2025 State of the Industry Report

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2025 BGA STATE OF THE INDUSTRY REPORT

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CONTENTS
Report Summary
Letter from the BGA Presidents
BGA Board Members
Survey Overview
Macro and Micro Sentiment
Hot Topic: Stablecoins
AI Meets Blockchain Gaming
Hot Topic: AI in Context
BGA in Action
Hot Topic: Industry Shakeout
Driving Factors
5-Year Trend Review: Top 3 Factors to
Drive the Industry Forward
Hot Topic: UA Crisis
Industry Threats
Individual Challenges
Future Directions
Get Involved
Glossary
BGA Members Overview
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2025 BGA STATE OF THE INDUSTRY REPORT2025 BGA STATE OF THE INDUSTRY REPORT

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K E Y TA K E AWAYS
REPORT SUMMARY
Now in its fifth year, the Blockchain Game
Alliance (BGA) State of the Industry Report
presents data collected from an online survey
to provide a viewpoint of the current state and
trajectory of the blockchain gaming industry
from the perspective of its professionals. It
highlights the challenges, opportunities, and
trends in the ecosystem heading into 2026.
The blockchain gaming sector is entering a new
phase of maturation, shaped by shifting global
engagement, more grounded growth drivers,
and a recalibration of outlooks as the market
contraction intensified through 2025. This year’s
findings point to an industry moving beyond its
speculative origins toward a more operationally
disciplined, product-led future.
The professional community continues to
diversify geographically. What was once
dominated by Asia and Europe now reflects a
more balanced global footprint, with growing
participation across the Middle East and North
Africa, Africa, and Latin America.
This expansion extends beyond development
teams alone, drawing increased engagement
from investors, institutional stakeholders, and
government bodies, and bringing a wider range
of cultural and market perspectives into game
RESPONDENT DEMOGRAPHICS
of respondents come
from the Middle East
and North Africa (MENA),
up from 1% in 2021.
19.8%
female participation
marks the highest
level recorded in the
survey’s history.
22.7%
of respondents work
in studios or publishing,
dominating industry
representation.
32.6%
INDUSTRY DRIVERS
expect policy and
regulation to have a
positive impact on
industry development.
64.4%
cite high-quality
game launches as the
primary driver of future
industry success.
29.5%
point to sustainable,
revenue-driven
business models as
a key growth factor.
27.5%
INDUSTRY CHALLENGES
view scams and
fraud as the greatest
threat to industry
credibility.
36.0%
report lack of funding
or investment as their
company’s biggest
operational challenge.
32.6%
fear AI-enabled
cheating, bots, and
exploits as the largest
risk of AI adoption.
38.9%
5 2025 BGA STATE OF THE INDUSTRY REPORT 4 2025 BGA STATE OF THE INDUSTRY REPORT
development, live operations, and regulatory
discourse. Gender representation also reached
its highest level since the survey’s beginning in
2021, reinforcing the steady broadening of the
sector’s talent base.
The clearest indicator of the industry’s broader
transition lies in its reorientation toward
sustainable economics. Growth is now anchored
in deliverying high-quality games, resilient
revenue models, and payment infrastructure to
support real-world commerce at scale.
Stablecoins play an important role in this
shift, offering improved settlement efficiency,
reduced cross-border friction, new distribution
pathways, and expanded commercial reach for
globally networked player communities.
Regulation is increasingly framed as a
stabilizing force that can support credibility
and institutional participation, while AI is being
adopted selectively across development and
operations, with builders prioritizing practical
applications over hype-driven experimentation.
These developments explain the rebound in
optimism and support a strengthening outlook
for the industry’s forward trajectory.
2025 BGA STATE OF THE INDUSTRY REPORT
2025 BGA STATE OF THE INDUSTRY REPORT

Now in its fifth year, the Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA) has
conducted its annual survey to get a view of where the industry
stands today and where it is heading. This year has been another
challenging one, marked by tighter funding conditions, heightened
public scrutiny, and market volatility. Yet the results of our report tell
a far more resilient story than the headlines might suggest.
From Telegram mini-games reaching hundreds of millions of users
to AAA productions such as Off The Grid, overall activity has never
been higher, but it is increasingly fragmented across platforms and
chains, intensifying issues around discovery and distribution. Rather
than chasing scale alone, developers are prioritizing engagement
and game quality as drivers of sustainable performance. The results
of the survey underscore this shift. Nearly 30% of respondents cited
high-quality game launches as the most important growth factor,
while 27.5% highlighted a new focus on revenue-driven business
models. This transition is supported by growing regulatory clarity
and confidence, with 64.4% of respondents expecting clearer policy
frameworks to have a positive impact on mainstream adoption of
blockchain games.
