As we’re about to close the chapter of 2024 and look towards the dawn of a new year, we’ve been asking some of the key members of the blockchain gaming sector about their thoughts on the past year and what they expect in 2025.
Sam Barberie is the head of strategy and partnerships at Sequence (at Horizon Blockchain Games).
What was the most significant trend for the sector of 2024?
Chaos and consolidation. 2024 was a year of explosion for new chains and dapp chains, new shiny objects of probably limited merit (like Telegram games), but also of thankful consolidation.
Teams are making decisions about how much they want to take on, and the results of some hero case studies like Off the Grid are showing developers what they can achieve by focusing on gameplay and not tokens.
Chains are realizing that no one wants 1,000 tools and vendors to talk to (and nor should they try to make infra themselves), they want a clear and curated path toward building with safe and scalable technology.
How did the focus of your business change this year?
It’s been a rewarding year for Sequence where the focus was to continue to deliver world-class solutions to game developers. We went live with our strategic partnership with Google as their exclusive provider for EVM technology, our strategic partnership with Immutable to power their Embedded Wallets and enable all Sequence technology on Immutable zkEVM.
It’s clear that there is still so much to do to unlock web3 gaming for all developers and players, but also that the industry is recognizing that we’re the ones to do it, and this year’s trajectory will continue into 2025 with even more.
What do you predict will be the most important trends in 2025?
2025 is going to be a year where, unfortunately, I think a lot of noise will ratchet up as prices go haywire and dumb money comes back into play. We’ve been there before, and the industry is learning dumb money makes matters worse: Dumb money doesn’t bring more users, more utility, and more provable case studies.
There will be incredible games launching in 2025, ones that will change the industry fundamentally, but developers and teams need to stay hyperfocused on what they can do well and what they can deliver on.
At the same time, I believe we’re going to see some greater clarity from regulators on web3, but also far less of a push in the US, at least, to make platforms more open and accountable.
What was your favourite blockchain game of the year?
Ubisoft’s Captain Laserhawk and Off the Grid both show what great games in web3 can be and hint at more of what’s to come.
What’s your New Year’s resolution and what resolution would you enforce on the industry?
Focus. If what you’re doing every day isn’t improving developer economics or player benefits, why are you here?
Check out all the 2024 End-of-Year interviews here >>
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