On December 30th, Delphi Digital published an article stating, "2025 will be a tough year for GameFi. Overall funding has decreased by more than 55% year-over-year, some highly anticipated projects have underperformed upon launch, and market enthusiasm has clearly cooled. However, if we look at the longer term, the overall situation is more complex."
We are witnessing the quiet rise of Web 2.5 games. These games treat blockchain as a pure infrastructure layer, often skipping token design and focusing instead on competing on real revenue and product experience. Studios like Fumb Games, Mythical Games, and Wemade/Wemix continue to generate substantial revenue while leveraging blockchain in their own unique ways: it helps them improve profit margins, enhance user engagement, or introduce new monetization channels.
In contrast, while native Web3 games also generated millions of dollars (six- to seven-figure) in revenue this year, their player base remains small and largely consists of bots. Once the incentive mechanism runs dry, the fun of the game often disappears, although some teams are trying new mechanisms to address this issue.
Web 2.5 studios are now able to fully leverage the advantages of blockchain without forcing users to speculate or making excuses for a clunky user experience. The increasing adoption of stablecoins will accelerate this trend. Microtransactions, global payment channels, and user engagement-based reward mechanisms will all become more convenient.
