If you check Pixels' data in May 2024, you'd think you've witnessed a miracle. That day, Pixels hit a historical peak with 1,061,873 daily active addresses. What does that mean? It means over a million users were simultaneously playing a Web3 game. In an industry that everyone is bearish on, that's an almost impossible figure.
But if you look at Pixels now, you'll see a completely different story. 283,000 daily active users. That's a two-thirds drop from the peak.
This story isn't about failure. It's a much more intriguing narrative. It's about how a project transitioned from the madness of chasing user numbers back to the rational pursuit of sustainability.
Let me start this story from the beginning.
In September 2023, Pixels transitioned from the Polygon network to the Ronin network. This moment of transition was crucial. Axie Infinity had already begun to decline. The market’s enthusiasm for GameFi had cooled. No one believed a new farming game could achieve anything.
But what happened next changed everyone's mindset.
The first half of 2024 was the golden period for Pixels. Daily active users grew from 300,000 to 1 million. More and more people realized that this game was different from other GameFi titles they had seen. It was genuinely fun. The seasonal mechanics were captivating. Exploratory discoveries were surprising. The social system provided a sense of belonging.
At this point, the officials made a decision. They decided to release the PIXEL token. In April 2024, PIXEL was listed on Binance. The price reached $0.18. The project’s total valuation skyrocketed. Everyone was talking about Pixels. Investors rushed in. New players flooded in.
Then the problems began to surface.
Anyone familiar with GameFi history knows what’s coming. High yield rates attract players who are usually investors, not gamers. They come in to make a profit, not for fun. When the token price starts to dip, they begin to exit.
By the end of 2024, the price of PIXEL had dropped to $0.015. A decline of over 90%. Daily active users fell from 1 million to 300,000.
This is the key turning point I want to talk about. What would most projects choose to do at this time? They would try to pump the token price. They would announce some new funding. They would promise super high yields. They would do anything to attract back those players who left.
Pixels didn’t do that. CEO Luke Barwikowski did the opposite.
He candidly revealed a figure in an interview. Return on Rewards (ROR). By the end of 2024, this number was 0.5. This means that for every 100 PIXEL tokens allocated as rewards, only 50 were reinvested by players into the game. In other words, players were cashing out the tokens.
Then he announced their new strategy. Instead of pumping the token price, they aimed to change the reward distribution method. They started using data analysis to identify which players are genuine players and which are arbitrageurs. They reduced rewards for arbitrageurs and increased rewards for long-term players.
Simply put, they started punishing those who come in to make money and run, while rewarding those who truly love the game.
That decision seemed suicidal at the time. Because those whose rewards were cut were the very ones still playing the game. They would leave faster. Daily active users would drop further.
The fact is, it happened just like that. Daily active users dropped from 1 million to 300,000. But this time, what happened was different from the decline of other GameFi projects. Even though daily active users dropped, the quality of the players who remained improved.
By the end of 2024, Pixels had 109,000 'paying wallets.' What does this mean? These are the players who are actually spending money in the game. This number grew by 75% from the beginning to the end of the year.
Wait a minute. Daily active users dropped by two-thirds, but paying users actually increased?
What does this indicate? It shows that arbitrageurs and true players have been separated. Those just in it for the money have left. The ones who genuinely enjoy the game have stuck around and started spending.
From any business perspective, this is a positive signal. Because the growth in paying users means the in-game economic cycle is starting to shift in a positive direction.
This is what Pixels did at the end of 2024. They sacrificed vanity metrics (daily active users) for the sake of improving economic indicators.
But the story isn’t over. Because more events unfolded in 2025.
During the transition period from the end of 2024 to early 2025, Pixels released Chapter 2. This wasn’t a small update. This was a complete game overhaul. They removed the BERRY soft currency and switched to using only the PIXEL token. They changed the economic model. They added new industries, new gameplay, and new revenue methods.
More importantly, they have begun executing a plan for ecosystem expansion.
In December 2024, Pixels announced a collaboration with a developer to launch a new game called Pixel Dungeons. This isn’t a copy within Pixels. It’s a completely different game. A fast-paced, competitive, Bomberman-style dungeon warfare game. But it uses the same PIXEL token.
Why is this important? Because this is when the strategy they announced in June 2024 started to become a reality. They wanted to become a Web3 gaming ecosystem, not just a single game.
Feedback from the closed beta of Pixel Dungeons was very positive. In the first week, over 300,000 PIXEL were allocated to players. More importantly, this game's ROR exceeded 1. This means that players spent more in-game than the rewards allocated to them. This indicates that the game is profitable and its economic model is sustainable.
Then in 2025, Pixels launched Chapter 3: Bountyfall. This update introduced team combat mechanics. Now players can join guilds and compete against other guilds. There’s a massive competition prize pool. The scale of this update is significant, indicating a major upgrade to the backend architecture.
At the same time, Pixels also launched a new MMORPG called Forgotten Runiverse. This was another new game within the PIXEL ecosystem. Within 10 days of launch, over 3.6 million PIXEL were invested by players.
More aggressively, Pixels launched the PIXEL Staking mechanism in 2025. Players can stake PIXEL into their favorite games to earn yields while supporting the development of that game. This marked the beginning of decentralized governance.
