Crypto Gaming’s Phoenix Moment: Animoca’s Yat Siu Lays Out the Playbook

Blockchain gaming isn’t dead—it’s reloading. Animoca Brands’ co-founder Yat Siu just dropped a blueprint for the sector’s resurgence, and Wall Street’s ’play-to-earn’ skeptics might want to take notes (between yacht meetings, of course).

GameFi 2.0: Less Hype, More Infrastructure

Siu’s vision hinges on three pillars: scalable chains, better tokenomics, and—surprise—actual fun gameplay. Remember when Axie Infinity’s Ronin chain got drained for $625M? Yeah, that won’t fly this time.

The Pivot That Could Pay Off

Top studios now bake compliance into their DNA from day one. Think SEC-proof NFTs and anti-money laundering baked into Unreal Engine 5 integrations. Boring? Maybe. Bankable? Absolutely.

One hedge fund manager’s ’sure bet’ is another gamer’s dystopia—but with $3B+ in VC funding still sloshing around Web3, this comeback tour might just have legs.

Changing the narrative

Siu told me in an interview that blockchain gaming’s perceived value will only rise if “the sentiment in gaming broadly, not including Web3, [increases] as well.” 

“Right now, we’re in the Bitcoin meta,” Siu said. “In the short term, it has to be macro gaming triggers, as in, what are the positive narratives around gaming that could sort of lift the market?”

Crypto gaming has a different demographic than non-crypto, regular gaming. A portion of its community are there purely for the financial aspects of the game. There are players, there are retail investors, and there are extractors, and there’s sometimes people who might fall into multiple categories at the same time. 

“You have a speculative quality that goes into the project, an open market that creates a new type of energy and engagement,” Siu said of crypto games. “The portion of people that actually buy your token […] are not exactly the same people that are playing the game.” 

If crypto game studios target the right type of user, they’ll see a better ROI, Siu explained.

Financial speculation in crypto gaming isn’t going away anytime soon. In fact, it’s part of what draws many to it. 

“That’s something that I think people really didn’t understand — or in some cases, who refused to understand […] that they don’t like this idea, and they treat the volatility of the speculation more as a bug than a feature,” Siu said.

GTA’s potential

The Animoca co-founder also suggested that players adding crypto tokens to their own Grand Theft Auto 6 roleplay servers someday isn’t out of the realm of possibility — and GTA studio Take-Two Interactive may not quash those this time around (GTA 6 is expected in 2026, and GTA has never had crypto elements). 

GTA 6 is a highly anticipated game. Rumors have swirled in recent years about crypto being added to the game officially, but no evidence of any blockchain elements has ever surfaced. That’s led me to conclude those are rumors, and nothing more. 

Regardless, GTA 6 will be the latest in a mega-franchise that’s been around since 1997. GTA 5 has made billions of dollars, and GTA 6’s latest trailer got nearly half a billion views in less than a day. Analysts predict GTA 6 will make $3.2 billion in revenue in its first year.

Could GTA 6 be the game that gets investors — and players — more excited about gaming again, causing the rising tide to lift all boats? It’s possible.

“Take-Two does have a position that you can’t run crypto on GTA 5 roleplay service,” Siu said. “That rule came up when the SEC was playing whack-a-mole. So it’s a timing question as well, and I think obviously these companies are gonna be conservative.”

Note: This interview has been condensed for clarity.

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