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.
- 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.
- US dev Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow – raised $3 million in 2024 – closed down, suspending development on its social deduction game The Mystery Society.
- US developer Midnight Society closed down, canning its in-development vertical shooter Deadrop.
- 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.
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
- Relaunched with NFTs on Telegram in 2024, Flappy Bird was re-relaunched in 2025 as a web2 mobile game through the Epic Games Store for Android.
- Brazilian developer Jungle – raised $6 million in 2023 – announced its mobile shooter For The Win would ditch web3 and be developed “as a mobile F2P title only“.
- Singapore dev Tatsu Works – raised $7.5 million in 2022 – announced it was canning its web3 game Tatsumeeko, shifting its activity to new web2 title Project: Wander.
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