{"id":53287,"date":"2025-10-24T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=53287"},"modified":"2025-10-24T13:52:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T04:52:24","slug":"it-ends-up-working-like-a-ponzi-scheme-japans-blockchain-and-nft-game-fad-might-be-imploding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/it-ends-up-working-like-a-ponzi-scheme-japans-blockchain-and-nft-game-fad-might-be-imploding\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;It ends up working like a Ponzi scheme.&#8221; Japan&#8217;s blockchain and NFT game fad might be imploding\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>So-called play-to-earn (P2E) games, which rely on blockchain and NFT technology, started gaining significant traction in Japan\u2019s game industry a few years ago, with even major console game publishers like Sega, Square Enix and Konami hopping onto the trend with\u00a0crypto-related games. However, the boom seems to be fizzling out now, with some of the biggest reasons being how complicated it is to both develop and play these games, as well as the unsustainable economies they\u2019re built upon.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In recent months, several major blockchain games have announced service terminations. This includes <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TOKYOBEAST_EN\/status\/1947567485567570350\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tokyo Beast<\/a> (developed by Japanese studio gumi), the Sega-published <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/b3k_info\/status\/1973236932265255289\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">KAI Sangokushi Taisen<\/a> and Captain Tsubasa: Rivals. Of note, Sega has openly admitted to losing interest in blockchain games as of 2023, with plans to shelve all internally developed projects (source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamesindustry.biz\/sega-scales-back-blockchain-plans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gameindustry.biz<\/a>). &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to an analysis by <a href=\"https:\/\/sumaholife-plus.jp\/money\/44444\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sumaholife<\/a>, developing and running blockchain games is complex for traditional game developers, and it comes&nbsp;with a range of unique operating costs that make it very difficult to achieve stable revenue. On top of that, from a player\u2019s perspective, they\u2019re not exactly easy to pick up, as just getting started comes with requirements like opening a crypto exchange account and creating a wallet \u2013 not things the average casual gamer is familiar with.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1123\" height=\"626\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1123px) 100vw, 1123px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251024-53287-001.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-53291\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251024-53287-001.jpg 1123w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251024-53287-001-380x212.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251024-53287-001-768x428.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>That means the market for blockchain games is extremely niche,&nbsp;but in order to keep functioning, most of these games require a steady flow of new users. The play-to-earn model generally rewards playtime with native tokens of NFT items that can be traded for real profit, but the earnings of existing players rely on money coming from new players. \u201cOften resembling a Ponzi scheme,\u201d Sumaholife notes, \u201cthese in-game economies collapse when token prices fall in response to the playerbase\u2019s growth stalling.\u201d In turn, as existing players realize they\u2019re earning less, they end up leaving too.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Add the overall volatility of the crypto market to these issues, and it\u2019s not very surprising that Japan\u2019s blockchain game fad is showing signs of dying out. However, it is interesting to note that ever since their emergence, these games have had relatively high media coverage from conventional gaming outlets in Japan, especially when compared to their counterparts in the English-speaking sphere, where there&#8217;s been a much clearer line drawn between regular games and the not-very-liked \u201cblockchain stuff.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With multiple major titles including Sega&#8217;s KAI Sangokushi Taisen announcing service terminations, Japan&#8217;s blockchain game boom is declining.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":53290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-53287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&quot;It ends up working like a Ponzi scheme.&quot; Japan&#039;s blockchain and NFT game fad might be imploding\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With multiple major titles including Sega&#039;s KAI Sangokushi Taisen announcing service terminations, Japan&#039;s blockchain game boom is declining.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/it-ends-up-working-like-a-ponzi-scheme-japans-blockchain-and-nft-game-fad-might-be-imploding\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&quot;It ends up working like a Ponzi scheme.&quot; Japan&#039;s blockchain and NFT game fad might be imploding\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With multiple major titles including Sega&#039;s KAI Sangokushi Taisen announcing service terminations, Japan&#039;s blockchain game boom is declining.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/it-ends-up-working-like-a-ponzi-scheme-japans-blockchain-and-nft-game-fad-might-be-imploding\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-24T13:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251024-53287-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1388\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"792\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"It ends up working like a Ponzi scheme.\" Japan's blockchain and NFT game fad might be imploding\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"With multiple major titles including Sega's KAI Sangokushi Taisen announcing service terminations, Japan's blockchain game boom is declining.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/it-ends-up-working-like-a-ponzi-scheme-japans-blockchain-and-nft-game-fad-might-be-imploding\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"It ends up working like a Ponzi scheme.\" Japan's blockchain and NFT game fad might be imploding\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"With multiple major titles including Sega's KAI Sangokushi Taisen announcing service terminations, Japan's blockchain game boom is declining.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/it-ends-up-working-like-a-ponzi-scheme-japans-blockchain-and-nft-game-fad-might-be-imploding\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2025-10-24T13:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1388,"height":792,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251024-53287-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/it-ends-up-working-like-a-ponzi-scheme-japans-blockchain-and-nft-game-fad-might-be-imploding\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/it-ends-up-working-like-a-ponzi-scheme-japans-blockchain-and-nft-game-fad-might-be-imploding\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"&#8220;It ends up working like a Ponzi scheme.&#8221; 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