Web3 Gaming's Struggle: Balancing Blockchain Innovation with Player Engagement

When will gaming tokens surge? SaruTobi iOS Bitcoin game review: Web3 Gamer

Will gaming tokens repeat their explosive 2021 surge in the coming months? Improbable CEO's hack for attracting new players, and more. The crypto market is printing green candles across the board, with 80% of altcoins outperforming Bitcoin this month -- but gaming tokens seem to have missed the memo. While the broader market is soaring alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum's recent rally, gaming-related tokens are showing signs of life, but still lagging. According to MMORPG game Calamity co-founder Seva, it's a credibility problem. "Trust is broken. Too many raised millions, delivered zero," Seva said of blockchain games in a recent X post. As a result of the lack of trust, Seva said gamers have little confidence in any of the gaming tokens and are mainly chasing quick gains. "Short-term mindset dominates selling early," he said. "Believers are tired. No wins, just waiting." Seva said attention and money are now "spread thin" across too many gaming projects, and it is "time to change that." The numbers show a small increase for popular gaming tokens over the past seven days since Bitcoin reached new all-time highs on Binance of $123,100 on July 14. Ronin (RON) is up 9.09%, Beam (BEAM) is up 9.85% and Axie Infinity (AXS) is up 6.82% over the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap data. However, that pales in comparison to Tezos (XTZ), which has risen 67.73%; Ethena (ENA), which is up 47.45%; and Lido DAO (LDO), which has a 42.88% gain over the same period. Respectable gains if you're in traditional finance. Tragic if you're in a crypto bull run. Some found humor in the fact that gaming tokens still haven't taken off. Rare Evo co-founder RandCorp said: "Watching a bunch of 30-year-old Web3 gaming bros crash out on the timeline because 'gaming' isn't having a bull run." "You might have lost a few years to wasted time, bruv, welcome to learning about opportunity cost," RandCorp said. But not everyone sees it as doom and gloom. Crypto gaming commentator Camol is still optimistic, saying, "There's so much momentum in crypto right now, and people are searching for use cases." "This cycle, we definitely have more this time around, but digital ownership + gaming is a massive one," Camol said. In the 2021 bull run, gaming tokens didn't really move until some time after the rest of the market had already pumped. When Bitcoin hit its first local peak of $63,523 in April, gaming assets had yet to take off. It wasn't until July, around three months later, that Axie Infinity (AXS), the standout token of the cycle, began its explosive run. Over the next four months, AXS surged 15x, peaking in November, around the same time Bitcoin reached a new yearly high of $69,000. So, if history repeats, this might just be a delayed start, not a dead end. Why build a brand-new game from scratch when players already love the worlds they're watching on television? That's the thinking of Herman Narula, the CEO of metaverse developer and venture capital firm Improbable, who argues that blockchain game developers should stop obsessing over originality and start leaning into familiar, proven franchises to win players over. "IP reduces the cost of user acquisition a lot," he says. "If you've got, you know, I'm just making up names here, but Bond or Jurassic Park or John Wick or the Avengers, it's a hell of a lot easier to get people to play your game," he explains. Narula believes this strategy could offer a lifeline to an industry facing a "huge economic crisis." "The cost of making someone like you or me buy a new game for free is 40 bucks," he says. "You have to spend 40 bucks on ads just to make a punter attempt to play a free game. So it's almost impossible to launch new titles," he explains. Improbable is known for its cloud platform, SpatialOS, which helps build and run large online games and simulations. In 2024, it launched the Somnia blockchain, which now hosts popular Web3 games like the horror survival game Night Spawn and the battle royale Maelstrom. Narula says its one of the few companies still investing in games development. You no longer need to be a massive studio to pick up rights, according to Narula. "IP owners have started to get a lot more generous with their terms. So they're willing to offer people, even small teams, a crack at making games with their IP." "I think using IP actually creates a lot of discipline and gives people a lot more focus on making gameplay good, rather than, like, inventing a new world, new history, new characters," he explains. Original content still has its place, he admits. But these days, IP-backed games "feel like a really good deal." Animoca Brands is another games company pursuing an IP strategy. In 2024, television giant ITV partnered with The Sandbox to bring some of its biggest reality shows, such as The Voice, Love Island, and I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, as games in the metaverse. Peaky Blinders, one of the world's most popular television shows with 80 million viewers, is also getting a crypto game adaptation in 2026. It might seem surprising that a game with the simple goal of making a monkey fly as far as possible was once banned from the Apple App Store. But SaruTobi was removed from the App Store in March 2015 due to its Bitcoin integration and payout features -- prohibited under Apple's stricter policies at the time. It was later reinstated, with the developers opting for "in-game Bitcoin" rather than real Bitcoin to fit in with Apple's anti-crypto rules. Even then, Apple eventually suspended the game