The crypto and NFT gaming space is busier than ever lately, what with prominent games starting to release, token airdrops piling up, and a seemingly constant array of other things happening at all times. It’s a lot to take in!

Luckily, Decrypt’s GG is all over it. And if you need a quick way to get caught up on the latest moves around crypto video games, we’re happy to present This Week in Crypto Games.

Our weekend roundup serves up the biggest news from the past week, along with a few other tidbits you might have missed. We also showcase a few of our original stories from the week.

Biggest news

Off the Grid token launch: Gunzilla Games, the creator of crypto battle royale game Off the Grid, launched its Avalanche L1-based GUNZ gaming network on Monday, rolling out its GUN token in the process. In the hours following the token’s launch, it sank 24% and has continued to tumble throughout the week. 

The token launch received some criticism from market participants due to an apparent last-minute change to the tokenomics that removed an unlock for seed and strategic investors. One source familiar with the matter told Decrypt that this decision was made a couple of weeks ago and was approved by investors. On top of this, the previously scheduled unlock would have only released up to 5% of the investors’ total allocation—a likely insignificant amount to most involved.

Despite the blockchain hitting mainnet, Off the Grid itself remains on testnet. This means that in-game items can only be traded for testnet GUN tokens, which hold no real-world value. When the game transitions from testnet to mainnet, players will keep their skins and items but their GUN balances will be wiped. As a result, skin collectors have told Decrypt that prices for items have spiked as players look to shift their testnet tokens and keep a hold of their items.

The game’s transition to mainnet is expected to come over the “next few weeks.”

Logan Paul CryptoZoo lawsuit continues: The lawsuit brought against YouTube detective Coffeezilla by influencer Logan Paul is moving forward, after a U.S. judge denied the sleuth’s request to dismiss Paul’s claims with prejudice.

This comes after Coffeezilla (whose real name is Stephen Findeisen) made a series of videos and social media posts calling out Paul’s CryptoZoo NFT game, which never launched despite people investing a substantial amount of crypto into it.

Coffeezilla’s lawyers filed in February to dismiss the case, claiming that the alleged libelous statements were not capable of defaming Paul. But a Texas magistrate judge disagreed, pointing to Findeisen’s use of the word “scam” as meeting the defamatory definition, highlighting his role as a crypto investigator as another key factor.

Vibe coding competition: Minecraft-esque crypto voxelverse and world-building game Hytopia is asking creators to build web-based mini-games with its development kit—and help from AI. Hytopia is offering $5,000 in total prizes across the best three vibe coders in a new AI “vibe coding” competition. Judges will take a week to evaluate the created games after the 14-day competition comes to a close. 

Vibe coding is a rising term for coding through conversations with AI assistants, allowing users of all skill levels to simply “vibe” on thoughts and ideas and not stress about lines of intricate code, leaving the AI to handle the specifics. 

ICYMI

• The makers of crypto first-person shooter Shrapnel partnered with the Chinese government to become the first licensed Web3 game built on the nation’s official RWA Trusted Copyright Chain.
• …but Blockworks reports that Shrapnel maker Neon Machine is running out of cash, and that the China play was made to keep the studio going.
• Crypto game Infected is moving from Base to Solana over “demand” issues, which Base builders pushed back on.
• Solana idle role-playing game Defi Dungeons launched on Wednesday.

GG spotlight

Here are a few of our original stories from this past week that we think are well worth a weekend read:

Edited by Andrew Hayward

The crypto and NFT gaming space is busier than ever lately, what with prominent games starting to release, token airdrops piling up, and a seemingly constant array of other things happening at all times. It’s a lot to take in!

Luckily, Decrypt’s GG is all over it. And if you need a quick way to get caught up on the latest moves around crypto video games, we’re happy to present This Week in Crypto Games.

Our weekend roundup serves up the biggest news from the past week, along with a few other tidbits you might have missed. We also showcase a few of our original stories from the week.

Biggest news

SEC drops Immutable investigation: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has closed its investigation into Ethereum gaming platform Immutable with no enforcement action, the company announced Tuesday via a blog post.

Back in October 2024, the Commission issued Immutable a Wells Notice over alleged securities law violations relating to sales of the platform’s IMX token. The SEC had also questioned representations about the token’s backing, particularly regarding a pre-launch investment from Huobi Ventures.

With this investigation now over, Immutable CEO Robbie Ferguson said that the investigation found “zero wrongdoings” and praised his team for continuing to build despite the ominous Wells Notice. The company itself also posted on X, stating that it a “huge win” for Web3 gaming and for “everyone who believes in digital ownership rights.”

The SEC has now dropped the vast majority of its cases and known investigations against crypto firms, following the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

Off the Grid mainnet: Popular shooter Off the Grid has been running on the GUNZ testnet, built as a dedicated Avalanche L1 chain. On Friday, it was confirmed that GUNZ would transition to its hotly anticipated mainnet on March 31, with the GUN token launching alongside.

This comes after Gunzilla Games Director of Web3 Theodore Agranat estimated a Q1 2025 launch back in December, adding that he wanted the game to be fully featured and polished by then. Since then, a black market for in-game skins has bloomed, showing clear signs that players are keen for the upcoming crypto integration, which will allow in-game items to be sold for crypto.

Forgotten Runiverse launches: Ronin role-playing game Forgotten Runiverse launched in early access on Wednesday, allowing users to master spells and earn rewards as they explore the open fantasy world based on the Ethereum NFT collection, Forgotten Runes Wizard’s Cult. 