Important challenges remain, however. The prevalence of scams
across broader crypto was once again cited as the greatest threat
to our credibility, highlighting the need for better transparency and
consumer protection. Meanwhile, 32.6% of respondents identified
limited funding as their company’s top operational constraint. But as
access to capital has been more difficult, projects have also become
more resourceful and innovative, prioritizing revenues from their
own gameplay. This marks a move away from the token-sale-first
model toward a lean, product-first strategy supported by diverse
monetization streams.
I extend my sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to this year’s
survey. This year’s findings show an industry evolving toward greater
discipline, deeper engagement, and long-term viability.
Sebastien Borget
Co-President
Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA)
Over the past five years, one of the most encouraging shifts
reflected in the BGA survey has been the expansion of voices
contributing to our industry’s direction. This year marked
important progress. Women accounted for 22.7% of respondents,
the highest female participation recorded in our survey’s
history, reversing several years of gradual decline. Regionally,
representation from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
has risen to 19.8% of the total sample, up from under 1% in 2021,
alongside continued growth across Africa and Latin America. It
is exciting to see these regions contributing agreater share of
perspective, experience, and leadership to an industry that is
increasingly global in both ambition and reach.
Diversity of participation strengthens diversity of ideas. Builders
working across different markets bring unique insights into user
behavior, platform accessibility, regulatory frameworks, and
community building. As blockchain gaming scales internationally,
these differences in viewpoints and backgrounds will help to
ensure that games are built with a wider range of players, cultures,
and use cases in mind. Ultimately, this broader representation
reflects an industry that is gradually becoming more inclusive,
more geographically balanced, and better equipped to build
games for players everywhere.
This year also saw the introduction of a new survey section on
artificial intelligence. While blockchain remains central to the
BGA’s mission, AI has become an undeniable force across the
wider technology landscape, with growing influence on content
creation, live operations, player support, and fraud prevention.
Our survey indicates that sentiment around AI is broadly positive.
Nearly half of respondents view it as a potential catalyst for
growth, while a further quarter describe it as a balanced mix
of benefits and trade-offs rather than a net negative. Only a
small minority considers AI to be overhyped or short-lived. This
data highlights a community that recognizes AI’s potential to
reshape development, while remaining attentive to responsible
implementation.
I extend my sincere thanks to every participant whose insights
continue to strengthen the depth and relevance of this report.

Yasmina Kazitani
Co-President
Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA)
LETTER FROM THE
BGA PRESIDENTS
6 2025 BGA STATE OF THE INDUSTRY REPORT
“This year’s
findings show
an industry
evolving
toward
greater
discipline,
deeper
engagement,
and long-term
viability.” “Ultimately,
this broader
representation
reflects an
industry that
is gradually
becoming more
inclusive, more
geographically
balanced,
and better
equipped to
build games
for players
everywhere.”

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BOARD MEMBERS
HONORARY BOARD MEMBERS
Sebastien is the co-founder and COO
of The Sandbox, a decentralized virtual
world where players can create, play, own,
govern, and monetize their experiences.
He has been President of the BGA since
2020 and has been named one of the
most influential people in crypto by
Cointelegraph.
The governing body of the BGA consists of a diverse and well-rounded collective of industry
professionals from across the globe, united in driving blockchain gaming adoption. They are elected
by BGA members, ensuring balanced representation across different regions and sectors. Building
on the foundation of the original founding members, the current board spearheads educational
initiatives and empowers developers to pursue innovation. The BGA board actively forges strategic
partnerships and plays a key role in shaping the future, committed to establishing blockchain gaming
as a cornerstone of the broader gaming industry.
With over a decade of experience in
business development, including 4 years in
Web3 gaming, Alex has positioned Altura
as a leader in the space. He has built over
200 strategic partnerships with industry
giants like Unity and the top 15 blockchain
networks, known for his leadership and
high-performance sales teams.
Sam is a gaming and Web3 executive
and founder. He was a founding member
of the executive team of SuperData,
which was later acquired by Nielsen, and
served as a vice president at Nielsen and
Animoca Brands. Sam is the co-founder
of Britesiders and currently leads strategy
operations at Sequence.
Christina joined the BGA board to help
encourage more women to become
founders and game developers in Web3.
