Delphi Digital: GameFi funding declined by over 55% year-on-year in 2025; Web 2.5 games emerged as a new growth driver.

[Delphi Digital: GameFi Funding Declines by Over 55% Year-on-Year in 2025, Web2.5 Games Emerge as New Growth Driver] According to Mars Finance, on December 30th, Delphi Digital stated, "2025 will be a difficult year for GameFi. Overall funding has declined by over 55% year-on-year, some highly anticipated projects have underperformed, and market enthusiasm has clearly cooled. However, looking at the longer term, the situation is more complex. We are seeing the quiet rise of Web2.5 games. These games treat blockchain as a pure infrastructure layer, often skipping token design and competing on real revenue and product experience. Studios like Fumb Games, Mythical Games, and Wemade/Wemix continue to generate substantial revenue while utilizing blockchain in their own unique ways: blockchain helps them improve profit margins, enhance user engagement, or introduce new monetization channels. In contrast, while native Web3 games also generated millions of dollars this year (6-7...)..." While generating revenue in the hundreds of millions, the player base remains small and largely consists of bots. Once the incentive mechanism dries up, the game's enjoyment often disappears, although some teams are experimenting with 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. Small transactions, global payment channels, and user engagement-based reward mechanisms will all become more convenient.