Blockchain Gaming Faces Several Challenges in 2025, Including Sustaining Player Engagement and Building Sustainable In-Game Economies

Tobin Kuo, CEO of blockchain gaming company Seraph, told Cointelegraph that sustaining player engagement, adopting new technologies, and building sustainable in-game economies were the hurdles GameFi must overcome to remain viable.

Blockchain gaming encountered several challenges in 2025, including sustaining player engagement, adopting new technologies, and building sustainable in-game economies, according to Tobin Kuo, CEO of blockchain gaming company Seraph.

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Kuo highlighted the importance of keeping players engaged beyond the initial hype. He stated that over 60% of players disengaged from Web3 games after only 30 days.

According to the CEO, a lack of long-term incentives and poor gameplay mechanics were key factors contributing to the sustainability challenges in Web3 gaming.

“The gameplay loops in most Web3 games are not engaging enough to sustain players for the long term,” Kuo told Cointelegraph.

Building better blockchain games in 2025 also involved integrating new technologies such as generative AI to enhance player experiences.

Kuo mentioned that GameFi projects that failed to integrate nascent tech typically recorded 30%-40% reductions in player retention compared to projects embracing new technologies.

“Integrating new tech allows projects to build more engaging and fun games, which ultimately leads to better player retention,” the Seraph CEO said.

Building sustainable in-game economies

Another challenge in 2025 was building sustainable in-game economies, Kuo noted. He explained that unstable economies could lead to project insolvency.

“Building sustainable token models for Web3 games that control inflation and feature data-driven player rewards was key to maintaining player retention,” the CEO stated.

According to Kuo, unsustainable token models and poor game design led to a decline in active users for several Web3 games despite massive user acquisition campaigns.

“Clicker games like Hamster Kombat are a prime example. Hamster Kombat captured headlines in July after the game surpassed 300 million users in less than five months,” he said.

“However, the game experienced an 86% reduction in active users following a token airdrop, which was considered the largest in crypto history.”

As of November, the game only had 41 million players compared to the 300 million peak levels recorded during the summer.

State of the blockchain gaming industry in 2024

The Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA) recently released its 2024 State of the Industry Report, which included insights from 623 professionals in the Web3 gaming industry.

The report highlighted several challenges in onboarding new players to Web3 games, with around 53% of respondents indicating poor user experience (UX) and complex user interfaces (UI) as major pain points.

An earlier report from the BGA revealed that 10% of users were put off by Web3 gaming due to the complexities involved in setting up a crypto wallet.

During a panel at the Blockchain Futurist Conference in August, Long Do, CEO of Anomaly Games, emphasized the importance of abstracting away blockchain features so that players were not aware they were interacting on-chain. This strategy, according to Do, was crucial for driving adoption.

The BGA’s 2024 report also showed that 33% of respondents said poor gameplay experiences were one of the top three challenges currently facing the industry.

A OnePoll survey conducted earlier in 2024, polling over 2,000 adults, found that the majority of gamers polled were unaware of blockchain gaming.

According to the survey, 52% of respondents did not know what blockchain games are, and another 32% indicated they heard of blockchain games but never played one.