again, worried that users might still confuse the in-game currency with actual Bitcoin. A decade later, SaruTobi is back on the App Store this month following Apple's change of heart toward cryptocurrency-related apps. Even better, the game has real Bitcoin integrated. Using ZBD's Bitcoin Lightning technology, SaruTobi now features Bitcoin microtransactions, allowing players to earn and spend sats in-game through the Lightning Network. It is the first game that Apple has approved to have Bitcoin microtransactions. The game itself is intentionally simple and mindless; you swing a monkey through the jungle, collecting bananas and other rewards, with the primary goal of launching the monkey as far as possible. Bananas can be used to improve your monkey's ability with power-ups like rockets, increasing your chances of earning more sats. These sats can be spent on in-game items like skins or withdrawn to a ZBD wallet. Thankfully, because it uses the Lightning Network, there's no need to wait for a large balance before withdrawing, players can withdraw even just a few cents worth of Bitcoin instantly. You're not going to get rich playing SaruTobi, but being able to earn and withdraw real Bitcoin just by flinging a monkey through the air is a pretty cool win for the Bitcoin community. -- South Korean game studio Delab Games is teaming up with AI game maker Verse8 to "create flagship experiences that prove the value of AI-assisted development at scale." -- Ronin Network has launched the Ronin Creator Rumble, rewarding creators on Ronin with USDC for the best content contributed to the network.

Gamers Aren't Casual Web3 Investors, With Somnia Founder Paul Thomas

Talking Web3 gaming with Somnia Founder, Paul Thomas (in image). | Credit: Veronica Cestari for CCN. * Web3 games built to reward players have created a culture of casual investors, not gamers. * Somnia is capable of handling over 1 million TPS. * The network currently hosts over 60 live games and applications. Web3 gaming has come a long way in recent years, but it still faces a key challenge: winning over traditional gamers. Despite the innovation, many titles have struggled to shake the perception that they prioritize profits over playability. We spoke with Paul Thomas, founder of Somnia, a rising name in Web3 gaming and immersive entertainment, to understand what's holding the space back and how it can evolve. He shared his thoughts on what needs to change, how the industry can rebuild trust, and why fun must come before financial incentives. Because if it doesn't? Games that put earning before fun will fail, Thomas warns. On-Chain Entertainment Beginning his early career as a software engineer at Goldman Sachs, Thomas went on to lend his tech talents to Improbable, a future-facing venture capital and gaming tech firm. At Improbable, he played a role in creating technology capable of hosting "tens of thousands of players in real time with full voice and interaction." This eventually led to the development of its metaverse business, and Somnia was "spun out" to address a key gap. He explains, "existing blockchains couldn't support the kind of real-time, rich, persistent experiences we were building." As a result, Somnia was created as a Layer-1 designed specifically for fully on-chain entertainment. "Somnia is a Layer-1 built from the ground up for fully on-chain entertainment. Our aim in Web3 is simple: we want to make blockchain invisible, fast, and frictionless, so developers can focus on experiences and users can focus on what matters -- just play." The network launched its testnet earlier this year, which has already seen over 60 projects go live, including games like Sparkball, Maelstrom, Variance, and Masks of the Void. "What ultimately brings them to Somnia is our performance, simplicity, and support offering. The Somnia network's key USPs are its speed -- with over 1 million TPS -- our vibrant and active community, and grant systems like our Dream Catalyst Accelerator." Somnia also offers software development kits (SDKs) for Unreal Engine and Unity, two of the most popular and powerful game development engines. Noting their ability to turn 3D assets into interoperable game items, Thomas believes this will give studios the tools they need to unlock the full potential of blockchain through Somnia. Record Speeds Somnia recently broke Ethereum's daily transaction record with over 80 million transactions in a single day -- an achievement that was no accident, according to Thomas. "It comes down to the custom execution engine we built from scratch and IceDB, our database designed for real-time throughput," he adds. The milestone demonstrates that fully on-chain, high-speed applications are possible. But as Thomas puts it, "the real test is what will be built on top." Helping developers push the boundaries of what's possible with games, AI agents, and complex experiences is now a top priority. "We continually provide opportunities for our community to engage with the network. Either through quests, challenges, or the games themselves, there's always a reason to transact, which really drives activity," Thomas notes. One standout example is Chunked, a voxel-based MMO on-chain game. Thomas notes it as a major success story -- players mined every possible block in less than a month. "It's funny that the initial run of the game only coded for 1,027 pickaxes because anticipated player numbers were much lower than we actually saw, which you could consider a fail of sorts," he said. The game reached over 70,000 concurrent players. Despite the creative scrambling for mining tools, the chain itself "didn't stress at all." Still, Thomas acknowledges that Web3 gaming remains in its early days, mostly because "most