GameFi should not just be about "play-to-earn"; what it truly aims to do is drive the game ecosystem with financial mechanisms, allowing "fun" and "profit" to coexist. To survive, it must create genuine games, stable models, and active users. The key is: having real gameplay, real users, and a real ecosystem. Only then can GameFi bridge the gap between games and assets, allowing players' participation to unleash real value in the Web3 world.
Having discussed NFTs, let's look at GameFi projects.
What is GameFi?
GameFi is the combination of "games + finance," which simply means "play-to-earn." It integrates on-chain assets, token economies, and game mechanics, attempting to allow players to earn economic benefits through playing games, turning gaming into an "investment."
At its peak, many projects claimed "the longer you play, the more you earn," attracting countless users. However, once the hype faded, most projects fell apart. Where did the problem lie?
1. The games are not fun, and the finance is unsustainable:
Many GameFi projects are essentially not games but "token issuance systems in disguise." You can generate tokens with just a few clicks, and it doesn't matter whether you play or not. Initially, they rely on speculators to inflate the data, but within a few months, players leave, token prices crash, and the projects become worthless. For example, StepN in 2022 and Pixels in 2023 both couldn't sustain their popularity for more than a season, lacking any "sustainable" game design.
2. Economic systems are unbalanced, and inflation is out of control:
GameFi needs to issue tokens and encourage players to earn them, but there is no coherent economic model. Everyone wants to earn, but no one wants to lose; tokens keep increasing while rewards decrease. This leads to either the project collapsing or a game of hot potato. You will find that many GameFi projects are doomed to be "short-lived" from the moment they launch because they are not economic systems but merely "token distribution schemes."
3. Users are unstable, and loyalty is extremely low:
Web3 games attract "profit-driven users." They go wherever the profits are; if one game is popular today, everyone plays it; if another game rises tomorrow, they all "migrate." When a project cools down, players immediately cash out and leave. In 2024, the top 50 GameFi projects had a 7-day retention rate of only 12%. So these are not real players, but rather "speculators."
4. Lack of content and insufficient innovation:
Most GameFi projects are just re-skinned Web2 games with outdated gameplay, rough graphics, and a lack of world-building, storylines, and social systems. Additionally, on-chain interactions are often laggy, leading to a poor user experience. You could say it's a game, but it has no content; you could say it's finance, but it has no model. Many GameFi projects can't even compete with "mini-games" from Web2.
Now, looking at this GameFi project, what problems does it solve?
You say your game is fun; do you have a complete gameplay logic? Is there continuously produced content? Can "playing" itself retain users?
You say your economic model is stable; how do you control inflation and maintain incentives? Are there "consumption scenarios" to balance production?
You say your users are loyal; what is your user retention mechanism? Is there a reason for players to want to stay? Is there a social system or a guild system?
Ultimately, we must return to three points:
- Is your game fun? Can it retain users better than existing GameFi projects?
- Do you have any innovative mechanisms or technologies? For example, an on-chain equipment system, an on-chain task system, or on-chain storyline generation?
- Are there real players playing? Are there real assets being traded? Rather than just the old routine of "ranking manipulation, speculation, and scamming newcomers"?
GameFi should not just be about "play-to-earn"; what it truly aims to do is drive the game ecosystem with financial mechanisms, allowing "fun" and "profit" to coexist. To survive, it must create genuine games, stable models, and active users. The key is: having real gameplay, real users, and a real ecosystem. Only then can GameFi bridge the gap between games and assets, allowing players' participation to unleash real value in the Web3 world.
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