GameFi Before 2025: Lessons We Had to Learn
2025-05-21 11:10:51
收藏
GameFi feels like a magic trick: devs earn, players earn, everyone cashes out—yet no one pays in. So… where does the money come from?The Rise and Rapid Boom of GameFi
Over the past few years, GameFi has experienced a period of explosive growth, driven by the novel “Play to Earn” (P2E) model. Pioneering projects such as Axie Infinity enabled players to earn tokens and NFTs through in-game activities, capturing global attention. At its peak, Axie Infinity boasted around 2 million daily active users (DAU) and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in monthly revenue. In 2022, the mobile game StepN sparked a new wave with its “Move to Earn” concept, reaching over 700,000 DAU at its height. Fueled by the promise of blockchain enabled wealth creation, both players and investors poured into the space, hoping to profit while enjoying game play. With the rise of the broader “X to Earn” narrative, more projects began to expand beyond gameplay itself—experimenting with incentive mechanisms tied to real-world behaviors such as exercise, social interaction, and data contribution.
However, as user growth and capital inflows surged, the GameFi sector quickly began to reveal its underlying vulnerabilities. Many hyped projects saw sharp declines in user activity as the initial excitement faded. Axie Infinity’s DAU plummeted from roughly 2 million in 2021 to around 200,000 in 2025. StepN, once a phenomenon, saw its DAU collapse from hundreds of thousands to fewer than 10,000 after its profit dynamics weakened. This dramatic boom and bust cycle has triggered a broader industry reckoning over the long term sustainability of the GameFi .
The History of GameFi ：
Phase 1: Origin (2016-2017)
The true starting of GameFi didn’t come from games in the traditional sense, but rather from a wave of on chain gambling contracts that emerged around 2017, represented by projects like Fomo3D. These applications typically ran on high throughput chains such as Ethereum or EOS, leveraging smart contract mechanics to design Ponzi or dividend distribution games that triggered FOMO among users, attracting continuous capital inflows. Although Fomo3D lacked a visual interface or gameplay in the conventional sense, it pioneered the concept of encoding “participation as potential profit” directly into on chain logic. This marked an early prototype of what would later evolve into the Play to Earn model.
Concurrently, a large number of casino style DApps emerged on the EOS chain, including BetDice and EOSBet. These platforms engaged users through betting and dividend sharing mechanisms, demonstrating the scalability and effectiveness of on chain incentive structures. While these early projects lacked true gameplay elements and the concept of asset ownership, they established two foundational pillars for future GameFi: 1) on chain interaction as economic behavior, 2) incentive design as a driver of user participation.
Phase 2: Early Prototypes (2017-2020)
Following the initial wave of smart contract based speculative games, GameFi entered a new phase centered around NFT. In 2017, CryptoKitties emerged as a landmark project, marking the first time that NFT was used to define ownership of in-game assets on chain. It enabled players to breed, trade, and collect unique "cats" each represented as a kind asset on chain. While the gameplay was relatively simple, CryptoKitties introduced a fundamental shift in how digital assets could be managed ushering in a new era of asset ownership and player driven economies in games.
Shortly after, the early version of Axie Infinity began experimenting with lightweight game mechanics such as turn based combat and character progression, integrating these elements with NFTs to explore the intersection between playability and asset value. However, due to the limited performance and high transaction costs of Ethereum at the time, the overall user experience remained suboptimal. Most projects during this period were still focused on collectible and speculative aspects, with limited gameplay depth. Nevertheless, this phase marked a meaningful transition from “on-chain financial experiments” to early expressions of game form. It also established the foundational components of modern GameFi: NFT based assets, decentralized marketplaces, and the initial design of game mechanics.
Phase 3: Explosion Growth (2020-2021)
2021 was marked the true breakout moment for GameFi, as years of technical groundwork in blockchain gaming culminated in a mainstream surge. Axie Infinity became the flagship project of this phase, combining pet breeding gameplay with token based incentives to spark global engagement. By purchasing NFT pets (Axies) and participating in battles, players could earn $SLP tokens, which were tradable on markets for real profit. This seemingly universal promise of "play to earn" captured the imagination of users, particularly in emerging markets such as the Philippines and Venezuela, where the game was heralded as a Web3 phenomenon capable of "feed the whole family."
In the wake of Axie Infinity’s success, a wave of new projects flooded the space. Such as Sandbox, Illuvium, and Star Atlas launched in quick succession, and "Play to Earn" became the dominant paradigm within GameFi. The surge drew attention from top tier venture capital firms, including a16z and propelled transaction volumes and fundraising to new heights.
