Gaming

The Biggest Shutdowns in 2025

Whereas crypto gaming has lengthy been seen as a key use for blockchain, letting avid gamers actually personal and freely commerce their distinctive objects and maybe revenue from a recreation’s success, builders are struggling to maintain their video games and digital economies.

Some video games, like Gunzilla Video games’ Off the Grid, have punched by way of to a broader viewers, gaining adoption from prime streamers and avid gamers alike—albeit forward of full blockchain integration. However many different video games and studios constructing with tokens are struggling to search out gamers and preserve funding.

In 2025, plenty of once-promising crypto video games closed up store, with the checklist rising steadily all year long. Right here’s a have a look at a number of the largest video games to go offline or shut down completely.

Deadrop

Deadrop recreation developer Midnight Society introduced that it was closing store in January. The studio, which had beforehand eliminated co-founder Dr. Disrespect in 2024 after alleged misconduct, gave workers simply two days discover, based on an worker put up on X.

The extraction shooter recreation spent round two years in early entry, promoting gamers NFT entry passes on Ethereum scaling community Polygon, in addition to different non-NFT objects that finally grew to become ineffective. In March, gamers began rallying across the deserted neighborhood Discord, serving to one another safe refunds by way of bank card chargebacks and financial institution reversals by claiming the product was by no means totally delivered.

Ember Sword

Ethereum recreation Ember Sword at one level obtained greater than $200 million in pledges for an NFT land sale, conveying the extent of hype round metaverse gaming land NFTs in 2021. However the remaining sale introduced in a lot lower than that, and in Could, the sport was finally shut down.

Developer Vibrant Star Studios cited a scarcity of funding in its closing announcement—a typical theme amongst crypto video games ceasing improvement of late. The MMORPG entered closed beta final July and early entry later within the 12 months, however drew criticism from gamers. After transferring chains a number of instances searching for a everlasting residence, it is since gone offline.

“We explored each potential manner ahead. However in in the present day’s market—the place even a number of the most promising initiatives are shutting down—we couldn’t discover a path to maintain constructing,” the undertaking mentioned.

Nyan Heroes

The Solana cat-mech shooter recreation Nyan Heroes ended its run in Could, as properly.

The sport, which had racked up greater than 250,000 wishlist additions throughout PC gaming platforms, was unable to safe the mandatory funding to finish improvement and push forward with its deliberate full launch subsequent winter.

Its closure rendered its NYAN Solana token ineffective, plummeting its worth to greater than 99% off its all-time excessive established in 2024.

“It has been a tough previous couple of months,” 9 Lives CEO and Artistic Director Max Fu advised Decrypt following the announcement. “At present, we’re exploring acquisition of the studio and/or the IP. Some discussions are underway, however I believe it could take a while to finalize a call.”

Realms of Alurya

A funding problem additionally signaled the tip of the road for Realms of Alurya. The sport, which was initially anticipated to launch on Treasure’s blockchain, was pressured emigrate to the Ethereum gaming-focused sidechain Ronin as Treasure pivoted to give attention to AI initiatives.

The builders claimed in a message to its neighborhood that Treasure unexpectedly reduce grant funding that was anticipated alongside developmental milestones. With out that funding, the studio mentioned it was now not in a position to full its roadmap, and has but to safe extra backing. In late June, the studio confirmed that the sport was carried out for good.

Symbiogenesis

Remaining Fantasy creator Sq. Enix introduced its Ethereum-based blockchain recreation Symbiogenesis to an finish in July.

The browser-based narrative recreation, which has hyperlinks to a number of Ethereum scaling chains, like Arbitrum and Polygon, was first introduced by Sq. Enix in 2022 and billed as a “digital collectible artwork undertaking,” providing a number of chapters and quests to gamers in a brand new continent set within the sky. Only in the near past, the sport did a crossover promotion with a pair video games on Sony’s new Ethereum layer-2 community, Soneium, however the finish was nonetheless set in stone.

In contrast to different video games which have been pressured to fold because of a scarcity of product market match or funding, the Symbiogenesis roadmap has been deliberately designed to finish in July 2025 because the storyline involves its conclusion. And to be clear, Sq. Enix has ample sources to maintain a recreation like this reside, making this an anomaly on this checklist; possibly the sport simply ran its course.