blockchains" aren't built to handle fully on-chain apps or games. But Somnia aims to be the exception. "Speed, scale, and support. We process over 1 million transactions per second, have sub-second finality, sub-cent fees, and EVM compatibility -- and we've reached 1.6 billion transactions on our testnet alone. Currently, this is unmatched in the industry." Yet even with impressive technical benchmarks and engaging gameplay, Thomas knows that's not enough to win over traditional gamers -- an audience that remains wary of Web3. Players, Not Investors Crypto has a reputation problem, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) haven't fared much better. Unfortunately, Web3 gaming has inherited the worst of both. From failed launches and abrupt shutdowns to outright scams, the space has struggled to build lasting trust. And right now, the biggest draw for most "players" are clicker-style titles like Hamster Kombat and Bombie -- games that promise small rewards in exchange for time, attention, and often money. "We're not nearly at the stage where Web2 gamers are playing on-chain en masse," says Thomas. "And Web3 gaming generally doesn't have the best reputation for executing quality projects that last." Most of these games fade into obscurity once the rewards are claimed and players move on to the next speculative opportunity. "Until we reach a stage where Web3 gaming is perceived as genuinely positive for the gaming industry more broadly, our job isn't done," he adds. "We'd welcome more gaming chains to strengthen the space as a whole." A big part of the problem, Thomas explains, is that too many early projects led with speculation, not gameplay. "Ultimately, many blockchain games were built blockchain-first," he says, creating a culture of what he calls "casual investors." "Gaming doesn't work like this," he adds. "Gaming is driven by creativity, culture, and community -- and in the past, gaming developers have lost sight of this." Thomas says it has to start with building games that are actually fun and playable. Tokens and earning mechanics can come later, as a bonus, not the foundation. He points to Off the Grid as a strong example of how Web3 can be integrated in a way that enhances, not overshadows, the game. "Gamers can sign on to a massive platform like the PlayStation Store, download the game for free, and start playing -- without setting up a wallet or even realizing they're interacting with blockchain technology." Another standout for Thomas is Pirate Nation, a fully on-chain title that still manages to be fun. "Fully on-chain games have a reputation for very simple gameplay with a heavy focus on financial features and rewards," he says. "but Pirate Nation is one of the rare games that was able to strike a good balance, resulting in a fun game that people want to play because they actually enjoy it, regardless of the rewards." Thomas says that Web3 gaming could do with less overpromising. There's too much hype that "isn't necessarily substantiated." Most importantly, it's about treating gamers as more than just that. In Web3, they're active members of a growing ecosystem that comprises games, DeFi, fan experiences, and other on-chain communities. "Rewards should feel like a natural extension, not the main goal," he says. Otherwise, Web3 will continue to attract users with "misaligned motives." Somnia supports "play-to-own and dynamic economies", but without sustainable economies and games that offer a return "joy, and not just money", the sector may stagnate. In Bloom Somnia's testnet, Shannon, is very fast. It launched at the beginning of 2025 and has since handled well over 1.6 billion transactions with an average block time of 0.1 seconds. Under "stress test" conditions, Somnia's devnet exceeded 1 million transactions per second (TPS) and fees of less than $0.01, indicating huge potential. "We also need to take a minute to mention the incredible Somnia community that has supported us throughout our whole journey." Adding: "I truly believe community is a non-negotiable when it comes to anything web3, so having such a band of Somniacs behind us is a real strength, not just for Somnia but for projects wanting to join the ecosystem." According to Thomas, the "next phase of the network" is coming soon. Light on the details, he notes that "one thing" he can share is a new partnership with Google Cloud. "We are combining their technical backbone, AI agent frameworks and security layers with Somnia's real-time entertainment-focused chain. It is about making sure developers have the best possible building blocks." But, even with the best team and tools around, crypto remains a painfully volatile economy, and it's likely that dozens, if not hundreds, of projects will rise and fall this year. "We have faith in our underlying technology," he says. Thomas is confident that Somnia's current strengths and increasingly diverse ecosystem of entertainment, DeFi, and dApps will keep the network afloat during difficult periods. "The high performance, the sub-cent costs, and the sub-second finality are fundamental foundations for making this possible online today." He adds: "If we strip web3 of all the other bells and whistles that are associated with the industry, there will always be a need to offer faster, cheaper and better solutions for businesses looking to connect with communities online, and these are our guiding principles." By 2027, Thomas is hopeful that blockchain will be an invisible element in video games. Furthermore, Somnia will be powering thousands of real-time apps across games, entertainment, AI, and finance. "We want to be the place where developers build what's next and where the next generation of entertainment and commerce is born."