She founded PLAY with the vision to enable
any game to be built and any story to
be told, creating diverse communities of
players who want to play, all powered on
the blockchain.
Mariano is co-founder and CEO of Sura
Gaming and Sura Ventures, the leading
Web3 gaming ecosystem in Latin America.
He serves on the BGA board to promote
the growth of blockchain gaming globally.
Mariano is passionate about merging
technology, community, and innovation to
drive mass adoption.
Yasmina’s 18 years of expertise lie in
franchising, ecosystem building, and
licensing business models. She is currently
working with the UK parliament and
other institutions to set regulations and
frameworks to help blockchain gaming
grow and thrive safely.
Sebastien Borget Co-President
Alex Kosloff
Nicolas Pouard
Ubisoft
Marc
Coupal
Enjin
Shaban
Shaame
EverdreamSoft
Piers
Kicks
BITKRAFT Ventures
Ludovic
Courcelas
ConsenSys
Nicolas Gilot
Ultra
Leah
Callon-Butler
Emfarsis
Gabby Dizon
Yield Guild Games
HideakiUehara
Square Enix
Yasmina Kazitani Co-President
Sam Barberie Treasurer
Christina Macedo
Mariano Rubinstein
The Sandbox
Anuradha Chowdhary is the founder
of ZeroTo3 Collective, a specialized law
practice for emerging technologies. She
advises blockchain, gaming, AI, and deep
tech companies on technology licensing,
data privacy, fundraising, and commercial
transactions, and is a frequent speaker
and advocate for ethical and responsible
tech adoption.
Anuradha Chowdhary
ZeroTo3 Altura
Numidia Valley
Frederico is the Partner and Chief Product
Owner at FunFair Ventures, a venture
capital business supporting and investing
in early-stage projects to transform
blockchain technology. As an active advisor
and angel investor in Web3, he has helped
foster the growth of innovative products,
technology, and games around the world.
Frederico Kessler
FunFair Ventures
Sequence PLAY Network
Sura Gaming & Sura Ventures
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The updated BGA survey began with four
demographic questions, followed by 12 core
questions presented in multiple formats
(11 multiple-choice items and one open-ended
question).
Many multiple-choice items also included
an “Other (please specify)” option, ensuring
respondents could share perspectives beyond the
predefined choices. This flexibility was deemed
especially important as the BGA seeks insights
from its community to help guide it through
this transitional stage, when new themes and
priorities may not yet be accurately captured by
standard categories.
KEY UPDATES
The survey was streamlined from more than 23
questions to only 12 core questions (including
one open-answer question, and four basic
demographic questions) to minimize completion
time and improve overall response quality.
Several long-standing questions were retained
for continuity, but their wording was updated
to reflect the industry’s current context and to
ensure year-on-year comparability.
A new section was introduced with four
questions focused specifically on the role of AI in
blockchain gaming.
All multiple-choice options were reviewed and
edited to ensure they were:
• clear to both technical and non-technical
respondents
• general enough to accommodate a diverse
range of examples and use cases
• neutral and non-leading to avoid platform or
technology bias
The survey concluded with a request for
personal identifiers, including name, job title,
company, and email contact. While this final
question was optional in earlier years, it was
made mandatory from 2024 onward to allow
researchers to validate the authenticity of each
submission. Personal details were also used to
attribute selected open-answer responses in
the published report. Respondents could opt to
have their answers excluded from attribution,
SURVEY OVERVIEW
METHODOLOGY
OBJECTIVE
This survey aims to gather and analyze the
views of blockchain gaming professionals,
offering valuable insight into industry challenges,
opportunities, and key drivers heading into
2026. With data spanning the past five years,
the survey provides a comprehensive view of
blockchain gaming’s evolution along with its
future trajectory. The information here can be
a valuable resource for founders, developers
and professionals, investors, policymakers and
regulators, journalists and researchers, and
others with an interest in how the industry is
evolving over time. The survey findings also help
to guide upcoming initiatives and activities of
the Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA) to support
its members.
The focus of the survey is on measuring sentiment
and opinion. This sets it apart in a competitive
landscape where many other research reports
(including the BGA’s own regular reporting
collaborations with DappRadar) concentrate on
onchain analytics, financial data, and VC funding
trends. By contrast, the annual BGA survey
leverages the Alliance’s unique position within the
global blockchain gaming community to capture
the unfiltered perspectives of professionals
across disciplines, from developers and
publishers to guild leaders, lawyers, journalists,
and more. In this context, sentiment data serves
as an important complement, offering insight
into how builders and operators themselves
perceive current conditions, emerging risks, and
future opportunities.