The story centered across the Floating Continent of #SYMBIOGENESIS will formally come to an finish on July 31.

Entry to the official web site and recreation service will probably be terminated at 12:00 PM (JST) on July 31.

Since its announcement in November 2022, SYMBIOGENESIS has carried out…

— 【EN_Official】SYMBIOGENESIS | SQUARE ENIX (@symbiogenesisEN) July 28, 2025

The Thriller Society

The Thriller Society, an Ethereum recreation that blended vibes of the informal Amongst Us recreation with homicide thriller, suspended operations in February.

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The sport’s developer, Nice Huge Stunning Tomorrow, was unable to search out the funding obligatory to finish the sport, regardless of having beforehand raised $3 million.

The sport first launched on Polygon earlier than migrating to gaming-centric scaling chain Immutable in late 2024.

After the announcement, the sport developer’s CEO Chris Heatherly advised Decrypt that “greed and stupidity from nearly all gamers is killing the house earlier than it may show itself.”

Raini: The Lords of Mild

Hearthstone-style card-battling recreation Raini: The Lords of Mild shut down its on-line companies for good in July, Raini Studios introduced in late June, marking a brand new period for the studio because it pivots to a pair of upcoming video games.

The Lords of Mild, which had NFT property minted on Ethereum and Avalanche, and an RST token on Avalanche L1 community Beam, leaned into crypto tradition and humor for its tradable digital playing cards, which included topics akin to FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, Elon Musk, and even Dogecoin.

Raini paid out 2 million price of RST rewards (about $3,300 price) to gamers in June and July earlier than Lords of Mild shut down. Going ahead, the studio plans to launch a pair of action-oriented video games—Lucha Throwdown and Uncaged: The Jon Jones Brawler—with a brand new give attention to deflationary tokenomics, together with shopping for and burning RST with a proportion of studio income.

The Strolling Lifeless: Empires

Gala Video games’ zombie-themed MMORPG The Strolling Lifeless: Empires additionally discovered its strategy to the graveyard. The Ethereum recreation, which was formally licensed from the AMC present The Strolling Lifeless, was playable by way of the tip of July.

“After cautious consideration, we have now made the tough resolution to sundown The Strolling Lifeless: Empires, with the final playable date set for July 31, 2025,” wrote Gala Video games in early Could.

The sport challenged gamers to craft weapons and construct bases to guard themselves from the undead, at one level commanding main value tags for its NFTs on the secondary market. As compensation for the sport’s shutdown, gamers will get thriller bins full of NFTs from different video games revealed by Gala.

MetalCore

Mech shooter MetalCore closed its recreation servers and Discord neighborhood in March, ending communications with its neighborhood as developer Studio 369 makes “essential modifications to the sport.” The official X put up on the matter even restricted replies to solely those who the MetalCore account follows.

Thanks to all of the mercs who joined us for the Battlegrounds occasion! 🫡

MetalCore servers and Discord channels will probably be down as we make essential modifications to the sport. Thanks in your dedication and help—keep sharp, we are going to return quickly!

— METALCORE | Let’s #PlayMetalCore! (@playmetalcore) March 25, 2025

The sport, which remains to be listed as obtainable within the Epic Video games Retailer, began on Ethereum layer-2 community Immutable zkEVM, however started a migration to Solana final October. However no updates have come since that March 25 announcement, regardless of a point out within the put up that the staff will “return quickly.”

It seems that Studio 369 has moved on to a brand new undertaking, launching the fantasy recreation Noble Legacy in early entry on Steam—apparently with out crypto options, given the PC gaming platform’s ban on such options.

Blast Royale

The developer of cell recreation Blast Royale signaled its discontinuation in mid-Could “after exploring each path and chance,” it mentioned.

The creators of the battle royale-style recreation, which had a group of Ethereum NFTs, open-sourced its code on June 1, permitting anybody locally to select up the place they left off and additional develop and modify the sport. However in any other case, the sport closed to gamers on June 30.

