanted more control over their in-game assets for years. Look at the massive Markets for CS: Go to the skin o World of Warcraft Gold. But to this day, economies have been to -restricted, restricted, or threatened to close if a centralized publisher has decided to close it or change the rules. Web3 makes these economies open, coherent, player owned and player driven.
Ownership has always been the foundation of web3 playing, and the play-to-earn is an experimental model that has shown potential for open and unauthorized virtual economy in blockchain. Today, the industry is emerging with a stronger focus on sustainable economies and better tokenomics, deeper gameplay, and long-term player interaction.
But if you compare web3 to playing web2, you will fail. Traditional gaming has had decades in the Fine-Tune game design, build massive player bases, and build business models that work, while web3 playing is still at the experimental stage. Sure, billions of investment dollars can speed things up, but throwing money into a brand new category can’t buy it a track record or immediately create new games that people love.
I have been doing games for over 20 years and I have seen every main shift deleted before it gets. No one believes that mobile gaming can compete with PCs or consoles until it becomes larger than the same. Free-to-play was called a scam until it made more money and reached more players than ever before. Esports are a joke up to stadiums sold and the prize pools hit millions. Digital skin is “worthless” before they become a Multi-billion dollar market.
And now, web3 playing is at the same point of inflection.
When I first heard about Blockchain in 2018, everything I knew in FinTech was talking about it. So of course I thought it was boring and I ignored it. It wasn’t until I found out about the cryptokitties I really noticed. When I see people collecting, trading and actually owning these cute cats, that’s when I’m excited because I know they’re not like other in-game assets. Cryptokitties are digital things that no one can get rid of you. As someone who spends their lives in grinding games, and their career convinces others to grind both – without really getting anything for it – that idea of digital prejudice has given me a new way to think.
So I went to all the Blockchain games. But 2018 and 2019 are really tough time. There was quite no one else to care about before. No support, no real funds, no clear idea of what could be beyond the imagination, and (outside of a little believers) there is very little belief. The market is in a deep bear cycle, and many teams give up or run out of money before they launch. However, some of us continue to build. We stayed lean, experimenting, and learned all the difficult ways. It feels like bad today, but it’s not as bad as it was. Returning -looking, I’m glad we didn’t have it -packed when success was just around.
When the Axie Infinity broke out in 2021, everything changed. Web3 founders like Jeffrey “Jihoz” Zirlin of Sky Mavis, Yat Siu of Animoca Brands, Sandbox Sebasien Borget, and I, came from called Crazy In Visionary Overnight. Suddenly, we were speaking at the main phase at conferences where we were watching the audience. We created news titles and “most influential” list. Investors who have ignored our emails asked how much they could put in. My email inbox is filled with fundraising decks that pierce the next YGG.
Then in 2022, the market crashed, and soon, we returned to being mad. But I didn’t really bother because crazy people were going on big things.
Now, everyone asks: When is the next big web3 game? The answer is this: good games take time. And if you look at the red candles to notice what’s up now, you’ll see how much development we have done since our industry has been lying in 2018:
- In 2020, Axie Infinity has fewer than 500 -day -day players. Now, Ronin – the blockchain it built – is MILLION -million of active users, with 17 new games launched, and 134% growth to the number of NFT trading in 2024 compared to 2023. It also No more permissionThat means there will be more games, faster development, stronger network effects, and unobtrusive major achievements. Some of the biggest changes in gaming such as ModdingFree-to-play and esports come from unexpected places. By lowering the barrier of entry, a consent Ronin invites the type of experiment that may lead to the next axie-scale success.
- Pixels, a farming game in Ronin, hit a peak of 1.3 million -day -to -day active users (Daus) and holds strong now with about 250,000 Daus even with a token down 96%. Players are spending more than cash out, buying land, upgrading property, and actually returning money to game, fueling the economy instead of getting it. This is how virtual economies should work, with real demand and strong maintenance. Most importantly, this is an indication that the play-to-earn model can work if right.
- Parallel, a trading card game (TCG) in Ethereum, hosted just a world championship in Las Vegas in Hyperx Arena-a place that hosted some of the biggest competitions in eSports from the “League of Legends All-Stars” in “Street Fighter V’s Capcom Cup.” This is a prestigious event that has seen some of the best TCG players in the world from traditional titles such as Hearthstone to be some of the first legends of Web3 Esports.
These are just a few examples, but they show the kind of traction we see: better infrastructure, growing communities, more sustainable virtual economies, digital ownership.
People playing web3 today don’t understand it. They missed Cryptokitties in 2018, Axie in 2020, YGG in 2021, and they will also miss the next wave as they also measure the wrong metrics. Web3 grows and changes faster than any other gaming sector. It’s not time to stop. It’s time to be double down. Let them call us whatever they want: crazy, incidentally. Visionary, leadership. This does not change what we do. We were here before. Stay a path.