DISTRIBUTION
In 2025, the BGA partnered with consulting firm
Emfarsis for the fifth consecutive year to conduct
its industry survey, analyze its responses, and
produce the resulting report. The survey ran
from August 20 to October 18, 2025, and was
distributed through the BGA Member Database, LinkedIn, email, X, and Telegram, with additional
responses gathered via the BGA booths and
side events such as Gamescom Cologne, Korea
Blockchain Week, and TOKEN2049.
To support outreach tracking, the BGA Co-
Presidents and active Board Members received
unique survey links with name-based identifiers.
These links allowed the research team to
attribute portions of the final sample to specific
community networks and regional efforts,
offering additional context for understanding
geographic engagement patterns.
UPDATES TO THE SURVEY QUESTIONS
Since the BGA began conducting its annual
survey of professionals in 2021, the industry
landscape has been drastically transformed by
the emergence of new technologies, shifting
business priorities, and challenging markets.
To bring the survey and its resulting report up to
speed for 2025, both the structure and content
were overhauled to support a transitional
phase for the BGA and create a fresh narrative
baseline for the years ahead. This transition
reflects the organization’s need to stay aligned
with an ecosystem where blockchain remains
core to its identity yet increasingly interacts with
adjacent technologies and evolving development
practices. The new format is designed to capture
today’s most relevant debates and provide clean
concise quantitative insights.
Another key objective of the redesign was to
ensure the survey would generate data points
suited for media use. To support this, Emfarsis
sought input from journalists with a track record
of covering the report, gathering guidance
on the types of findings that would be most
actionable and newsworthy. This feedback
informed the revised structure and phrasing of
several quantitative items. The team extends
particular thanks to Sebastian Sinclair, APAC
Editor at Decrypt, for his review of the updated
survey and his feedback prior to distribution.
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FURTHER QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
To enrich the quantitative results, this year’s
survey was complemented by a dedicated
qualitative component consisting of 12
one-on-one interviews with carefully selected
industry experts.
Each expert was assigned to one of four “Hot
Topics” selected based on their direct experience
and domain insight. Hot Topics are priority
themes for the industry that were identified by
the BGA in collaboration with Emfarsis:
• Stablecoins
• AI in Context
• Industry Shakeout
• UA Crisis
For each topic, a tailored question set was
developed to guide the discussion. These
questions served as a consistent foundation for
all three experts within a given theme, while
still allowing the interviewer to pursue follow-
up questions in real time to clarify points,
explore emerging threads, and surface context
that cannot be captured through predefined
prompts alone.
Introducing this qualitative layer enabled the
research team to move beyond surface-level
indicators, producing richer interpretive insight
into the perspectives, assumptions, and real-
world experiences shaping industry sentiment.
The interview period ran from October 9 to 16,
2025, with sessions recorded via the Riverside
online studio for audio and video capture. Each
interview lasted approximately 25 minutes. All
interviews were conducted by Leah Callon-Butler,
Director of Emfarsis, CoinDesk contributor,
and Honorary BGA Board Member. One expert
elected to submit written responses in place of a
live interview.
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1213
REGIONAL CLASSIFICATION
To support regional-level analysis, responses
from individual countries were grouped into
broader regions. In a limited number of cases,
this required additional consideration due to
overlapping geographic and cultural definitions.
Some countries straddle Africa and the Middle
East and North Africa (MENA) due to overlapping
cultural and economic affiliations. For the
purposes of this analysis, Algeria was grouped
under Africa, while Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, and
Egypt were classified under MENA to ensure
consistent segmentation across the dataset.
LANGUAGE
Additionally, for the first time in 2025, the BGA
survey was made available in multiple languages
beyond English — including Arabic, French,
Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese — in an
effort to enhance accessibility and inclusivity
across the global blockchain gaming community.
By reducing linguistic barriers, this initiative aimed
to capture a more accurate and representative picture of industry sentiment across regions that
have traditionally been undersampled in English-
only surveys. Members of the BGA Board played
a key role in disseminating language-specific
survey links within their respective networks,
resulting in participation across several new
linguistic groups.
DATA REVISION NOTE
As part of consolidating five years of survey
results into a single longitudinal dataset,
historical data from prior reports was reviewed
and reconciled against original response files.
