Has the multi-billion-dollar bet on blockchain gaming already folded? Solana Foundation President Lily Liu posted Friday:
"Also, gaming on a blockchain is not coming back."
The network once marketed as the technical backbone for scalable crypto gaming—boasting high speed and negligible fees now sees its most prominent advocates walking away.
Star Atlas, the self-described “most ambitious blockchain-gaming project,” and Stepn, the move-to-earn social game, both launched on Solana. Their tokens trade at fractions of their 2021 peaks, erasing paper gains for early backers.
Venture shops poured billions into the thesis. a16z, Framework Ventures, and Animoca Brands led rounds that, at the time, commanded nine-figure valuations for studios promising to fuse NFTs with gameplay.
The resulting GameFi tokens have since collapsed, leaving cap tables underwater and secondary-market liquidity scarce.
Mythical Games still ships FIFA and Pudgy Penguins-branded mobile titles, yet its CEO downplays the tech that once justified premium raises. Mythical Games CEO John Linden said in 2024:
"I think what we’re seeing now is it’s not really the secret sauce. The secret sauce is what you do on top of it."
Even titles that retain blockchain elements now hide them behind opt-in menus. Gunzilla Games shooter Off the Grid states:
"If you don’t want to get involved with the NFT side of the game, you don’t have to."
Look, when the chains themselves start telling founders to de-emphasize the tech they raised on, the capital isn’t coming back until someone proves a real revenue loop not just a token loop.
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Source: Theblock