However, the rapid growth during this period was driven less by sustainable gameplay and more by rising token prices and constant user acquisition, effectively a "musical chairs" of incentive distribution. Despite these structural issues, this phase marked the first time GameFi achieved a complete product narrative and economic model, proven at scale in the real world. It was during this period that “Play to Earn” entered the public consciousness as a viable Web3 economic model.
Phase 4: Collapse (2021-2022)
GameFi’s rapid expansion also revealed several structural weaknesses, the most prominent being poor user retention. While the "Play to Earn" model initially attracted large numbers of new users, the majority failed to stay engaged over time. According to data, more than 60% of players stopped interacting with blockchain games within 30 days of onboarding, the core issue lies in the short term, reward driven design of most projects.
Many GameFi applications prioritized token incentives over sustainable gameplay, resulting in repetitive mechanics, weak narratives, and limited entertainment value. Despite requiring players to purchase in game assets, these games often delivered low quality graphics and uninspired experiences. When financial gain becomes the sole motivation, the intrinsic enjoyment of gaming fades, eroding the foundation of long term user engagement and loyalty.
In addition, a more systemic issue emerged: the imbalance of token economies and mounting inflationary pressure. Most "X to Earn" games relied on continuous token issuance to incentivize participation, but lacked effective burn mechanisms or long term sinks. This led to rapid inflation and persistent token devaluation.
Take Axie Infinity as an example. The project once had an effectively uncapped token supply, which contributed to rapid inflation and long-term price depreciation. Despite multiple attempts by the development team to adjust emission rates, they failed to reverse the token’s price collapse, ultimately undermining player motivation. In parallel, Axie’s NFT ecosystem faced its own supply side issues. Even as user growth plateaued, the system continued to generate new NFT pets, creating a structural mismatch: declining demand alongside rising NFT supply.
StepN faced a similar dilemma. Its NFT sneakers could be bred indefinitely, but new user acquisition could not keep pace with asset creation. As a result, the market price of sneakers plummeted—from all-time highs to just a few dollars. The oversupply of incentives, combined with insufficient demand, triggered a vicious cycle of token depreciation and user attrition.
Beyond economic concerns, the "X to Earn" model also exposed significant shortcomings in gameplay design. Many early blockchain games resembled financial products wrapped in a thin layer of gamification, lacking polish and meaningful interaction. For instance, StepN’s core mechanic is earning tokens by tracking steps this mechanism offered minimal gameplay depth. Similarly, numerous card based games featured repetitive combat systems where players simply completed routine tasks in exchange for rewards.
Under this "play to earn" model, user engagement was driven primarily by financial incentives. As soon as rewards declined, user retention collapsed. Even projects that once boasted millions of users often saw their communities fade rapidly after the initial hype subsided. In this context, players functioned more as short term "miners" , rather than genuine participants in a sustainable gaming ecosystem.
In summary, the combination of user attrition, uncontrolled inflation, and shallow gameplay has rendered the traditional GameFi model increasingly unsustainable. This has triggered a wave of industry wide reflection : Is "X to Earn" truly viable in the long term? Can the next generation of GameFi systems break free from the unsustainable cycle of relying on new user inflows to sustain incentives? In response to these structural challenges, GameFi has entered a phase of deep introspection and paradigm experimentation—setting the stage for the next chapter of its evolution.
What is Next for GameFi?
If the earlier boom of GameFi was built on token driven incentives, today’s industry exploration is increasingly focused on uncovering deeper sources of value. In the wake of the initial hype, project teams and developers have begun to realize the limitations of the old "play to earn" and are reevaluating the relationship between incentive mechanisms and user behavior.
A new line of thinking is beginning to take shape: Rather than treating token rewards as an end in themselves, they should be integrated with real world actions and measurable service contributions. The goal is to build systems underpinned by genuine utility and external value. “Move to Earn” was an early attempt in this direction, aligning fitness behavior with token incentives. While exercise itself has intrinsic benefits, the collapse of its token economy revealed a key limitation. The intrinsic value alone is insufficient to sustain user engagement in the absence of financial motivation.
This has led to a new direction: Anchoring token incentives to additional, externally verifiable sources of value. These may include quantifiable services generated by user behavior—such as providing bandwidth, electricity, or data or funding flows from outside the ecosystem to reinforce reward structures. One of the most promising explorations along this line is the rise of DePIN. By deploying and operating physical devices, users contribute real world services such as connectivity, energy supply, and location data in exchange for on chain rewards. This model aims to break away from closed-loop incentive schemes, linking native value creation with real world supply, and holds potential for improving both user retention and system sustainability.