Minor adjustments to previously published
percentages were identified, primarily
attributable to rounding, weighting refinements,
and standardization of calculation methods.
These revisions are generally small (typically
less than two percentage points) and do
not materially affect directional trends or
conclusions. The figures presented in this report
represent the most accurate, standardized
dataset available and should be considered the
authoritative record moving forward. RESPONDENTS
Since 2021, the BGA has placed an emphasis
on gathering insights from a diverse range of
industry professionals, including (but not limited
to) founders, developers, publishers, venture
capitalists, and service providers in legal,
finance, marketing, and PR, who were either
working or between jobs in blockchain gaming.
Journalists and content creators who were
actively covering blockchain gaming were also
encouraged to complete the survey. Esports
players who were signed to a competitive guild
or receiving financial support in the form of a
salary or sponsorship were also eligible. This
ensures that key roles are represented, providing
a comprehensive overview of the state of the
sector and its future direction.
Below is a non-exhaustive overview of some
notable companies identified as current
employers by survey respondents. These
include AavegotchiDAO, Accenture, Cloudflare,
Cointelegraph, Ubisoft, Enjin, Decrypt, DWF
Labs, FunFair Ventures, GAMEE, Immutable,
King River Capital, LiquidX, Pixels, Polygon Labs,
The Sandbox, Saudi Bank & Capital, Square Enix,
WolvesCo, and Yield Guild Games (YGG).
DEMOGRAPHICS
Of 598 responses, 92 were excluded as
incomplete, leaving 506 valid responses for
analysis. While the 2025 sample is smaller than
2024’s 623 valid responses, the decrease aligns
with a broader year of contraction across the
blockchain gaming sector, marked by studio
closures, project wind-downs, and reduced
activity in several historically strong regions such
as Europe, Asia, and the United States.
At the same time, the geographic composition
of the sample reflects areas of emerging
strength, with notable increases in participation
from MENA, Africa, and Latin America.
This year also recorded the highest proportion
of female respondents since the survey began,
demonstrating progress toward long-standing
goals around gender representation.
It is encouraging to see women’s
participation in blockchain
gaming rise at a time when the
broader industry is contracting.
Progress is not always linear, so
moments like this matter because
they show that intentional
community building, inclusive
design, and more visible female
leadership are starting to take
root. Sustaining this momentum
means continuing to create
spaces where women feel
welcomed and empowered to
shape the future of Web3 gaming.
Becky Taylor
Lead Gaming Partnerships
Marketing Manager
Sui Foundation
INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED BY LEAH CALLON-BUTLER OF EMFARSIS
THEODORE AGRANAT Gunzilla Games
FRED KESSLERFunFair Ventures
YAT SIU Animoca Brands
INDUSTRY SHAKEOUT
ZLATKO STJEPANOVIĆ Lussa
OLIVER SCHMITT VALUEX
BRITTANY KAISERAlphaTON Capital
AI IN CONTEXT
GABBY DIZONYield Guild Games
ZACH HEERWAGEN Snag Solutions
NICOLAS POUARD Ubisoft
UA CRISIS
TIMOTHY TELLO 3thiX
PATTY WANG Xsolla
SERGIO VARONA BUSTILLO Polygon Labs
STABLECOINS
WOLVESCO YIELD GUILD GAMES CLOUDFLARE
ENJIN
POLYGON
THE SANDBOXSAUDI BANK & CAPITAL
SQUARE ENIX
IMMUTABLE
KING RIVER CAPTIAL LIQUIDX
PIXELS
DECRYPT
DWF LABSFUNFAIR VENTURES
GAMEE
A AVAG O T C H I
ACCENTURECOINTELEGRAPH
UBISOFT
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In 2025, women represented 22.7% of all
respondents — up from 17.3% in 2024, 16.9% in
2023, 19.0% in 2022, and 20.3% in 2021. The
steady rise in female participation marks a change
in the composition of the BGA’s community,
reflecting broader industry engagement and the
impact of the organization’s ongoing efforts to
cultivate more inclusive professional networks.
LANGUAGE
For the first time in 2025, the BGA survey was
made available in multiple languages beyond
English. A total of 119 surveys were completed
in languages other than English, or 23.5% of the
total sample.
While English remained dominant at 76.5%, the
largest share of non-English responses came
in Arabic (17.2%). Smaller proportions were
submitted in French (2.0%), Spanish (1.8%),
Portuguese (1.8%), and Japanese (0.8%), providing
valuable additional insight into the perspectives
of non-English-speaking communities within the
blockchain gaming ecosystem.
