The CEO of the Solana Foundation, Lily Liu, has sparked a storm in the Web3 world, stating outright that blockchain-based games have no future. Her words came at a symbolic moment — just as Meta is withdrawing from the Horizon Worlds project after huge expenses and meager results.
Lily Liu wrote that blockchain gaming "will not return."
In the background, there is a discussion about the collapse of the metaverse and the play-to-earn model.
Critics claim that GameFi has been compromised, but part of the industry still sees potential in it.
Is blockchain gaming over? Not necessarily.
Lily Liu stated on X that blockchain-based games will not return. This was a reaction to the news about the closure of Horizon Worlds by Meta — a metaverse project that consumed tens of billions of dollars, yet failed to win over users.
The problem, however, is that Liu's statement was more of a loose opinion than a data-driven analysis. She did not provide any numbers or arguments that unequivocally supported such a radical conclusion.
A discussion quickly erupted. Part of the gaming and Web3 community pointed out that not all blockchain games can be lumped together. The play-to-earn model, in particular, was criticized, as it often relied on weak productions and artificially inflated token economics, rather than the idea of using blockchain in games.
Indeed, GameFi tokens are today a shadow of their former glory. Just look at Axie Infinity — a token that during the 2021 boom was worth over 140 dollars, today is worth around 1 dollar. This shows the scale of the collapse of the entire segment.
However, this does not mean that blockchain in games makes no sense. On the contrary — this technology can still provide real value when it comes to digital ownership of items, market transparency, or secure trading between players. In traditional games, skins, items, and characters formally belong to the publisher. Blockchain can change that, giving users actual control over digital assets.
The GameFi market has undoubtedly gone through a painful cleansing. But declaring the complete death of blockchain gaming today looks more like an emotional diagnosis than a final verdict.