While there’s lots of talk about innovation in DeFi, and of course the rise of SocialFi and InfoFi, gaming has been taking hits. In May 2025 we saw projects closing down after failing to generate enough excitement or to launch a successful game. But, amidst all this negativity there are still chains and dapps thriving. As a matter of fact, gaming is the most dominant product category in the dapp industry.
In this report for May 2025, we will explore the trends shaping the blockchain gaming industry. This includes the quiet wins, the shifting narratives, and the fumbles. Where do these events lead us, and when will gaming finally have its moment of long expected growth?
Key takeaways
- User activity has been pretty stable over the past month, as May saw a small increase in active wallets, reaching over 4.9 million UAW per day.
- Gaming has become the new market leader, but dominance dropped for a second month in a row, from 21% to the current 19.4%.
- opBNB remains the leader in terms of active wallets, attracting 995,295 active wallets per day, down 5% from April.
- Aptos, Sei Network and Core were the biggest winners of the month, increasing their number of daily active wallets by 22%, 27% and 15% respectively.
- Investments in gaming projects or infrastructure hit a new low in May, reaching $9 million.
Table of Contents
1. Blockchain Gaming Overview
2. May’s Gaming Leaders
3. Gaming exodus
4. Investments drop even further
5. What’s coming in June 2025
6. Closing words
1. Blockchain Gaming Overview
While many experts still see gaming as a major catalyst for the adoption of blockchain technology, the market segment is losing ground. While gaming had a 21% market dominance in April, last month that number dropped to 19.4%. Compare that to the start of the year, when gaming had 27.8% market share across all chains. Yet, despite the dropping dominance, gaming did dethrone DeFi as the new market leader, and attracted more daily active wallets in May when compared to April.
In May, we recorded over 4.9 million unique active wallets engaging with gaming dapps every day. That’s a small increase from the numbers reported in April, suggesting we may have hit the bottom and are now moving towards a period of growth.
The current number of active wallets is basically the same for the several product categories; gaming, DeFi and AI. Social dapps follow with 17.1%, while NFTs aren’t far behind with 15.5%. The growth of the Social and AI segments has been particularly remarkable, as both stand out as real growth markets for the dapp industry since the start of the year.
While gaming may be losing dominance, the shifts within the gaming market itself should also be mentioned. opBNB is still the chain that attracts the most active wallets in the gaming segment, but month-over-month it has seen a 5% decrease. Gaming darling Ronin Network saw the number of daily unique active wallets drop over more, noting a 25% from the previous month.
However, amidst the downward trends we also see a couple of chains step up their game. Aptos managed to increase their numbers by 22%, now sitting in second place. Growth has been even stronger on Sei Network, which entered the Top 5 thanks to a 27% increase in dUAW. In number 10 of the chart we also see Core, which managed to increase its numbers by 15%.
2. May’s Gaming Leaders
Every month we also take a look at individual dapps, and sort them by their number of Unique Active Wallets attracted in total throughout the month. After months of absence, MotoDEX is making a comeback into the Top 10. At the same time, Sei Network has two titles in the list with Hot Spring and Archer Hunter.
Without a doubt, Sei Network has been one of the surprising winners during the month of May. The Sei ecosystem attracted 403,650 active wallets per day, which engage with gaming dapps. In total we have listed 43 games built on Sei, and 13 of those attract more than 50,000 unique wallets per week. Sei is clearly building an ecosystem of engaging mobile games and mini-apps to solidify their position in the market as a leading ecosystem for the future of Web3 gaming.
Furthermore, the Top 10 gaming dapps consist of various engagement and mini-game platforms. For example, Pixudi, STAN and Playzap Games fit this description.
Compared with last month, platforms like ERAGON, Alliance Games and Overtake dropped out of the Top 10. Surprisingly, Alien Worlds and Axie Infinity – gaming titles that have been around since the 2020 bull market – also lost their position in the list.
Those who pay attention, will also notice that the battle royale extraction shooter Off the Grid is no longer mentioned. Over the past 30 days, the game attracted 619,800 wallets on testnet, while it’s currently transitioning to bring the entire community to the GUNZ mainnet. This means that activity is fragmented across different chains at the moment. Maybe we will see Off the Grid back in the charts after this transition.
3. Gaming exodus
2025 so far, has been a reality check for the gaming market. Various projects that raised millions in the previous years, have now closed shop. Among them, the hero shooter Nyan Heroes, the fantasy MMORPG Ember Sword, and social deduction game The Mystery Society.