LOCATION
Respondents indicated their country of residence
by selecting from a dropdown list of countries.
These country-level selections were then grouped
into six key regions (Asia, Europe, MENA, Africa,
North America, and South America) to avoid
overly fragmented data, particularly for those
countries with only a small number of responses,
Last year, AI on Web3 conducted
a major blockchain gaming survey
across Asia and realized just how
critical local languages are to real
participation. Making the 2025
BGA survey available in Arabic,
Spanish, Portuguese, French, and
Japanese for the first time is truly
a game-changer.
It removes long-standing
language barriers, amplifies the
voices of tens of thousands of
developers, players, and builders
in non-English regions, and proves
that blockchain gaming has finally
gone global. This is the foundation
for a genuinely worldwide
industry moving forward.
Allen Chow
Founder & CEO
AI on Web3 and Sakura Nexus
GENDER PARTICIPATION RATES 2021 – 2025
and to allow clearer patterns to emerge at the
regional level. The largest share of respondents
came from Europe (26.7%), followed by Asia
(24.5%), Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
(19.8%), South America (11.9%), North America
(11.7%), and Africa (5.5%).
The regional makeup of respondents has evolved
significantly since 2021, reflecting both the
maturing of the blockchain gaming ecosystem
and the expanding reach of the survey itself.
In the early years, the sample was dominated
by Asia, peaking in 2022 when 55.4% of
respondents were based there, driven in part by
the prominence of play-to-earn games across
Southeast Asia. At the time, the Philippines had
emerged as a global center for guild activity,
with many thousands of commercially successful
operations playing an active role in driving
adoption of blockchain games. However, as
market conditions evolved and the play-to-
earn model was re-evaluated, the profile of the
professional workforce has also rebalanced.
This is evident in the proportion of respondents
identifying as guild leaders or esports
professionals, which has also declined
substantially in recent years (down from 20.7%
in 2022 to 7.9% in 2025) — a trend examined
in more detail later in this report. These
changes, combined with broader industry
consolidation, have contributed to Asia’s reduced
representation in 2025 (24.5%). Even so, the
Philippines still accounts for the largest country-
specific representation of industry professionals
in Asia in 2025, followed by Japan and Singapore.
Guilds remain one of the most powerful drivers of long-term engagement
in blockchain gaming: groups that understand how to invest time, trust, and
effort into shared online worlds. In EVE Online, some of the most meaningful
innovation has come from its player corporations. With EVE Frontier, we’re
extending that legacy by building an economy shaped by scalable collaboration.
Our goal is to give guilds the tools and freedom to shape the Frontier itself: its
challenges, systems, and social fabric, around their own ambitions.
David Rootwelt-Norberg
Community Developer
CCP Games
Web3 gaming guilds originally
started because of the play-to-
earn movement. However, since
P2E is no longer sustainable, guild
participation and involvement
have significantly declined.
These days, guilds also need
strong funding to stay active and
collaborate with other projects,
something that’s no longer the
case for many. For now, NFT
X-Street is simply enjoying
whatever games are available,
whether Web2 or Web3. There’s
no pressure on our members to
grind or earn. We just play for fun
and enjoy the community.
JB Bon
Co-founder
NFT X-Street
Europe shows a similar course. After fluctuating
between 26.7% and 36.% over the years,
its representation has dropped to its lowest
point in 2025 at 26.7%, down from 36.8% in
2024 and nearly 36.3% in 2023. The greatest
European representation came from France,
the United Kingdom, and Portugal. This points
to a broader balancing of the respondent base
away from the historically Asia and Europe-
heavy representation of earlier editions of this
annual report.
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when MENA accounted for nearly one-fifth of all
respondents (19.8%). The majority of these came
from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, and Bahrain. This increase points to
the deepening of the BGA’s networks across the
region and the growing presence of blockchain
gaming activity in MENA more broadly.
MENA’s growing influence is also reflected in
language preferences. In 2025, 73.1% of all non-
English submissions were completed in Arabic,
representing 17.2% of the total sample. This
highlights the value of offering multilingual survey
options to ensure key regions are accurately
represented and to reduce the barriers inherent
in English-only data collection.
Overall, the data shows a clear broadening
of global representation. Whereas the early
years were dominated by Asia and Europe,
later editions reflect a more evenly distributed
global sample, with strong growth from
South America, Africa, and MENA, alongside
steady contributions from North America.