With a heavy coronary heart, we affirm the information about Blast Royale’s closure. Thanks to our superb neighborhood for being a part of this journey. Please see the hooked up neighborhood assertion shared by @Renny0x final week. pic.twitter.com/2iAv0VSGZg

— Blast Royale (@blastroyale) Could 16, 2025

The sport’s NOOB token will nonetheless be distributed and commerce freely on Base, the Ethereum layer-2 constructed by Coinbase, but it surely has plummeted greater than 99% from its all-time excessive value.

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Mojo Melee

One of many newest additions to this checklist is Mojo Melee—the NFT-fueled auto-battler recreation within the vein of Teamfight Ways. We went hands-on with Mojo Melee again in 2023 and loved it, and the sport subsequently held a promotion with Amazon to provide out free in-game property to Prime subscribers.

However now developer Planet Mojo is closing up store, making a pivot to AI with plans to launch a movie-making platform. Mojo Melee and the studio’s WWA platform for AI gaming brokers shut down on July 1.

It’s with deep remorse that we announce that Planet Mojo is formally sunsetting on July 1. Thanks to everybody who performed, supported, and constructed with us. You’ll be able to learn our full message to the neighborhood right here 👇 pic.twitter.com/2B0OGQzN57

— Mojo AI 🌱 (@WeArePlanetMojo) Could 30, 2025

“Whereas we’re extremely happy with how far these initiatives got here and and the passionate neighborhood that grew round them, shifting market realities have made it unsustainable to proceed growing them on the degree they deserve,” the studio mentioned in a Discord message cross-posted to X.

OpenSeason

OpenSeason, a Fortnite-style battle royale recreation with a great deal of crypto meme references, had launched on the Epic Video games Retailer and appeared promising. However the recreation is now offline after developer Fractional Rebellion Studios confronted funding points, and the affiliated FU token cratered in value.

Pseudonymous co-founder Krypticrooks confirmed the transfer to Decrypt in early July, noting that the “server prices are too costly” to have the sport on-line in the meanwhile, and noting the they confronted challenges in growing the sport whereas supporting neighborhood calls for over the token value.

They’ve gone on to as an alternative launch Booby Bot, a crypto-fueled playing recreation with AI-generated nudity.

Tokyo Beast

Tokyo Beast barely had an opportunity to reside earlier than it died, with builders speedrunning the crypto gaming lifespan and saying the approaching demise of the sport simply weeks after it launched. The makes of the cell fight recreation introduced the information in July, following the June 9 launch, with the servers shuttering on August 24.

There was excellent news amid the frustration, nonetheless, with the builders revealing plans to compensate consumers of Tokyo Beast NFTs on Ethereum layer-2 community Immutable zkEVM, in addition to individuals who had staked the related TGT token.

Pirate Nation

Pirate Nation, a role-playing recreation with all property and recreation logic put on-chain, had endured for a pair years, even amid a transition from Polygon to Arbitrum to chop prices. However in August, developer Proof of Play mentioned that the sport will probably be shut down in favor of the staff launching bite-sized video games utilizing chunks of the general expertise.

Like many different video games on this checklist, the devs cited excessive prices to help the sport with a small consumer base. Proof of Play will proceed constructing on-chain infrastructure and says it’s going to help the PIRATE token, which is down 92% from its peak as of this writing.

“Shutting down Pirate Nation was some of the tough choices I’ve ever been a part of,” Adam Fern, co-founder and product lead, wrote on X. “I really like Pirate Nation and I spent practically seven days per week for the previous three-plus years on it, however the fact is it wasn’t ever going to be a breakout, mass market success.”

Ragnarok: Monster World

Cell tower protection recreation Ragnarok: Monster World introduced that its service would finish on December 30. The assertion on X claimed that the staff had carried out their “highest” to maintain the sport alive, however had confronted “monetary challenges that made operations more and more tough.”

Pricey Tamers,

It’s with a heavy coronary heart that we announce the closure of Ragnarok: Monster World.
We’ve carried out our highest to maintain the undertaking alive, however in latest months, we’ve confronted monetary challenges that made operations more and more tough.
After cautious consideration and… pic.twitter.com/DS9RVX7D6x

— Ragnarok: Monster World (@RagmonNFT) October 30, 2025

The Conflict Royale-like recreation was a spin-off from the Ragnarok On-line role-playing franchise, which was developed by the South Korean studio Gravity. The social media assertion mentioned the choice to close the sport got here after a dialogue with IP creator Gravity. That mentioned, followers of the sport had been indignant it was shutting down, with some claiming it “tarnished” the Ragnarok IP.