This comes after three years of development work and more than 1 million hours of testing, according to a post by Ronin Network, which became the game’s new home after it opted to migrate from Ethereum layer-2 network Arbitrum last year. 

Now officially live after three playtest periods, the Forgotten Runiverse opens with its first major game content update, named Moonlit Wilds. With this update, players can now access land plots, build new structures, craft and mint items, as well as master up to 32 spells while embarking on quests.

GameStop goes Bitcoin: Video game store turned meme stock icon GameStop updated its investment policy on Tuesday to add “certain cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin” as “permissible investment instruments.” This was then followed by a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, claiming that it is now permitted to use Bitcoin as a “Treasury Reserve Asset.”

The next day, on Wednesday, GameStop announced that it plans to raise $1.3 billion via convertible senior notes in order to fund “general corporate purposes, including the acquisition of Bitcoin.”

This approach takes a leaf out of Strategy’s playbook, as that firm (formerly known as MicroStrategy) has issued billions of dollars worth of convertible senior notes to purchase more Bitcoin. GameStop’s move came just weeks after CEO Ryan Cohen posted a photo on X with Strategy co-founder and Executive Chairman Michael Saylor.

ICYMI

• Solana game Star Atlas is collaborating with SingularityNET to integrate AI agents into its online world.
• There’s a first-person shooter that apparently records every single bullet on-chain via Ethereum layer-2 MegaETH—which its creator admits is just a “silly experiment.”
• Solana shooter Nyan Heroes is back with its latest playtest, including its biggest airdrop yet.

• Gunzilla Games, the creator of Off the Grid, acquired and rebooted legendary magazine Game Informer after it was shut down last year.
• Mobile strategy game Fableborne returned for a closed play test on Ronin.
• Marblex’s Immutable-based mobile game Self-Made Billionaire is set to launch on April 7, and is ready for pre-order on the App Store now.

• The makers of trading card game Parallel launched the title on Android in the Philippines on Tuesday, the first step in a delayed rollout for the mobile versions.
• The makes of Tokyo Beast, an Immutable-based game, released a launch trailer.
• Anime-inspired NFT collection Azuki opened pre-orders for starter decks for its upcoming trading card game.
• Arbitrum game AI Arena started a competition with 500,000 NRN ($18,000) up for grabs.
• Crypto MMORPG Treeverse went live and started its first season.
• Kamigotchi, a crypto pet collection game, completed a funding round with 81 participants, adding that mainnet details are coming soon.
• Immutable trading card game Gods Unchained launched its season two battle pass.

GG spotlight

Here are a few of our original stories from this past week that we think are well worth a weekend read:

Edited by Andrew Hayward

The crypto and NFT gaming space is busier than ever lately, what with prominent games starting to release, token airdrops piling up, and a seemingly constant array of other things happening at all times. It’s a lot to take in!

Luckily, Decrypt’s GG is all over it. And if you need a quick way to get caught up on the latest moves around crypto video games, we’re happy to present This Week in Crypto Games.

Our weekend roundup serves up the biggest news from the past week, along with a few other tidbits you might have missed. We also showcase a few of our original stories from the week.

Biggest news

Jurassic World in The Sandbox: Ethereum metaverse game The Sandbox is kicking off its fifth alpha season with a new in-game Jurassic World experience created in collaboration with Universal and Amblin Entertainment, allowing the player to become an employee of a dinosaur park. 

Acting as a member of the Dinosaur Protection Group, users are tasked with ensuring the park runs smoothly without the presence of franchise protagonist Owen Grady. Players will be given dinosaur eggs that they need to care for, and then once hatched, they ‘ll need to care for the baby dino for it to mature into an adult. The dinosaurs will grow using Jurassic Points, earned by performing tasks such as feeding or cleaning the dinosaurs.

The high-profile launch of Jurassic World: Dinosaur Preserve comes as part of a six-week long season that will pack in over 40 new experiences, including content from other entertainment brands like Attack on Titan, The Smurfs, and The Terminator, all built on an improved game creator that allows for new features. A specific launch date is still to be announced, but it will be coming sometime this month.

Notcoin expands: Open Builders, the company behind influential Telegram tap-to-earn game Notcoin, announced on Wednesday that it is set to expand beyond individual games with the rollout of Not Games, a platform with unified progression and rewards shared across multiple new games.

Not Games will feature a single player profile that maintains achievements and rankings across all titles within the ecosystem. Players will also have a unified balance and inventory system, allowing assets earned in one game to potentially have utility in others. And earned items can be sold via secondary marketplaces.

This is an attempt to unify the previously fragmented gaming experience on Telegram. It is set to be powered by the existing NOT token on The Open Network (TON), which Notcoin launched last year in a large-scale airdrop to millions of players.

Razer aims to eliminate bots: Popular gaming brand Razer is teaming up with World (previously known as Worldcoin) to help remove AI bots from online games. This comes as AI bots are causing chaos in the gaming landscape, with nearly 3 in 4 gamers agreeing that bots are an annoyance that makes gaming less fun.

The gaming giant is launching “Razer ID verified by World ID,” a new single-sign on feature that uses World’s blockchain-based proof-of-humanity technology to verify real human gamers. This will allow developers to add new anti-bot measures into their games, with Ethereum game Tokyo Beast to be the first to adopt the technology.

ICYMI

GG spotlight

Here are a few of our original stories from this past week that we think are well worth a weekend read:

Edited by Andrew Hayward