The chain game in the last cycle is ushering in collective death

Author:Shenchao TechFlow

While the version’s sons Meme Lauchpads were in full swing, some projects were becoming version’s abandoned children.

For example, the chain game projects that were very popular in the last cycle have recently ushered in a wave of suspensions.

On May 16, Nyan Heroes, a former celebrity game project in Solana Eco, announced that it had officially suspended due to "funding shortage". Developer 9 Lives Interactive issued a statement on the X platform, admitting that "it is impossible to obtain more funds to complete the game."

In just one day, NYAN tokens fell by as much as 37.2%, and then FDV fell to only about 5M, evaporating nearly 99% from its historical high.

The loneliness you are at the trough, the highlights you are at the peak.

Recall that this game once attracted 1 million test players and the Steam wish list was as high as 250,000; but its current market value may even be inferior to that of a Meme local dog.

Nyan Heroes’ fall, however, is not an isolated case. Recently, several chain game projects have announced that they will be suspended or developed one after another. The previous financing amount ranges from millions to tens of millions of dollars, but without exception, it is heading towards an end.

The cyclical nature of the crypto industry is fully reflected in chain games. High financing for the wind, first-time assets and then products, gradually lying down and even returning to zero...

Some community comments and jokes that the decline of chain games is a "natural choice".

The group portraits that are prosperous and declining

Coincidentally, in 2025, Blast Royale, The Walking Dead: Empires, The Mystery Society and other chain game projects announced their suspension of operation or development.

These projects have attracted countless attention with high financing and P2E (Play-to-Earn) models, but in just a few years they went from a prosperous and a sad ending.

Nyan Heroes: The bubble of cat hero bursts

This was indeed a star project of the Solana ecosystem. With the creativity of the cat-themed hero shooting game, it raised a total of US$13 million in funding, including a US$2.5 million seed round in November 2021, a US$7.5 million Series A (valuation of US$100 million) in May 2022, and a US$3 million additional round in March 2024.

The game test once attracted 1 million players (official data), and the wish list of Steam and Epic Games Store reached 250,000. The launch of NYAN tokens in May 2024 further boosted market enthusiasm. However, on May 16, 2025, developer 9 Lives Interactive announced that it would stop development due to “unable to obtain more funds.”

Blast Royale: The Battle King 's Depression

Blast Royale is a Polygon-based mobile battle king (battle royale survival) game with 6 minutes of fast-paced battles and P2E mechanisms. In April 2022, the project raised $5 million through ICO, and investors include Dragonfly Capital and Mechanism Capital.

The game attracted early players with its lightweight gameplay, but never achieved a large-scale breakthrough. In May 2025, developer First Light Games announced that it would terminate the development due to an "internal review" decision and it is planned to officially suspend operations on June 30.

The Walking Dead: Empires: IP halo is not easy to use

Developed by Ember Entertainment and published by Gala Games, the survival MMORPG is built on the IP of the well-known American drama "The Walking Dead" and integrates the NFT ownership mechanism.

Although the project has not disclosed the specific financing amount, relying on Gala Games' financial support and IP advantages, it has opened testing for more than a year, attracting fans to build bases and participate in the battle. However, in May 2025, Gala Games announced that it would terminate the project on July 31 due to "comprehensive considerations".

The Mystery Society: The Mystery Society

Created by former Disney and Club Penguin teams, it focuses on Web3 social inference gameplay. It received a seed round of financing of US$3 million in September 2024, led by Shima Capital. The project has received positive reviews for community-driven and innovative mechanisms, attracting active players to participate in early testing. However, on February 25, 2025, developer Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow announced a suspension of development due to "industry challenges and insufficient funding."

We have also made a table to summarize the above chain games that have announced the suspension of operations or development.

As you can see, these games basically raised a pretty good amount in the last cycle, and they also used the mechanism of combining NFT and token assets with the mechanisms in the game for consumption.

Well-known VCs are investing in a crowded manner, but they are still difficult to be a failure.

Under the appearance, player loss, P2E mode imbalance, and asset and development priorities are the real driving forces. They flaunt their financing and make grand visions, but rarely deliver playable products.

And some things are also a tacit understanding of the industry: the product itself is not the focus, and no one really wants to play these games. In a track that competes with creativity and content density, we meet the hairy guys who compete with physical strength and money and smell. The result can be imagined.

The prosperity comes from the peak, the prosperity comes from financing, and the decline comes from the way of playing.

Genes determine fate

You may have noticed that the more ironic thing is the reason why these chain game projects announced the suspension - " fund shortage ".

Almost all of the chain game projects that have been suspended will officially announce that the reason they quit is that they lack funds and it is difficult to create a high-quality game.

Are these chain games really short of money? From the perspective of purely making games, there may be no shortage.

For example, Nyan Heros raised $13 million. No matter what the game is, what does it mean to have $13 million?

Top 3A Not to mention, just take the seventh generation of the domestic light and the top stand-alone game IP "Legend of Sword and Fairy" for example. According to public reports, its development cost is 67 million yuan. In other words, Nyan Heros' financing funds are all used to make games, and it is more than enough to work hard on a fairy sword.

And overseas cases are even more amazing.

The well-known cultivation game "Stardew Valley" was created by single-player developer Eric Barone for four years and invested only about US$50,000 . After it was launched in 2016, it sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, becoming an independent game legend.

The picture of this game is not much different from some game projects that have raised more than one million yuan.

This also shows that games are products that pay great attention to creative quality and content density. One person costs 50,000 US dollars, and you can win by relying on creativity and gameplay.

Compared with the chain game, the reason why the "insufficient funds" were suspended, the comparison was very obvious - the funds will be insufficient at any time, especially when you don 't want to use the funds to develop games.

The genes of chain games have determined that it cannot make games in the direction of high quality and slow work and work in the traditional game industry; it is more like a resource bureau and a capital market, and needs to design appropriate operational rhythms and investment rules to meet the needs of various first- and second-level investors.

Financing first and then doing things has become the optimal solution to this track. As for whether it can be done or not, it is a story later.

Let’s look at the success of traditional games, instead, doing things first and then raising funds.

For example, "Black Myth: Wukong", only developed and designed a few scenes in 2020. By releasing trial clips, it amazes players with quality and proves its potential before it receives more subsequent financing.

New domestic second-game forces such as "Genshin Impact" and "Mingchao" have also adopted the method of gradually iterating in segments. Each version tries to present new plots and characters. After players feel immersive and pay for the characters, they slowly accumulate funds and develop more versions and works.

These games are centered on content, with plot, art and mechanism accounting for the majority, and financing is an auxiliary rather than a purpose. Web3 and traditional games are almost opposite, and the speculative genes are throughout:

Players are investors, and games are Ponzi - they are incompatible with the patience and craftsmanship required by the game. The track itself is not hopeless, but the "financing first and then gaming" model is already a dead end.

The prosperity and decline of chain games is actually the inevitable result of the misalignment of industry genes and user needs. Capital and concepts can create popularity in the short term, but cannot support a truly vital game ecosystem in the long run.

As more and more games are falsified, the removal of false and retaining truth after the outage of the tide is worth looking forward to.