The blockchain games from the last cycle are facing a collective demise

Author: Deep Tide TechFlow

As the version offspring Meme Launchpads are thriving, some projects are becoming the abandoned children of the version.

For instance, the once-popular chain game projects from the last cycle have recently faced a wave of shutdowns.

On May 16, Nyan Heroes, a former star game project in the Solana ecosystem, announced its official shutdown due to "funding shortages." The developer, 9 Lives Interactive, released a statement on the X platform, admitting that they "could not secure additional funding to complete the game."

In just one day, the NYAN token plummeted by as much as 37.2%, and subsequently, the FDV dropped to around 5M, evaporating nearly 99% from its historical peak.

The depths of despair are as stark as the heights of glory.

Recall that this game once attracted 1 million test players, with a Steam wishlist of up to 250,000; yet now its market value may not even surpass that of a Meme dog.

However, the downfall of Nyan Heroes is not an isolated case. Recently, multiple chain game projects have announced shutdowns or paused development, with previous funding amounts ranging from millions to tens of millions of dollars, yet all have inevitably come to an end.

The cyclical nature of the crypto industry is vividly reflected in chain games. In favorable winds, high financing, launching assets before products, and in adverse winds, gradually lying flat or even going to zero…

Some community comments jokingly refer to the decline of chain games as a "natural selection."

The Decline of Prosperity

Coincidentally, in 2025, several chain game projects, including Blast Royale, The Walking Dead: Empires, and The Mystery Society, announced shutdowns or paused development.

These projects once attracted countless eyes with high financing and the P2E (Play-to-Earn) model, yet within just a few years, they transitioned from peak popularity to a quiet end.

Nyan Heroes: The Burst of the Cat Hero Bubble

This was indeed a star project in the Solana ecosystem, accumulating $13 million in funding with its creative cat-themed hero shooting game, including a $2.5 million seed round in November 2021, a $7.5 million Series A round in May 2022 (valued at $100 million), and an additional $3 million round in March 2024.

The game testing attracted 1 million players (official data), and the Steam and Epic Games Store wishlist reached 250,000. The launch of the NYAN token in May 2024 further boosted market enthusiasm. However, on May 16, 2025, developer 9 Lives Interactive announced the halt of development due to "inability to secure additional funding."

Blast Royale: The Quiet Exit of the Battle King

Blast Royale is a mobile battle royale game based on Polygon, featuring fast-paced 6-minute battles and a P2E mechanism. In April 2022, the project raised $5 million through an ICO, with investors including Dragonfly Capital and Mechanism Capital.

The game attracted early players with its lightweight gameplay but never achieved a large-scale breakthrough. In May 2025, developer First Light Games announced the termination of development due to "internal review," planning to officially shut down on June 30.

The Walking Dead: Empires: The IP Halo Doesn't Help

Developed by Ember Entertainment and published by Gala Games, this survival MMORPG based on the well-known TV series "The Walking Dead" incorporates an NFT ownership mechanism.

Although the project did not disclose specific funding amounts, it relied on Gala Games' financial support and IP advantages, with open testing lasting over a year, attracting fans to build bases and participate in battles. However, in May 2025, Gala Games announced the termination of the project on July 31 due to "comprehensive considerations."

The Mystery Society: A Flash in the Pan for the Mystery Game

Created by a team from Disney and Club Penguin, this game focuses on Web3 social deduction gameplay and secured $3 million in seed funding in September 2024, led by Shima Capital. The project received praise for its community-driven and innovative mechanisms, attracting active players for early testing. However, on February 25, 2025, developer Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow announced the pause of development due to "industry challenges and funding shortages."

We also created a table summarizing the chain games that have announced shutdowns or paused development.

It can be seen that these games generally raised decent amounts in the last cycle and coincidentally used mechanisms that combined NFT and token assets with in-game consumption.

Famous VCs flocked to invest, yet the harsh reality of failure remains.

Beneath the surface, player attrition, imbalances in the P2E model, and misaligned priorities between assets and development are the real driving forces. They boast high-profile financing and grand visions, yet few deliver playable products.

Moreover, some things are an unspoken industry consensus: the product itself is not the focus, and no one really wants to play these games. A track that competes on creativity and content density encounters players who are more focused on stamina and financial acumen, leading to predictable outcomes.

Prosperity leads to decline, thriving in financing but faltering in gameplay.

Genes Determine Fate

You may have noticed the more ironic aspect: the reasons these chain game projects announced their shutdowns — "funding shortages."

The chain game projects that shut down almost universally declare that their reason for quitting is a lack of funds, making it difficult to create a high-quality game.

Do these chain games really lack money? From the perspective of purely making games, perhaps not.

For instance, the $13 million raised by Nyan Heroes — regardless of the game's quality — what does $13 million represent?

Not to mention top-tier AAA games, even the domestic classic single-player game IP "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" had a reported development cost of 67 million yuan for its seventh installment. This means that if Nyan Heroes used all its funding to make a game, it could easily create something like "The Legend of Sword and Fairy."

The overseas examples are even more astonishing.

The well-known farming game "Stardew Valley" was developed by a single developer, Eric Barone, over four years, with an investment of about $50,000. After its launch in 2016, it sold over 30 million copies worldwide, becoming a legend in independent gaming.

The graphics of this game are not much different from some projects that raised over a million dollars.

This also illustrates that games are products that emphasize creative quality and content density; one person, $50,000, can succeed through creativity and gameplay.

When comparing the chain games that frequently claim "funding shortages" to pause development, the contrast is very clear — funding will always be insufficient, especially when there is a reluctance to use funds for game development.

The genes of chain games have already determined that they cannot pursue the high quality and meticulous craftsmanship of traditional game industries; they resemble resource management and funding schemes, needing to design suitable operational rhythms and investment rules to meet the needs of various primary and secondary investors.

The optimal solution in this track has become to secure funding first and then do the work; as for whether it can be successful, that is a later concern.

Looking at the success of traditional games, it is rather the opposite: first do the work, then secure funding.

For example, "Black Myth: Wukong" only developed a few scenes in 2020 and amazed players with the quality of the demo, proving its potential before securing further funding.

Similarly, domestic second-tier new forces like "Genshin Impact" and "Ming Chao" adopt a phased development and iterative approach, attempting to present new plots and characters in each version. Players feel immersed and are willing to pay for characters, gradually accumulating funds to develop more versions and works.

These games focus on content, with story, art, and mechanics taking the lead, while financing is auxiliary rather than the goal. Web3 and traditional games are almost opposites, with speculative genes running throughout:

Players are investors, and games are Ponzi schemes ------incompatible with the patience and craftsmanship required for games. The track itself is not hopeless, but the "funding first, game later" model has reached a dead end.

The rise and fall of chain games is, in fact, an inevitable result of the misalignment between industry genes and user demands. Capital and concepts can temporarily generate hype, but cannot sustain a truly vibrant game ecosystem in the long run.

As more and more games are disproven, the process of sifting through the falsehoods after the wave of shutdowns is, in fact, something to look forward to.