Blockchain gaming faces $16M funding dip

The blockchain gaming market is currently likened to a "game of musical chairs," characterised by a lack of new capital and a recycling of existing funds among different projects, according to Gunzilla Games Web3 director Theodore Agranat.  

Speaking at Consensus 2025 in Hong Kong, Agranat said that the biggest issue is "there is no new money coming into the system."

Agranat noted that blockchain gaming saw approximately $16 million in funding in January, which is a 92% decrease from December 2024's $222 million.

He added that unique active wallets (UAW) have decreased from around 10 million last summer to 7.5 million

DappRadar identified Q1 2024 as the "play-to-airdrop" era, where users create multiple crypto wallets to collect airdrops, which Agranat believes is "totally unsustainable.

"Users will just go from project to project and extract whatever value they can from that project. And once there's no more value to be had there, they are going to move on to another project," Agranat stated.

He emphasised the need for blockchain gaming to prioritise gameplay to move forward.

According to Steemit, the "game of musical chairs" analogy incentivises players to hold assets to increase their value.

However, in the context of blockchain gaming, the lack of new capital creates a competitive environment, where projects must vie for existing resources, and users chase short-term gains.