Blockchain Gaming World

Read the full article at https://www.blockchaingamer.biz/features/41347/top-50-blockchain-game-companies-2026/
[6:55] One of the trends is the rise of games with degen mechanics, notably YGG at #3.
[8:35] YGG's positioning of LOL Land as a "Casual Degen" game - a casual game with degen rewards.
[10:30] These games have been a (relative) success. Mass-market web3 games haven't been.
[12:55] Also in the Top 50, Cambria, Gigaverse and Fishing Frenzy use this degen mechanic.
[15:37] Even Mythical Games is moving towards this with its Pulse Arena platform.
[19:35] Sky Mavis' Ronin blockchain has a lot of these degen games running on it.
[27:02] Dacoco's Alien Worlds is an underappreciated web3 game for its DAO focus.
[35:00] CCP's EVE Frontier is the prime example of a bottom-up, fully onchain MMORPG.
[41:18] Roblox-with-blockchain Hytopia launched in 2025 with 2.5 million mobile downloads.
[44:27] The #1 company is MapleStory Universe dev Nexpace (Nexon).
[52:04] Also ... Bitcoin game payment company ZBD announced a $40 million Series C funding round.

Polygon buys Sequence, Animoca buys SOMO, Cartridge buys Playmint. Consolidation?

[0:28] Today's theme is consolidation.
[1:15] Is this the trend for blockchain games companies in 2026 or something more nuanced?
[2:00] Why didn't we see more consolidation in 2025?
[3:46] Playmint has been bought by Cartridge. This is likely more of an R&D rollup or acquihire deal.
[5:53] Playmint worked on fully decentralized games and Cartridge has an onchain game engine.
[7:05] Both companies also have a shared investor Bitkraft to enable the deal.
[8:40] Sequence has been acquired by Polygon Labs. It's more of a classic consolidation deal.
[10:50] Polygon is repositioning itself as a payments and stablecoin infrastructure.
[12:13] Sequence's focus has always been cross-chain dev tools for blockchain games.
[14:59] Investors like tools. Sequence raised around $50 million.
[18:50] Polygon is buying Sequence because it's a proper business with real tech and users.
[22:20] Will Sequence focus less on games in future?
[23:06] Animoca Brands has acquired web3 gameco SOMO. It's unclear why.
[29:31] Delabs Games is shutting down idle RPG Ragnarok Libre.
[35:15] Delabs Games is now an AI-first game developer so it's looking to the future.

Mythical's new Pulse platform, Boomland shuts and no more SLP rewards.
[0:29] BoomLand has announced it's shutting down.
[2:35] It never raised much money but it was always very good at building product.
[6:50] It's another example of how hard it is to operate in the blockchain game sector.
[7:48] But its game Hunters On Chain will remain live during 2026.
[11:18] Due to botting, SLP is no longer a token players can earn in Axie Infinity: Origins.
[14:58] This reminds us that extractive value always has been balanced by similar input costs.
[20:37] Mythical Games is one of the most credible mass market blockchain game companies.
[21:34] It's launching a new stablecoin-based market called Pulse Market.
[22:36] Paid tournament Pulse Arena platform is also live for the Pudgy Party game.
[24:02] One tournament example is paying $3 entry for the chance to win $90, all in PENGU token.
[25:58] The only thing that's onchain is the fee payment system and the reward payouts.
[30:53] It's difficult to balance blockchain benefits and easy UX, which is what Mythical is trying to do.

Key trends for blockchain games in 2026? Stablecoins, AI agents, FIFA Rivals, AppTokens.
[1:17] You need to know what doesn't work before you can find out what does work.
[3:18] We thought the value of a blockchain game would be reflected in its token price. It's not.
[7:25] In 2025, we saw projects become more focused on who their specific audience is.
[9:20] One of the small successes in 2025 was risk-to-earn games for degen gamers.
[11:43] But mass market blockchain games are increasingly hiding their crypto elements.
[14:58] Blockchain gaming as revolution has failed. Blockchain games as evolution may not.
[15:28] Mythical Games is moving to a new stablecoin-based marketplace.
[18:15] The success of its FIFA Rivals game in a World Cup year will be interesting to see.
[20:00] Stablecoins will continue to become more significant in gaming and fintech in 2026.
[24:00] Crypto tokens will kill your game fastest than they can make your game work.
[26:20] Cross-chain infrastructure is now much better, which enables better UX.
[28:01] AppTokens remain interesting but are difficult for developers to
[31:58] AI agents were predicted to be a big trend in 2025 but they weren't.
[35:54] AI agents are symbiotic with blockchain. Games could be the first test case.
[39:17] AI agents have the potential to fix many of blockchain gaming's problems in 2026.
[42:30] Gaming's biggest challenge at present is cost of marketing for web2 and web3.
[46:50] Blockchain games are the best positioned part of gaming to take advantage of AI.

[1:58] 2025 was the end of play-to-earn cycle which started in 2021 with Axie Infinity.
[3:10] However, crypto had a great year in terms of Tradfi adoption; ETFs, stablecoins, DATs etc.
[7:50] Why have crypto incentives not worked for blockchain games?
[11:00] Adding real-world value has overwhelmed the other reasons why people play games.
[14:30] The killer feature of blockchain games shouldn't be making money but assets having value.
[17:40] Tokens are dead; at least tokens that are available for trading on centralized
[24:58] Do stablecoins eat all other forms of payment including in games?
[26:01] Mythical Games is launching a new USDC-based NFT marketplace in 2026.
[33:03] Funding for games in general and blockchain games in particular has been
[36:53] In 2025, blockchain game funding was $350 million, $1 billion in 2024, $1.7 billion in 2023.
[41:03] Pixels and its forthcoing Stacked rewards app is going for a mass audience.
[44:44] YGG gave up on mass market guilds and is making Casual Degen games for crypto people.
[49:11] (An aside - the rise of prediction markets.)
[55:06] Another trend is large games like MapleStory and EVE Frontier building an ecosystem.
[1:03:00] The Sandbox is launching its new community memecoin Corners platforms.
[1:04:45] An example of the sector's change in 2025 is Mighty Bear Games rebranding to Wearemighty.
[1:09:25] Immutable also had a significant change of focus from games to marketing in 2025.
[1:13:15] The products that die in 2026 will be the ones with exactly the same strategy as 2025.