These changes suggest a maturing and
increasingly international blockchain gaming
ecosystem, reflected in the survey’s evolving
respondent base.
REGION
North America, by contrast, has remained
comparatively steady. Its share has consistently
hovered between 11.7% and 18.4%, with a modest
decline to 11.7% in 2025, making it one of the most
stable regions in the dataset amid much more
pronounced swings elsewhere. Respondents
from this region were counted from the United
States of America and Canada.
South America presents a clear growth narrative.
From just 1.4% in 2022, representation has risen
steadily each year to 11.9% in 2025, with Brazil,
Argentina, and Colombia accounting for the
largest share of voice in the survey data.
Africa has shown similar steady upward
movement, rising from 0.5% in 2021 to 5.5% in
2025, led by Algeria, Nigeria, and South Africa.
While still a smaller portion of the overall sample,
this pattern highlights the region’s expanding role
in driving adoption, upskilling Web3 talent, and
nurturing grassroots developer communities.
MENA has undergone one of the most
pronounced shifts in regional representation
since the survey began. Five years ago,
responses from the region were almost
negligible — just 0.5% in 2021 and 0.6% in 2022.
Representation rose slightly in 2023 (2.5%) and
2024 (4.3%), before accelerating sharply in 2025,
BGA’s State of the Industry data
confirms what we’re seeing on
the ground: South America’s
share of people working in Web3
gaming has grown almost 17x in
just three years, from around 0.7%
in 2022 to nearly 12% in 2025.
Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia
now have some of the loudest
and most consistent voices in the
space. As a founder from this
region, it matters deeply to me to
see our talent finally reflected in
the numbers. I’m working so hard
on LATAM because I know that
if we give our builders the right
support and visibility, they can
shape the future of this industry,
not just participate in it.
Mariano Rubinstein
Co-founder & CEO,
Sura Gaming & Sura Ventures
Having grown Superteam Nigeria
from a $10,000 community in
2023 to $1.2 million in 2025,
one thing I’ve figured out is
that African talent is highly
undervalued and very hungry
to prove a point. That sense of
urgency gets them punching
above their weight class. The
beauty of this is you have talent
that is seeking to be world-class.
The ROI of investing in African
talent is exponential if explored.
Nzubechukwu Ezudo
Lead
Solana Superteam Nigeria
AGE DISTRIBUTION
Most respondents to the 2025 survey are in their
late 20s to early 40s, representing nearly three-
quarters of the total sample. This is consistent
with every other prior year with the 25-34
bracket consistently dominating. This age group
is the generation that gained their foundational
experience in Web2, having lived through the shift
from dial-up to broadband, desktop to mobile,
and closed platforms to user-generated content
— making them uniquely fluent in both the old
guard of the internet and the decentralization
ethos driving Web3.
The rise in MENA participation to
nearly 20% of the global sample
underscores the region’s rapid
evolution into one of the world’s
fastest-growing gaming markets.
This momentum is reinforced
by DMCC’s work in building
an integrated ecosystem for
blockchain gaming, supported by
coherent regulatory pathways
and active industry engagement.
Together, these developments
signal the region’s strengthening
position as a global hub for Web3
gaming and the next generation
of interactive digital economies.
Belal Jassoma
Senior Director – Tech Ecosystems
Dubai Multi Commodities Centre
RESPONDENT AGE
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YASMINA
KAZITANI
BGA CO-PRESIDENT
In March 2025, Yasmina Kazitani was elected by the
BGA membership base as its first female Co-President,
joining Sebastien Borget to guide and lead the industry
organization to ensure representation and diversity
across BGA activities and the wider Web3 gaming
ecosystem.
An Algerian-born ecosystem builder with deep
connections across MENA and Africa, Yasmina has
played an important role in expanding regional
participation in Web3 gaming through community
partnerships and advocacy for emerging markets. She is
also a long-standing advocate for women in blockchain.
As co-founder of the Women in Web3 alliance, she has
helped raise the visibility of female leaders and worked
to reduce barriers to entry for women entering the
sector. Her broader work across diversity and inclusion
directly complements the BGA’s efforts to ensure more
representative global participation.
This year’s survey data reflects that impact. The survey
provides a snapshot of the communities that make
up the BGA and the networks it reaches through its
members. In 2025, responses show a marked increase in
female participation, MENA representation, and Arabic-
language submissions — a direct outcome of Yasmina
Kazitani’s leadership and outreach efforts. Her work
has been instrumental in broadening engagement and
ensuring that voices previously underrepresented in the
survey collection data are now part of the conversation.
