The following is a guest post from Leo Lee, Chief Growth Officer at CARV.
Off The Grid could be the seminal moment in Web 3 gaming we've been waiting for – not because it boasts blockchain features, but because it doesn't. The original console version integrates NFT and blockchain in the background, allowing gameplay to take center stage. Gaming is the main attraction, while blockchain is a franchise that furthers business, ownership and expression.
Just like Telegram, which is quietly pouring crypto wallet functionality into hundreds of millions of pockets, game developers are realizing that simplicity is vital. Hitting gamers with painful concepts and heavy encryption can turn away potential players.
The next game the bull will not be driven by Blockchain games– Driven by big games that happen to use blockchain.
A quiet revolution in blockchain gaming
Off The Grid is creating a lot of hype for the game, which has yet to be officially released. Gunzilla Games' cyberpunk battle royale — available only through early access on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X — is drawing attention for its violent language and gritty visuals from filmmaker Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium). has attracted .
“Part wry satire of streaming culture, part gamer send-up, clever self-aware storytelling: Off The Grid is a fun time.” CNET wrote in October.
It's a fun time, actually, that's entirely on the blockchain. Blink and you might miss it, but Off The Grid is a web3 native title built on an Avalanche subnet. It enables crypto functionality alongside gameplay, including the future token and mining and trading of NFT in-game weapons and skins. open sea. The best part? So far, players are not required to engage with these features. Blockchain and gaming are separate yet complementary, and the former aims to enhance the latter rather than ignore it.
This is a similar story in Telegram. Players flock to the simplicity and engagement of clicker games within the chat platform. Thanks for the confirmation Open Network (TON) As the official Web 3 infrastructure and wallet functionality integration, Telegram makes it easy for gamers to accept cryptocurrencies without even knowing it. Gone are the complex and complicated interfaces. Telegram's mini-game is played automatically on a well-known and reliable chat platform.
Successes are remarkable across the board. TON of clickers Notecoin And its eponymous token grew to a market cap of over half a billion dollars, with BANANA gaining 12 million players just one month after launch. Meanwhile, Off The Grid is also gaining serious traction, with millions of wallets created in its first week of early access before becoming the top free-to-play game on the Epic Games Store. The numbers tell a clear story: when blockchain integration is invisible, mass adoption follows.
A lesson for blockchain game developers
Since the inception of the sector, we have been waiting for the “main moment” of blockchain gaming. A one-two punch from Off The Grid and Telegram suggests we're quickly getting closer, but their victories have important lessons for developers.
First, arming your game with blockchain isn't enough. About 400 crypto games Development stopped last year and as of 2018, over Three quarters of all blockchain games They could not be absorbed and stopped. The reason? The games weren't fun enough and the blockchain features weren't compelling enough. Next, game developers should start with both the game and the blockchain before going backwards. Without a good game, blockchain elements never have a chance to take off.
The second lesson is about accessibility. A quarter of Web 3 leaders agree The learning curve for blockchain technology and the lack of user-friendly interfaces remain significant barriers to adoption. Solutions like Karo ID Here they are informative, uniting gamer profiles under one banner to improve interoperability and display achievements across games. This new set of games shows that we need to start with great gameplay, make it easy to access, and put blockchain at the core. This is the best way to make both sides of the blockchain game cooperate.
In my opinion, it's time to think of blockchain plays like cloud computing – something that consumers rarely encounter, but drives the support thanks to invisible integration. Just as we don't think about cloud computing when we watch Netflix, players shouldn't think about blockchain in their games either.
Balancing gameplay and blockchain in 2025
As we head into the new year, blockchain games are in a better position to enter the mainstream. AAA studios are taking us seriously and gamers are thinking about blockchain features that enhance the gaming experience.
However, there is a fine line between creating a great game and ensuring meaningful crypto synergy. Neopets Metaverse, an NFT-based game based on the hugely popular 1999 pet simulator, was in development for almost two years before it was suddenly cancelled. The reason? CEO said gamers “did not care“ As for Blockchain, with a title that aims to repurpose it as a casual mobile game. Obviously, the game must be good and the addition of blockchain must make sense, add value and improve the ecosystem.
Here, understanding the audience is very important. Gamers are getting younger and want better ways to express themselves, have an identity, and earn money online—all things that blockchain can enable. Therefore, making these features accessible and meaningful with blockchain will drive the next upward trend of web3 games.
This is the challenge for our sector in 2025 – to make the blockchain relevant to the game, invisible to the player and powerful enough to be adopted. Now it's up to us – the developers – to get there. Off The Grid and Telegram show us the way forward – put blockchain in the background and let games take the lead.