These projects have received millions of VC funding, and in some cases sold for a few million dollars worth of NFT assets. Very often, funding goes directly into token liquidity, marketing, or the development of somewhat speculative NFT drops. This happens even before the core gameplay has been properly tested, leaving little room for iterative development.
The games industry as a whole is going through challenging times, while the costs for AAA development keeps going up. Major games like Grand Theft Auto VI, which will launch next year, already cost over $1 billion to develop, according to an earnings report from mother company Take-Two Interactive. Other reports suggest that AAA titles such as The Last of Us 2 cost over $200 million to develop.
However, it’s not impossible to launch successful games with a small budget. Titles like Minecraft, Tetris, and Stardew Valley are evergreen examples of low budget titles that managed to rake in millions of dollars in revenue. However, in Web3 that’s still a code to crack. Successful gaming projects like Hamster Kombat only have a lifespan of a few months, after which a new shiny game pops up. The industry is working towards the first blueprint for a game that manages to remain relevant for multiple years.
4. Investments dropped ever further
Last month, we reported on a 69% drop in gaming investments month-over-month. In May, the investment flow dried up even more as we recorded only $9 million flowing into gaming projects.
- Oncade received $4 million to build infrastructure for video game distribution.
- Voya Games received $5 million for user acquisition for their debut game Craft World, and they will bring the game to Ronin Network.
In November and December 2024, the gaming industry recorded over $220 million in investments each month. However, since the start of the year we’ve only seen a total of $170 million flowing towards gaming, especially towards gaming infrastructure.
The drop in investments should not be labelled as a major concern, but it does explain why many teams are closing their doors. Developers need to attract millions of gamers, and offer a fun game with its own economic loop. There’s no playbook for success yet, and that makes game development in Web3 even more challenging.
However, traditional gaming companies do see the potential. Established gaming companies like Sega, Ubisoft and Netmarble are testing the waters and investing resources into Web3 gaming projects. In May, this resulted in the launch of MapleStory Universe, while gaming IP such as Ragnarok, EVE Online and Battle of Three Kingdoms also made their first moves into the Web3 space. Sony even has its own L2 network with Soneium.
This shows that despite Web3 gaming taking hits, there’s a sense of maturity coming to the industry. Slowly, a couple of funded games are approaching their release, while some of these may attract a broader audience outside the Web3 space. Hope is not lost. Just throw in a coin, and press start to continue playing.
5. What’s coming in June
While the numbers depict a downwards trend, faith in the Web3 gaming industry remains strong. Also in June we can expect a variety of product launches, beta tests and token generation events. These are some of the highlights:
- Mythical Games will launch FIFA Rivals on June 12, powered by their own Mythical chain and supported by sports brand Adidas.
- Horror extraction shooter The Bornless can be played for free through Steam Next Fest (June 9-16), before launching officially later this year.
- MOBA-style game Sparkball recently announced their move to Somnia, and you can test an early version of the game during Steam Next Fest (June 9-16).
- Tokyo Beast launched on June 8, while the $TGT is live and the team will have a $1 million championship event later this year.
- Space sim EVE Frontier launches new era on June 11th, for those with Founder Access
- Action RPG Seraph: into the Darkness to launch Season 3 on June 12, with 5 million $SERAPH in the prize pool.
- Spellborne did a snapshot for their apartment NFT holders, preparing for the upcoming TGE of $BORNE
- Trading card game Gods Unchained will launch Guardians of Elderym, a new expansion pack coming June 24.
- Dininho Fun World to launch a play-to-airdrop campaign with $RAWR on Ronin Network, starting June 13.
- Hero shooter BloodLoop will launch on June 23 through the Epic Games Store.
There’s a whole lot more to look forward to this month. Please check out our regularly updated article about play-to-earn games to see what’s cooking.
6. Closing words
May 2025 painted a mixed picture for blockchain gaming. User activity remained stable at 4.9 million daily unique active wallets, but dominance dipped from 21% to 19.4%. However, gaming did become the new market leader, dethroning DeFi. Yet still, the blockchain gaming industry is facing challenges as projects close their doors and investments dry up. These setbacks highlight the need for sustainable development models in Web3 gaming.
Yet, amidst these hurdles, there’s reason for optimism. With more products hitting the market, the chances for broader adoption is growing. Even though competition with AAA games from traditional publishers is still far away, infrastructure optimization and product innovation pave the way for gaming’s long-awaited breakthrough.
The journey is tough, but the promise of a vibrant, lasting Web3 gaming ecosystem keeps hope alive. We are all adventurers, and even an arrow to the knee can’t stop us.