CyberCharge: Bridging Physical Hardware and GameFi Incentives
Among the projects exploring new paradigms, CyberCharge stands out as a innovative example. It introduced the world’s first Web3 multifunctional smart charger, a device that seamlessly integrates real world charging behavior with blockchain based incentives, launching a innovative "Charge to Earn" model. In simple terms, users earn token rewards simply by charging their phones or other devices. Each charging behaviour becomes a opportunity to receive tokens and airdrops, a mechanism the team refers to as "Charging Mining."
By embedding GameFi elements into a daily activity, CyberCharge transforms routine charging into an interactive, reward driven experience, enhancing both user engagement and product stickiness. More importantly, CyberCharge represents a departure from traditional token driven models. Its underlying architecture and incentive design reflect a deeper level of structural innovation.
First, in terms of value generation, CyberCharge anchors its token economy to real world energy services. Once connected to the network, each distributed charging device contributes to tasks such as load balancing and regional energy forecasting. With the help of AI algorithms, CyberCharge network optimizes power distribution and improves overall system efficiency. This means users are not only earning tokens—they are actively supporting the performance of the broader energy infrastructure. Unlike inflationary reward models that rely solely on new token issuance, CyberCharge's approach ties on chain rewards to measurable off chain utility. This value creation model offers stronger intrinsic backing for the token, potentially reducing inflationary pressure and speculative volatility.
Secondly, CyberCharge breaks away from the monotonous,standardized and repetitive model approach commonly seen in GameFi by introducing a modular design in both its gameplay and incentive mechanisms. The hardware consists of a charging plug and a set of expandable magnetic smart modules, each representing a unique reward logic or task type. These interchangeable components can be linked to different blockchain games or applications, enabling users to participate in a wide range of activities and earn corresponding rewards simply by switching modules.
This modular architecture opens up the potential for a diverse ecosystem, with hundreds of components and gameplay variations. Compared to the repetitive “complete tasks, earn rewards” model that dominates traditional GameFi, CyberCharge offers a richer and more flexible interactive experience. Users can shift between application scenarios based on personal interest, significantly reducing fatigue caused by repetitive mechanics.
In addition, the project plans to integrate with more Web3 applications and ecosystems. For example, by supporting blockchainen abled devices such as the Solana Saga phone or connecting to decentralized communication services like DeSIM. This means that in the future, using CyberCharge may reward users with tokens from an energy infrastructure network,and also unlock access to exclusive benefits within games or Dapp. This diversified incentive structure expands the value proposition of participation and helps foster a more stable and engaged user base.
Finally, at macro level, CyberCharge represents a new paradigm that integrates real world behavior with blockchain based incentives. By bridging physical infrastructure, the charging network with virtual economic systems such as token rewards and gamified experiences, CyberCharge aims to break free from the closed loop, self referential logic of traditional GameFi. Instead, it seeks to create a model where on chain and off chain value can interact and reinforce each other. For users, this paradigm offers a dual benefit experience. On one hand, real world actions such as charging devices or using physical hardware, fulfill practical needs and deliver tangible services. On the other hand, these behaviors are gamified, turning everyday activities into opportunities for digital rewards and enjoyment. This combination of functional utility and interactive engagement generates a deeper sense of satisfaction and stickiness, one that is far more enduring than the shallow appeal of simply tapping a screen to earn tokens.
Conclusion: Toward a Sustainable Web3 Experience
From the meteoric rise and fall of flagship projects like Axie Infinity and StepN, They revealed the limits of token driven growth. GameFi early success, built on short term incentives, is no longer sustainable. The future lies in models that prioritize long term value and meaningful engagement. CyberCharge offers a compelling example of this shift. By combining real world behaviors like charging devices with gamified incentives, it introduces a dual engine model: real utility as value anchor, and gameplay as engagement driver. This approach helps tackle key issues like user retention, inflation, and gameplay fatigue. However, is not guaranteed. Balancing real-world services with virtual rewards, designing sustainable token economies, and reaching mainstream users remain open challenges.
It is clear that GameFi is evolving from speculation to utility, from hype to substance. As real-world actions like moving, learning, and charging become tokenized and gamified, Web3 is inching closer to everyday life. In this new paradigm, even the simplest behavior may generate value and push Web3 beyond finance and into the fabric of daily experience.
关联标签
链捕手ChainCatcher提醒，请广大读者理性看待区块链，切实提高风险意识，警惕各类虚拟代币发行与炒作， 站内所有内容仅系市场信息或相关方观点，不构成任何形式投资建议。如发现站内内容含敏感信息，可点击“举报”，我们会及时处理。
