Blockchain gaming hits 2025 low as daily users numbers slide

Blockchain gaming saw user activity decline sharply in April, dipping below 5 million daily active wallets for the first time in 2025.

Daily active users in blockchain gaming declined by 10% in April 2025, dropping to 4.8 million unique active wallets, reaching the lowest level of user engagement the sector has seen so far this year.

Data from DappRadar shows that web3 gaming’s share of the decentralized app industry also slipped, now tied with decentralized finance at 21% each, while artificial intelligence projects soared with a 16% market share.

Investments in web3 | Source: DappRadarDappRadar’s blockchain analyst Sara Gherghelas noted that funding for blockchain gaming also saw a big decline, dropping nearly 70% from March to $21 million in April. However, some large ecosystem funds remain active. Arbitrum Gaming Ventures deployed its first $10 million from a $200 million fund, backing projects such as Wildcard, XAI Network, and Proof of Play.

“April 2025’s investment activity in blockchain gaming and the metaverse almost fell flat, but there’s a reason to be cautiously optimistic. This month the total capital raised reached only $21 million, marking a 69% decrease from March.”

Sara Gherghelas

As Gherghelas notes, investors are now “optimizing for sustainable models, player engagement, and actual retention, not just token hype,” what the analyst describes as the market’s “reset mode.”

“Capital is harder to secure, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Weak projects are falling away, and funds are flowing into the builders who are quietly laying the groundwork for the next generation of blockchain games.”

Sara Gherghelas

Even with numbers going down, big-name gaming companies are still testing the waters with blockchain. It’s a mixed bag though — Sega dropped an NFT game called KAI: Battle of Three Kingdoms, but Square Enix bailed on Symbiogenesis after it flopped. Ubisoft’s still in the game, teaming up with Immutable for a Might & Magic blockchain card game coming later this year.

According to Gherghelas, major publishers are still showing interest, but the ones actually getting somewhere are the ones teaming up with web3 native teams. She also points out the space is shifting — less focus on hypey token models, more on solid gameplay, interoperability, and “actual user retention.”