Released in 2022, it was only following its move from Polygon to Ronin in November 2023 that social farming game Pixels really took off. As a result, the game has remained the most popular blockchain game throughout most of 2024.
Marking a year since the migration, we spoke to Pixels CEO Luke Barwikowski to find out how he’s dealing with bots and dropping PIXEL prices, and why he’s bullish for 2025, play-to-earn, and the next chapter of Pixels.
BlockchainGamer: One year on from Pixels‘ migration from Polygon to Ronin, what are some key takeaways you’ve learnt throughout the year?
Luke Barwikowski: Pixels today is not the same Pixels it was a year ago, and it will continue evolving in the year ahead, which excites me. Over the past year, we’ve faced challenges and learned valuable lessons, particularly around managing growth while keeping our community deeply involved. As our user base has expanded, balancing community feedback with the game’s development has required a more structured approach, while still allowing the community to remain hands-on in shaping the game.
Internally, I’ve had to find the right balance between formal processes and a more flexible, ‘cowboy’ approach to development. In web3, timing is everything, and moving quickly – getting things 80% right and not waiting for perfect conditions – has been crucial to our success.
Managing the complexities of a live token economy has taught us the importance of precision, especially as we work toward our key milestone of sustainability: achieving net ecosystem spend, where users spend more PIXEL in-game than we distribute each month.
Compared to a year ago, we’re operating with more data, smarter talent, and a clear path for ecosystem expansion. We are focused on creating a generationally defining company and game and I’m optimistic about what lies ahead.
Do you still believe as strongly in the play-to-earn model?
I still believe in play-to-earn, and at Pixels, our mission is to make it work. We’ve been making progress with machine learning, segmentation, bot detection, and reward targeting – critical elements for a sustainable play-to-earn ecosystem.
Our focus has two main parts: first, making the game as fun as possible – that’s our top priority. I know I can get nerdy about the tech side, but creating engaging, enjoyable games is at the core of everything we do. The second focus is around play-to-earn tech – bot prevention, reward targeting, viral loops, and incentive structures that support growth. We’re building these tools not just for Pixels but also for other games and developers joining our ecosystem.
Moving quickly – getting things 80% right and not waiting for perfect conditions – has been crucial to our success.
Luke Barwikowski
We want to bring real utility to the PIXEL token and make it possible for more games to grow with this technology. With Chapter 2.5, we’re tackling some of the economy issues so we can move forward with fun, new features.
I think everyone on the team and in the community is eager to get past this balancing phase and dive into new stages. It’s not the most exciting part of game development, but it’s essential for building a strong foundation to achieve our vision for play-to-earn.
Do you feel you’ll be able to better optimize rewards for committed players in 2025?
Yes, we’re very confident that we’ll be able to optimize rewards for our most committed players in 2025. Over the past two years, we’ve made key improvements to both the game experience and the in-game economy, which have set the stage for our next rollout: ‘smart’ token distribution technology.
We’ve been investing heavily in data science and predictive modeling, leveraging two years’ worth of live game data to refine how in-game rewards impact our players. This means we’re starting to identify meaningful user segments based on various data sources, including on-chain and in-game behavior, as well as demographic insights. By analyzing each segment, we’re learning how different types of players use PIXEL – whether they reinvest in the game, trade immediately, or engage in sybil farming.
Our goal with this next stage of smart rewards is to boost daily active users and in-game spending by giving tokens to players who are most likely to reinvest them back into the game. It’s always been about optimizing rewards to keep gameplay engaging and rewarding for our most dedicated players.
How frustrated are you by the trajectory of the price of PIXEL?
Our primary focus has always been on building real utility and value for PIXEL, so while price fluctuations are inevitable, we’re encouraged by our strong fundamentals and positive revenue trends. Over the past 90 days, we’ve lowered daily active wallets while maintaining solid DAU and even increasing our monthly revenue. In the last 30 days alone, we’ve seen a boost from 8.1 million to 9.08 million PIXEL in revenue.
Additionally, we’re expanding sustainable revenue streams beyond VIP offerings, with in-game coin purchasing now representing the largest PIXEL burn. Our Community Treasury has also grown to nearly 40 million PIXEL, and we’ll soon be unveiling governance plans to empower our community.
With the release of Chapter 2.5, we’ve made significant progress in reducing in-game inflation – dropping daily coin inflation by nearly 84%. These steps are all about strengthening the long-term value and sustainability of PIXEL for everyone involved.
Are there any plans for Pixels to be released on mobile?
We don’t have plans for Pixels to be released as a mobile app at this time.
Anything else we should be looking out for in 2025?
We have a ton of momentum right now and looking ahead to 2025, we’re excited to keep expanding the Pixels ecosystem and gameplay. We’ve made strong progress on the game economy and are now in a position to start adding deeper layers to gameplay. With Chapter 2.5, we’ll be rolling out final economy fixes alongside some brand-new features, setting the stage for Chapter 3 in early 2025. Chapter 3 will be all about introducing new mechanics that add meaningful depth to gameplay, including highly-requested PvE and PvP features – something our community has been asking for since day one.
Beyond the main game, we’re also looking to bring more experiences into the PIXEL ecosystem, with major announcements coming soon. Players will soon be able to access multiple games with their Pixels accounts, allowing their reputation to follow them and unlocking additional rewards, engagement opportunities, and uses for PIXEL across the ecosystem.
Additionally, after the success of hosting #BinanceBlockchainWeek2024 in Pixels, which attracted 236,000 unique users, we’re excited to explore similar large-scale virtual events in the future. There’s still a lot to come and it feels like we’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s possible in web3 gaming.
Find out more at the Pixels’ website.
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