Bleak start for gaming tokens in 2025
Shaken by the release of DeepSeek, one silver lining was that the toll on the crypto market wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
BTC dropped by 5%, ETH 7% and SOL 10%, although they have recovered since. Memecoins were hit hardest – for instance PENGU dropped 21% – as they’re often the first stage exit liquidity.
However, even without the Chinese OpenAI competitor hitting the market, it’s been clear for a while that the sentiment around gaming tokens remains very weak.
All of the top gaming tokens are down in terms of price 2025 year-to-date, with MOCA and BEAM dropping as much as 40% in the first 27 days of the year, and GMT, SUPER, BIGTIME and YGG not far off either.
Looking back further, and the situation isn’t much better, with only MOCA and SUPER seeing their prices on the rise since 1st January 2024.
Indeed, a lot of tokens have seen their price fall by up to 75% in this period:
- WEMIX (Wemade)
- ENJ (Enjin)
- GMT (Stepn)
- ILV (Illuvium)
- BIGTIME (Big Time)
- XAI (Xai)
- SAGA (Saga)
- MAGIC (TreasureDAO)
- PIXEL (Pixels)
In many cases, this performance will be unrecoverable, but despite providing a bleak outlook, the price of gaming tokens isn’t the only factor when measuring the sentiment of blockchain gaming.
Looking elsewhere, plenty of developers have proven they are steadfast through harsh conditions, such as much of 2023 and 2024.
One highlight is Pixels, which remains one of the top builders in the sense it’s pinned down the main problem with most play-to-earn economies and is determined to design a sustainable model that works.
Of course there are also many blockchain games that don’t have a token (yet), or depend directly on token performance, such as NFL Rivals, Off The Grid, Champions Tactics, and forthcoming EVE Frontier and Craft World, to mention a handful.
But any project looking to launch a token in the first half of 2025 must now be nervous.
