As inevitable as web3 gaming is as a concept, it’s also inevitable that the majority of blockchain games won’t be successful.
So here’s our list of the games officially shutting down or rebooting as web2 experiences.
NB: to give a sense of the length of time that investment is expected to last, one rule of thumb is it costs around $1 million to run a team of 10 game developers annually. Most web3 game funding was raised in 2021 and 2022 so a nominal team of 10 would have cost at least $3 million by mid-2025. Of course, for more complex games, teams can be more than 50-strong. You do the math!
Closed down
- US developer Battlebound – raised $8 million in 2022 – closed down, cancelling development of its game Anterris.
- US developer Midnight Society closed down, canning its in-development vertical shooter Deadrop.
- South Korea developer Hypedream – $7 million raised in 2021 – closed down due to a lack of funding, also closing down its Derby Stars and Derby Race games.
- Danish developer Bright Star – $20 million raised – closed down its MMORPG Ember Sword.
- US studio Laguna Labs canned its forthcoming game Neo Olympus after it failed to mint out its initial NFTs.
- Singapore dev 9 Lives Interactive – raised $13 million – ran out of funding, also closing down its in-development PC shooter Nyan Heroes.
- Overworld – the US development studio that’s part of Xterio – $10 million raised – cancelled its in-dev game Overworld, pivoting to build the games marketing and rewards blockchain REACH.
- US dev Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow – raised $3 million in 2024 – closed down, suspending development on its social deduction game The Mystery Society.
- US team Unioverse has announced via its Discord that after six months struggling to get new funding, it’s halted operations and its servers are now offline. Its parent company Random Games raised $8 million in September 2022.
Closing down
- Mobile battle royale Blast Royale will officially close on 30th June but it will be open sourced. UK developer First Light Games – raised $5 million in 2022 – is still operating.
- TGC game Cosmik Battle from French developer Cometh – $10 million raised – is being sunsetted. It “did not find a sustainable distribution channel or long-term launch partners”. The company continues to operate.
- Not officially announced but it appears that mobile game Rumble Kong League – raised $5 million in 2021 – has been sold off, reportedly – but with no evidence yet – to a Brazilian company.
- Gala Games’ The Walking Dead: Empires is shutting down, with its last playable date being 31st July. NFT holders will receive “new NFTs of equal functionality in other Gala Games products”.
Ditched web3, going web2