Within two weeks, 73 million PIXEL were staked. This is a massive number. It indicates that community confidence in this ecosystem is starting to recover.
Now let’s look at the economic data from the end of 2024 and 2025.
By November 2024, Pixels’ monthly revenue hit 10 million PIXEL. This was a historical high. But net income was negative because more rewards were being distributed. They were also subsidizing.
But by 2025, things began to change. The CEO revealed in an interview that their goal was to achieve what they called a 'Net Ecosystem Spend' state. This means that player spending in the game exceeds the rewards allocated to them. In other words, a genuinely profitable state.
To achieve this, they adopted a 'smart' token distribution system. This system uses data analysis to decide how to allocate rewards, ensuring they flow to those most likely to reinvest in the game.
This sounds very technical, but essentially, they are using machine learning to optimize the economy.
Now let’s check out the token price trajectory.
In March 2024, PIXEL reached an all-time high of $0.39. At that moment, everyone was going crazy. Everyone was saying PIXEL would hit $1, $5, $10.
Then it started to drop. Drop. And keep dropping.
By early 2025, the price of PIXEL was only $0.015. A decline of over 96%.
But this isn’t the end of the story. This is a turning point.
Because at that moment, two things happened simultaneously. First, the fundamentals of PIXEL began to improve. More games joined the ecosystem. More players started to pay. Second, the market began to realize that Pixels is not a 'money-making game,' but rather a 'real game company.'
By early 2026, the price of PIXEL started to rise. Not due to any new funding news, but because of fundamental improvements. When people began to focus on actual economic indicators instead of vanity metrics, they realized the project was genuinely getting better.
At this point, PIXEL rebounded above $0.015. Later, it even briefly broke through $0.05. Although still far below the all-time high, the trend is moving in the right direction.
Now let’s see what the official roadmap says.
Luke Barwikowski has mentioned in various places that their goal is to build a Web3 gaming ecosystem. Not just one game, but multiple games all using the same PIXEL token, sharing the same player account system, and contributing to the same economic model.
They are planning 5 to 6 games. In addition to the already launched Pixels, Pixel Dungeons, and Forgotten Runiverse, more games are in development.
This ambition is massive. If successful, it would be the first truly successful, sustainable Web3 gaming ecosystem.
But the key question is, can they pull it off?
Let me check the current data.
Pixels itself now has 283,000 daily active users. This isn’t a huge number, but for a game that once experienced extreme growth and then actively tightened, this is normal. More importantly, a high proportion of these daily active users are genuine players, not arbitrageurs.
The payment conversion rate is on the rise. The average spending of monthly paying users is also increasing. This indicates that player retention is improving.
The early reactions to the new games Pixel Dungeons and Forgotten Runiverse were very positive. Pixel Dungeons had an ROR of over 1, indicating economic sustainability. Forgotten Runiverse attracted many MMORPG players, broadening the ecosystem's potential user base.
Token staking within the ecosystem has reached 73 million PIXEL. This shows that players are willing to hold onto the tokens long-term.
But there are risks too. What’s the biggest risk?
First, competition. Once Pixels’ model proves viable, many competitors will emerge. Traditional gaming companies will enter. Other blockchain gaming projects will replicate. Pixels’ first-mover advantage exists, but it’s not unbeatable.
Second, platform risk. Pixels is entirely dependent on the Ronin network. If Ronin has issues, Pixels will too. Although Ronin currently seems stable, this still poses a centralized risk.
Third, regulatory risk. While most countries around the world are relatively lenient towards blockchain gaming, this could change. Especially if blockchain gaming becomes too large and attracts government scrutiny.
Fourth, team risk. While Luke Barwikowski seems capable, anyone can run into problems. If key personnel leave, the project may lose direction.
But compared to these risks, I see more opportunities.
What Pixels is doing is unprecedented. They are proving a point: a Web3 game can be both a genuinely fun game and a sustainable economic system. This point is crucial for the entire industry.
They are also building an ecosystem. If this ecosystem succeeds, it will create network effects. More games mean more players. More players mean higher PIXEL demand. Higher demand means better economic incentives. A positive feedback loop forms.
From a mid to long-term perspective, the value of PIXEL depends on how large this ecosystem can grow. If ultimately there are 50 million to 100 million players in this ecosystem, the value of PIXEL will be very different. If it just stagnates around the current 3 million daily active users, then the value of PIXEL will be limited.
So the core question is, can Pixels realize their grand vision? Can they transition from a single game to a true gaming ecosystem?
From the current signs, they are headed in the right direction. But this plan will take a lot of time to complete. It could take 3 to 5 years.
Throughout this process, there will be a lot of volatility. There will be failures. There will be successes. Competitors will emerge. But if they can stick to their philosophy—prioritizing game quality and economic sustainability over short-term token prices—they have a chance to become the next giant in the gaming industry.
This isn’t a get-rich-quick tale. It’s a story about patience, perseverance, and belief in the right principles.
Pixels fell from the craziest peak to the most rational trough and then began to climb slowly. What happened during this process is significant for the entire Web3 gaming industry.
Because it proved that sometimes going down is for the sake of going up. Sometimes losing vanity metrics is to gain real value. Sometimes the best moment for a project isn’t when it’s growing the fastest, but when it learns how to grow sustainably.
Pixels still has a long way to go. But this time, they have the right map.