Blockchain Game Market Review January 2025: Indicators Decline, Platform Competition Intensifies

In January 2025, despite the overall strength of the cryptocurrency market, the blockchain gaming sector showed a downward trend. The market capitalization of gaming-related tokens fell to $22.3 billion, a decrease of 19.3% compared to the previous month. This month's market focus is mainly on the development in the social platform sector.

Macroeconomic Market Overview

The price of Bitcoin rose from $94,577 to $102,180, an increase of 8.0%. However, Ethereum performed poorly, falling from $3,353 to $3,292, a decrease of 1.8%, with the ETH/BTC ratio hitting a recent low.

Multiple policy developments have had a significant impact on the cryptocurrency market. The regulatory directives issued by the government provide clear guidance for the industry, particularly emphasizing the protection of self-custody rights and supporting the development of stablecoins. However, comments at the end of the month regarding international trade tariffs have raised concerns about global economic growth, leading to a cooling of market sentiment.

The launch of related tokens on Solana has triggered significant volatility in the Memecoin sector, and this wave of speculation has diverted market attention from other areas of the cryptocurrency space, including Blockchain games.

Breakthrough advancements in the field of artificial intelligence have also impacted market dynamics, accelerating the focus on decentralized AI infrastructure within the cryptocurrency ecosystem, with related tokens seeing an increase this month.

Blockchain Game Market Overview

In January, the Web3 gaming sector faced challenges. The market value of blockchain game tokens dropped from $27.6 billion to $22.3 billion, a decline of 19.3%. On-chain activity metrics were also weak, with monthly transaction counts decreasing by 7.2% to 550 million transactions and transaction volume dropping by 12.4% to $230 million.

A certain Blockchain infrastructure has obtained exclusive authorization from a social platform, requiring all applications based on that platform to complete migration within 30 days, which has put pressure on projects built on other chains. Although incentives were provided for early adopters, it has indeed brought technical and community challenges to the affected gaming projects.

Another social platform has launched Mini Dapps and a Dapp Portal, showcasing a more controllable, ecosystem-oriented approach. These platform-level changes, coupled with declining market indicators, suggest that the Web3 gaming sector is entering a consolidation phase, where platform integration and user experience may take precedence over token economics.

Blockchain Game Public Chain Overview

In January 2025, the number of active blockchain games reached 1,697, a slight increase of 1.4% from the previous month. Traditional market leaders maintain an advantage in game distribution: BNB Chain ( 24.2% ), Polygon ( 15.6% ), and Ethereum ( 13.1% ).

The trading activity shows a significant concentration trend, with three chains dominating. WAX leads with 180 million transactions, accounting for 32.4% of all gaming activity. opBNB ranks second with 87.2 million transactions, holding a 15.9% share (, while Aptos recorded 37.5 million transactions, representing a 16.8% share ). Together, these three chains accounted for over 55% of all gaming transaction counts in January.

In terms of trading volume, Aptos ranks first with a transaction amount of $51.9 million (, holding a share of 22.1% ), followed closely by Ronin with a transaction amount of $49.5 million ( and a share of 21.1% ). Immutable X ranks third with a transaction amount of $19 million ( and a share of 18.1% ).

The competition among various chains for developers is intensifying, with aggressive incentive programs being launched. Some funds are targeting the intersection of Web3 gaming and AI, reflecting the growing market interest in AI-enhanced gaming experiences. At the same time, a certain network's subsidy program has expanded beyond the gaming sector to include consumer applications and DeFi protocols, aiming to create a more comprehensive ecosystem.

Blockchain Game Investment and Financing Situation

In January 2025, investment activities in Web3 gaming continued to trend downward, with six financing events raising a total of $31.2 million. The decrease in financing activities reflects broader market dynamics. The surge in speculative activities has significantly diverted market attention and funds from other cryptocurrency sectors, including the Blockchain gaming space.

Pixion Games raised $4 million in a strategic financing round, with its flagship game Fableborne combining ARPG mechanics with strategic base-building elements. Other notable gaming funding events include Drift Zone, BeraTone, and Nakamoto Games.

Infrastructure development remains a key focus for investors. ZKcandy raised $4 million for its game-specific Layer 2 chain based on ZKsync. Additionally, Hyve Labs raised $2.75 million to develop its core infrastructure, such as launching testnet chains, the first game, and other on-chain assets.