Blockchain Gaming Report for January 2025
Author: Stella L (stella@footprint.network)
Data Source: Footprint Analytics Blockchain Gaming Research Page
Although the crypto market as a whole remained strong, the gaming sector's market capitalization declined by 19.3% to $22.3 billion. This month, the market's main focus was on social platforms, with TON receiving exclusive authorization for Telegram's blockchain infrastructure, while LINE launched a Mini Dapps ecosystem through Kaia.
Macro Market Review
Bitcoin rose from $94,577 to $102,180, an increase of 8.0%. Ethereum, on the other hand, performed weakly, falling from $3,353 to $3,292, a decline of 1.8%, and the ETH/BTC ratio reached a new low since September 2024.
Source: Bitcoin and Ethereum Price Trends
Several important policy developments significantly impacted the crypto market's trajectory. The Trump administration's executive order on cryptocurrency regulation provided the industry with unprecedented clarity, particularly emphasizing the protection of self-custody rights and supporting stablecoin development. However, Trump's remarks on international trade tariffs at the end of the month raised concerns about global economic growth, dampening market sentiment.
The Trump family's launch of $TRUMP and $MELANIA tokens on Solana triggered a violent fluctuation in the Memecoin sector. This speculative frenzy significantly diverted the market's attention and capital from other crypto sectors, including blockchain gaming.
DeepSeek's breakthrough progress in artificial intelligence also influenced market dynamics. This development accelerated the focus on decentralized AI infrastructure within the crypto ecosystem, leading to the rise of AI-related tokens this month.
Blockchain Gaming Market Overview
In January, despite the overall strength of the crypto market, the Web3 gaming sector faced headwinds. The market capitalization of blockchain gaming tokens declined from $27.6 billion to $22.3 billion, a decrease of 19.3%.
Source: Blockchain Gaming Token Market Cap and Bitcoin Market Cap
On-chain activity indicators also showed weakness, with the monthly transaction count declining by 7.2% to 550 million and the transaction volume decreasing by 12.4% to $230 million.
Source: Blockchain Gaming Daily Transaction Count
On January 21st, the TON Foundation announced that it had received exclusive authorization for Telegram's blockchain infrastructure, marking a significant turning point for the ecosystem. This exclusive partnership requires all Telegram-based applications to migrate to TON within 30 days, putting pressure on projects built on other chains. Although the TON Foundation will provide incentives for early adopters who complete the blockchain migration by February 21st, this has posed substantial technical and community challenges for the affected gaming projects.
The very next day, LINE launched Mini Dapps and a Dapp Portal through LINE NEXT, reflecting the emerging competitive landscape in the social platform gaming space. Kaia Wave plans to initially launch 32 Mini Dapps, showcasing a more controlled, ecosystem-oriented approach compared to Telegram's relatively open development environment.
These platform-level changes, combined with the decline in market indicators, suggest that the Web3 gaming sector is entering a consolidation phase, where platform integration and user experience may take priority over token economics. The approaches of Telegram and LINE may significantly influence how blockchain gaming projects handle user acquisition and retention strategies in 2025.
Blockchain Gaming Ecosystem Overview
In January 2025, the number of active blockchain games increased slightly by 1.4% to 1,697. Traditional market leaders maintained their positions in game distribution: BNB Chain (24.2%), Polygon (15.6%), and Ethereum (13.1%). However, this stability in game distribution contrasts sharply with the significant changes in on-chain activity.
Transaction activity exhibited a clear concentration trend, with three chains dominating. WAX led with 180 million transactions, accounting for 32.4% of all gaming activity. opBNB recorded 87.2 million transactions, ranking second with a 15.9% share, while Aptos recorded 37.5 million transactions, holding a 6.8% share. These three chains collectively accounted for over 55% of all gaming transactions in January.
Source: Daily Transaction Count by Chain
In terms of transaction volume, Aptos led with $51.9 million, a 22.1% share, followed by Ronin with $49.5 million (21.1% share). Immutable X ranked third with $19 million (8.1% share).
Source: Daily Transaction Volume by Chain
The competition for developers among chains has intensified, with various aggressive incentive programs. Sonic SVM and Galaxy Interactive's multi-million dollar funds are targeting the intersection of Web3 gaming and AI, reflecting the market's growing focus on AI-enhanced gaming experiences. Meanwhile, Ronin Network's $10 million grant program has expanded beyond gaming to consumer applications and DeFi protocols, aiming to build a more comprehensive ecosystem.
Blockchain Gaming Investments and Fundraising
In January 2025, Web3 gaming investment activity continued its downward trend, with 6 fundraising events raising a total of $31.2 million. The decline in fundraising activity reflects the broader market dynamics. The surge in speculative activity has significantly diverted the market's attention and capital from other crypto sectors, including blockchain gaming.
Blockchain Gaming Investments and Fundraising Events in January 2025 (Source: crypto-fundraising.info)
Pixion Games led the month's fundraising activities, raising $4 million in a strategic funding round led by Delphi Ventures, with participation from Spartan Capital, Sky Mavis, and Animoca Brands. The studio's flagship game, Fableborne, combines ARPG mechanics with strategic base-building elements, and its success on Ronin has been particularly noteworthy. Other notable gaming fundraising events include Drift Zone, BeraTone, and Nakamoto Games.
Infrastructure development remains a focus for investors, with two significant fundraises: ZKcandy raised $4 million for its game-specific Layer 2 chain built on ZKsync, following the successful completion of its open testnet phase. Additionally, Hyve Labs raised $2.75 million to develop its core infrastructure, including launching a testnet chain, its first game, and other on-chain assets.
The data in this report is sourced from the Games Research page of Footprint Analytics, which is a real-time data dashboard providing comprehensive and reliable Web3 gaming statistics. If you find any chains or games are not included and you would like to have them added to the dataset, please contact us. You can also self-submit contracts through this link.
The content of this article is for industry research and communication purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice. The market has risks, and investments require caution.
About Footprint Analytics
Footprint Analytics is a comprehensive blockchain data analysis platform that simplifies complex analysis for enterprises and projects in the Web3 ecosystem. It provides customized solutions, eliminating the need for extensive expertise and infrastructure maintenance. The platform offers tools aimed at helping establish and manage long-term community growth, emphasizing sustainable growth and user loyalty. By combining powerful analytics tools and community management tools, Footprint Analytics enables projects to effectively leverage blockchain data for decision-making and growth strategies, covering areas such as GameFi, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), and Decentralized Finance (DeFi).
