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 multiple challenges in 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 drop out of Web3 games within 30 days. He believes that the lack of long-term incentives and poor game mechanics are the main reasons for the difficulty in sustaining Web3 games. He told Cointelegraph:
As the attention economy rapidly evolves, projects must prioritize player-centric design, focusing on immersive storytelling, skill-based rewards, and gameplay mechanics that go beyond a 'profit-first' model, rather than relying on trends to attract attention.
In 2025, developing better blockchain games will require integrating emerging technologies, such as generative AI, to enhance player experience. Tobin pointed out that GameFi projects that fail to adopt new technologies in a timely manner typically see their player retention drop by 30%-40%.
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 the main 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 economic strategies that give players control through decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) may become best practices in GameFi development."
For example, Hamster Kombat, a clicker game, made headlines in July, surpassing 300 million users in less than five months. However, after experiencing 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 only 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), surveying 623 professionals in the Web3 gaming industry.
Reports indicate that approximately 53% of respondents believe that poor user experience and complicated 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
BGA's early reports indicated that 10% of users abandon entering Web3 games due to the complexity of setting up an encrypted wallet.
At the Blockchain Futurist Conference held in August, Anomaly Games CEO Long Do stated that abstracting blockchain functionality to allow players to interact with the chain unconsciously is key to driving adoption.
Additionally, BGA's 2024 report also indicated that 33% of respondents believe that poor gaming experience is one of the top three challenges currently facing the industry.
According to a survey conducted by OnePoll earlier in 2024 among over 2,000 adults, most surveyed players lack understanding of blockchain games.
The survey showed that 52% of respondents do not know what blockchain games are, and another 32% reported having heard of blockchain games but never played them.
Conclusion
With the rapid development of the GameFi industry, changes in player demand and market competition have prompted 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.