Although the crypto The gaming industry remains below its 2021 peaks, yet it secured substantial venture funding last year. But looking to the future, the subsector can look beyond tokenomics to grow and sustain itself in the long term.

“Tokens are a fantastic way to share ownership of economies. I am very supportive of tokens and I think they are a brilliant invention and have done a lot,” Robbie Ferguson, co-founder and president of Immutable, told TechCrunch. “But we will definitely see more retail skepticism and diligence where they want to see traction in these games.”

For Immutable, which raised $200 million at a $2.5 billion valuation last year, the most important element is “creating a fantastic experience for players: the economy has to be sustainable and the user experience has to be fantastic. Ferguson said. “From there, everything will flow.”

Since early 2022, the top 10 blockchain gaming projects by market capitalization have fallen as much as 95% due to an inability to maintain sustainable in-game economies and player bases, according to Delphi’s The Year Ahead for Gaming report.

For example, the token price of Axie Infinity, one of the biggest web3 games to gain traction, reached all-time highs of $160 in November 2021, but has since declined 92% to less than $12, according to CoinMarketCap data.

“We believe that most projects should not have live tokens on the market until most of their core game loops are established, which can immunize them against speculation and inflated expectations,” the Delphi report states.

There will be a much higher standard for how effectively and efficiently a foundation uses its tokens and direct return on spent tokens, Ferguson said. “I think a lot of chips are badly spent right now.”