Crypto Gaming Crashes: April 2025 Marks Lowest Player Engagement Since Play-to-Earn Bubble

Blockchain gaming metrics nosedive—daily active wallets and transaction volume hit bedrock as speculative hype fizzles. Axie Infinity clones now gathering digital dust.

Where did the degens go? TradFi bros smirk as tokenized loot loses 90% of its ’utility’ (read: Ponzi economics). Even STEPN’s sneaker NFTs can’t outrun this bear market.

Silver lining? The bloodbath purged the worst grifters. Surviving studios now face the hard part: building actual games.

In Brief

• User activity sharply declined in April, with a 10% drop and only 4.8 million daily active wallets.
• Investments fell by 69% compared to March ($21 million), but are now focused on infrastructure (66% of funding).
• Despite the slowdown, major publishers like Ubisoft and Sega continue to actively explore blockchain technology.

Interest in Crypto Games Declines in April

According to the latest report from DappRadar, the blockchain gaming sector experienced a marked slowdown in April 2025. Activity dropped to its lowest annual level with only 4.8 million daily active wallets.

Blockchain games, once leaders in the decentralized application ecosystem, now share their influence with decentralized finance, each representing 21% of the market.

Despite these declining numbers, Sara Gherghelas, an analyst at DappRadar, remains optimistic: “The blockchain gaming industry is not dead, it is evolving. It is shifting from noise to signal.” What the analyst describes is actually a beneficial cleansing phase for the ecosystem.

This transition period can be explained by two main factors:

• Investors are redirecting their capital towards real assets and artificial intelligence
• Global economic instability is making financing more difficult for young companies in the sector

This adjustment period could ultimately strengthen the industry by eliminating fragile projects in favor of more solid and sustainable initiatives.

Foundations for a Stronger Future Are Being Laid

This slowdown period seems to favor natural selection within the ecosystem. The most fragile projects disappear while funds FLOW toward initiatives quietly building the next generation of blockchain games.

A notable change in investment strategy is emerging:

Investors now prioritize sustainable models, player engagement, and retention, rather than just HYPE around tokens.

This trend aligns with observations from the first quarter of 2025, when investments had already dropped by 71%, as previously reported by DappRadar.

The shift of funding toward infrastructure (66% of investments in 2025) reflects a desire to build solid foundations for the future.

At the same time, the continued involvement of traditional gaming giants like Ubisoft and Sega, who are experimenting with blockchain technology, adds further legitimacy to the sector.

The crypto gaming and Web3 world thus appears to be undergoing a necessary recalibration phase. The speculative hype is gradually fading in favor of a more methodical and sustainable construction, focused on real value rather than the promise of quick profits.

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