Research has shown 30% of blockchain games run away from responsibility in 2023. A few decent ones publicly announced their incapacity and cited reasons to do with mass player cheating, lack of funding, and less favorable market conditions. However, hundreds of others went radio silent for months without any sign of life on their websites and community pages.
Read More: The Best P2E Games: How to Earn Money in Crypto Gaming
But are these enough reasons to wipe all social media data, exit without a trace, and abandon the once-immersive virtual worlds into some sort of zombie-ridden ghost towns?
The Vanishing Act: Exploring Reasons Behind Blockchain Games’ Disappearance
An earlier report by Game7 indicated 50 of them halted development in 2023. However, fresh data from the BigBlockchainGamesList has suggested that this number could be way higher.
The image below shows 248 ‘left group’ in Q1 and Q2 2024. It turns out that most games that quit on players didn’t even see their players ‘typing’ before they left. Just turned their backs on us and walked away without even bothering to shut the door.
In Q3 and Q4 2023, another 162 could not resist the adrenaline rush. So they run, too. Rumors have it they went for a Responsibility Evasion Cardio Treatment, never to come back. Someone must have tipped them that running was the ultimate solution for deadbeats. In total, 410 blockchain games went MIA in 2023.
Industry-wide Impact and Resilience Amidst Challenges
Entering the Web3 gaming space and thriving are daunting tasks. Leaving everything behind isn’t a walk in the park, either.
Hence, a few strong ones abandoned their decentralization dreams and chose to live without crypto. So they read ‘the 18 rules for winning back your ex the right way’ and settled for a dull cryptoless marriage. Yes, with traditional gaming.
Commenting on the Grand Canyon-sized gap between those two lists – 50 and 410 –, Game7’s George Isichos said some games were not deadbeats but silently progressing with early development. Perhaps they preferred a less dramatic entry into the bull run and were silently preparing for a slow but sure grand reveal.
We have blockchains that recorded more losses than others in terms of canceled games. As per the Big Blockchain Games List, the largest number of shutdowns happened on BNB Chain, Polygon, Ethereum, and Solana. It is worth mentioning the number of shutdowns was directly proportional to the size of the blockchain. However, we should point out that many of 2023’s dormant games had never stated their parent blockchain. For this reason, the game blockchain data was not comprehensive enough to paint a clear picture.
Despite some blockchain games opting for a traditional model, the broader gaming industry also faced its fair share of challenges. Last year saw approximately 10,500 layoffs in the broader gaming industry.
More Info:
- The Game Changer: How Web3 Games are Revolutionizing Ownership and Education
- Solana’s PlayGG Event: Flipping the Crypto Gaming Narrative
- Loyalty Gets a Makeover: Polygon’s Tokenized Rewards and Dynamic Connections
As early as January 2024, Minecraft paused development updates, and Twitch, Archiact, and Unity laid off thousands of staff. We only hope for those who left to look back and see the crises is everywhere, not just in Web3.
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