400 blockchain games discontinued in 2023: report

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Despite several reports predicting the blockchain gaming market to soar, the reality has been bleak. According to a recent report, about 30% of existing blockchain games were abandoned last year or were inactive for several months due to a funding crunch and the bear market bite.

The Big Blockchain Game List report revealed that in the first half of 2023, 248 games were discontinued. This was followed up with the discontinuation of 162 games in the second half for a total of 410 games whose developers have given up on their prospects. This is around a third of all the games the portal has recorded.

In 2023, the largest group of discontinued games were listed across two or more blockchain networks. Of the single-chain games, BNB chain (formerly Binance Smart Chain) saw the highest number of discontinuations.

Among the biggest games on the list is Blankos Block Party, a non-fungible token (NFT)-based multi-player game similar to Roblox. At one point, the game was attracting over 60,000 active players monthly. Mythical Games, the studio behind the game, raised $75 million in 2022, with Wall Street veteran Mike Novogratz among those betting on the game. In mid-December, the game announced it would shut down its PC version.

Another high-profile exit was by GOALS, a Swedish gaming studio that raised $15 million in 2022 and another $40 million last year to build sports-related blockchain games. It has since announced that it’s no longer interested in integrating blockchain into its games.

The report included all games that have announced the cancellation of development and those that have not seen any growth in months or have gone silent on their websites and social media.

Gaming on BSV—Growth in the midst of turmoil

Despite the shutdowns, several reports have projected blockchain gaming to become a multi-billion-dollar sector. One report predicts that the industry will hit $70 billion by the end of this year. Another report by Fox Business Insights projects the market to hit over $600 billion by the end of the decade, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.8%.

And while most networks record dwindling interest and development of blockchain games, the BSV ecosystem remains an outlier. Gaming is one of the most explosive sectors in BSV blockchain, accounting for a significant share of daily transactions.

BSV games span all interests—for the action seekers, games like CryptoFights are packed with exhilarating adventure; PowChess allows users to test their board game prowess, while Haste Arcade gives players a chance to show off their skills and get paid. Are you one of the 100 million active players who engage in trade card games monthly? There’s a game for you too.

With BSV games, fun comes packed with the opportunity to make money. With microtransactions embedded into all these games, users can play for real money against their friends and a wider global audience. BSV has the lowest fees of any blockchain network and scales unbounded, making it the only network supporting hundreds of millions of users without affecting its throughput or fees.

And with tools like HandCash and Asset Layer, it’s now easier than ever to build on the BSV blockchain. Asset Layer, in particular, caters to gaming developers with features like Magic Auth, which offers a universal login solution for all games.

Asset Layer has also integrated Unity, the most popular gaming engine globally. This allows developers to create BSV-based assets directly from the Unity editor.

Watch: Bitcade London 2023 brings together professionals in blockchain, gaming & payments