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Moonfrost

Position-playing farming simulator Moonfrost determined to chop crypto from its crop of options this 12 months, whereas persevering with to develop its Web2 recreation. The announcement on X acknowledged that crypto made the sport “too massive, advanced, and gradual to develop,” making it exhausting to cater to each a Web2 and Web3 viewers.

🌙A Message from the Moonfrost Group

Hey Frost Hunters,❄️

We’ve made an essential resolution about the way forward for Moonfrost.

We’re leaving Open Loot.
After a lot reflection, we’ve determined to maneuver Moonfrost off the Open Loot platform. Issues have modified quite a bit over the course of…

— Moonfrost (@MoonfrostGame) November 5, 2025

In doing this, the sport determined to launch on Steam and go away the Open Loot crypto market. It added that crypto property received’t go to waste and can translate into some form of reward for the Steam title. Specifics on this have but to be introduced, over a month after the information was revealed.

Dragginz

Right here’s a singular one: MMORPG Dragginz entered “hibernation” in October. The announcement got here as the sport’s builders shifted focus to its NFT creator and market, Toko App, leaving Dragginz on ice. The staff cited a scarcity of funding to develop the sport and app in tandem. Dragginz was being constructed round property on the Web Laptop community.

The transfer was branded as a “step ahead” for Dragginz, because the Toko App will apparently be used as a strategy to give NFTs actual utility. Within the meantime, the announcement mentioned, any transfer in its token value “has no that means” as the sport shouldn’t be reside.

“Consider it as hunkering right down to survive by way of the lengthy chilly crypto winter,” the put up mentioned. “When spring comes, Dragginz will probably be able to roar!”

Age of Dino

Age of Dino introduced a “vital milestone” in August, which meant its technique recreation could be shuttered because it seemed to launch a “broader ecosystem.”

Pricey Commanders,

After an unimaginable journey throughout three servers, 30+ Institute Wars, and numerous epic T-Rex battles, AOD is able to unlock its subsequent chapter. Each technique, each victory, and each second of dedication has been constructing towards this breakthrough second.…

— Age of Dino (@ageofdino) August 30, 2025

Trying to border the closing of the sport as a constructive didn’t go down properly with neighborhood members, a lot of whom alleged the builders had been simply quitting the undertaking. It has been months since this announcement now with little or no replace from the staff.

Jungle

For those who weren’t within the Discord, you’d have missed this one.

Jungle, a crypto cell gaming ecosystem that raised $6 million in 2023, advised its Discord neighborhood in April that it will be leaving Web3 to “give attention to growing [its] recreation as a cell free-to-play title solely.” The put up mentioned the transfer was carried out to “make sure the survival of the undertaking going ahead.”

Its public communications on social media have been silent since February, and the staff didn’t reply to an e mail from Decrypt.

> 0 communication on X since February nineteenth
> introduced it quietly on discord@jungle_xyz is leaving web3 to “give attention to growing the sport as a cell F2P title solely”

they raised $6M ; do we actually nonetheless surprise why buyers / gamers are shedding belief?

hate to see it pic.twitter.com/3y6igYXeFX

— Raiden (@raidenkrn) April 29, 2025

Captain Tsubasa Rivals

Soccer recreation Captain Tsubasa Rivals shut store in November. The title put a crypto spin on a manga sequence initially launched in 1981, and the staff claimed to have a “long-term” imaginative and prescient, however mentioned it grew to become “tough to proceed” growing the sport.

Happily for followers, whereas the flagship recreation on the Polygon and Oasys blockchains closed, the Telegram tap-to-earn mini-app of the identical title continues on.

📢 Service Termination Announcement

As of 15:00 JST in the present day, “Captain Tsubasa -RIVALS- Polygon/Oasys” has formally ended its service.

We want to specific our deepest gratitude to all gamers who’ve supported and loved the sport over the previous three years. Thanks so… pic.twitter.com/eQigEToJUR

— CAPTAIN TSUBASA -RIVALS- (@TsubasaRivalsEN) November 28, 2025

Editor’s observe: This story was initially revealed on Could 31, 2025 and final up to date with new particulars on December 21.



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