Maintaining player engagement, adopting new technologies, and building a sustainable in-game economy are obstacles that GameFi must overcome to remain competitive.
According to a survey by the Blockchain Game Alliance, 42% of respondents believe that player reward models are the biggest advantage in attracting new users. However, as the GameFi industry evolves, blockchain games will face several challenges by 2025.
Tobin Kuo, CEO of Seraph, stated in an interview with Cointelegraph that maintaining player engagement, adopting new technologies, and building a sustainable in-game economy are obstacles that GameFi must overcome to remain competitive.
Tobin pointed out that over 60% of players quit Web3 games within 30 days. He believes that the lack of long-term incentives and poor game mechanics are the main reasons Web3 games struggle to sustain development. He told Cointelegraph:
"With the accelerated development of the attention economy, projects must prioritize player-centered design, focusing on immersive storytelling, skill-based rewards, and game mechanics that go beyond 'profit-first' models, rather than relying on trends to attract attention."
By 2025, developing better blockchain games will also require the integration of emerging technologies, such as generative AI, to enhance the player experience. Tobin noted that GameFi projects that fail to adopt new technologies in a timely manner often see a 30%-40% drop in player retention.
According to a survey of the Web3 gaming industry, these issues are considered the biggest challenges facing the GameFi sector in 2024. Source: Blockchain Game Alliance
Building a sustainable in-game economy
Tobin emphasized: "An unstable in-game economy is a major reason for project bankruptcies." He believes that building a sustainable token model for Web3 games that controls inflation and is based on data-driven player rewards is key to maintaining player retention.
He further explained: "Dynamic loot distribution, staking-based rewards, and player-controlled economic strategies implemented through decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) could become best practices in GameFi development."
For example, Hamster Kombat, a clicker game, made headlines in July when its user base surpassed 300 million in less than five months. However, after what is considered the largest token airdrop in cryptocurrency history, the game's active user count plummeted by 86%. As of November, the game's player count was down to 41 million, a significant drop from the summer peak of 300 million.
2024 Status of the Blockchain Gaming Industry
The Blockchain Game Alliance recently released the (2024 Industry Status Report), which surveyed 623 professionals in the Web3 gaming industry.
The report indicates that approximately 53% of respondents believe that poor user experience and complex user interfaces are the biggest challenges hindering new players from entering Web3 games.
Industry insiders outlined the main issues facing the GameFi sector. Source: Blockchain Game Alliance
An early report from BGA indicated that 10% of users abandoned entering Web3 games due to the complexity of setting up a crypto wallet.
At the Blockchain Futurist Conference held in August, Long Do, CEO of Anomaly Games, stated that abstracting blockchain functionality and allowing players to interact with the chain without their knowledge is key to driving adoption.
Additionally, BGA's 2024 report also showed that 33% of respondents believe that poor gaming experience is one of the three major challenges currently facing the industry.
According to a survey conducted by OnePoll earlier in 2024, among over 2000 adults, most surveyed players lack understanding of blockchain games.
The survey showed that 52% of respondents did not know what blockchain games are, while another 32% stated they had heard of blockchain games but had never played them.
Conclusion
With the rapid development of the GameFi industry, changes in player demand and market competition are prompting developers to continuously innovate and optimize. In 2025, how to maintain player stickiness, introduce new technologies, and establish sustainable economic models will be key to determining the success or failure of GameFi projects.