Seeing more
voices step in
from the margins
reminds us that
representation
means ensuring
every community
feels seen, heard,
and part of what
we’re building
together. Examining the age data by region reveals
several noteworthy trends. Europe and North
America have smaller shares of adults 18-24
and higher representation in the 35-44 and
45-54 groups, aligning with their more established
studio, enterprise, and infrastructure segments.
These regions also show the highest presence of
professionals 55 and older, suggesting a more
mature workforce.
Across regions, Africa showed the youngest
profile, with almost 40% of respondents aged
18–24. This is substantially higher than any other
region. Africa’s profile is distinctly youth-heavy
overall, with relatively few respondents in the
55+ bracket.
Asia and South America are dominated by the
25-34 cohort, reflecting large populations of
early-stage builders and emerging professionals.
MENA sits in between, with a growing base of
younger respondents but a broader distribution
across age groups.
Overall, the data suggests that the demographic
expansion of the survey, and particularly the rise
of Africa, MENA, and South America, is closely tied to younger participation in Web3 gaming
globally, indicating that emerging markets in
Web3 gaming are being driven by younger
adopters, workforces, and founders.
Gender patterns show that women in the industry
tend to be concentrated in the 25-44 range,
suggesting that female respondents are more
likely to be established mid-career professionals.
Men displayed a more even spread across age
groups, while non-binary respondents skewed
strongly younger.
ORGANIZATION TYPE
To support clearer interpretation and reduce
fragmentation across related segments,
several respondent categories were grouped
for analysis.
• Studios and publishers were combined into a
single headline figure (32.6%) because, despite
differences between blockchain (18.0%), mixed
(10.3%), and traditional (4.3%), all share the
core function of game development.
• Infrastructure organizations — marketplaces,
launchpads, discovery platforms, and protocol/
CURRENT ORGANIZATION
The blockchain gaming ecosystem is made up of a diverse mix of organizations across
development, infrastructure, publishing, guilds, platforms, and supporting services.
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tooling providers — were grouped to reflect
their shared role in enabling the technical and
distribution layers of the ecosystem.
• The unemployed and “Other” categories were
also combined.
• Categories with distinct industry functions,
such as service providers, guilds and esports
organizations, investors, and media, were
kept distinct.
Among service providers, respondents
represented a wide span of professional
functions, including development studios, IT
and technical support, design services, advisory
and community strategy roles, mobile agencies,
legal practitioners, and marketing and PR
specialists—illustrating the diverse range of
external providers that support the blockchain-
gaming ecosystem.
As referenced earlier in relation to regional
patterns, one of the most notable shifts in recent years has been the decline in respondents
identifying as guild leaders or esports
professionals (down from 20.7% in 2022 to
7.9% in 2025). There has also been a significant
increase in those selecting the “Unemployed”
or “Other” categories (up from 6.4% in 2024
to 9.5% in 2025).
In 2025, the types of companies collapsed into
the “Other” category were largely non-gaming
blockchain organizations such as decentralized
autonomous organizations (DAOs), incubators,
and early-stage startups operating in the
sport, DePIN, fintech, augmented reality, and
memecoin ecosystems, as well as a non-profit
donations platform. This engagement indicates
growing interest in blockchain gaming from
adjacent Web3 and emerging-technology
sectors, not only from companies directly
building games. Student respondents and those
who identified as government officials were also
grouped in the “Other” category.
INDUSTRY OUTLOOK
The question regarding survey respondents’ level of optimism about blockchain gaming is designed to
be a measure of confidence and an early indicator of future behavior. While onchain analytics reflect
past activity, sentiment data captures expectations and intentions that are not necessarily visible in
transactional metrics. Please note that the following analysis is focused specifically on respondents’
outlook for the industry as a whole, rather than their confidence in their own organizations.
Peak optimism was recorded in the earliest years when the annual BGA survey first commenced,
reflecting the explosive growth of play-to-earn and the surge of early investment and experimentation
that defined the era. Confidence then dipped through 2022 and 2023 as models were tested, before
reaching its lowest point in 2024 amid broader market contraction.
In 2025, it appears that confidence is rebounding, with 65.8% again expressing optimism —
44.1% say they are “somewhat optimistic”, with another 21.7% selecting “very optimistic”. The
data suggests that after the initial exuberance of 2021 and the subsequent correction, the
industry is entering a more grounded phase of growth, characterized by sustainable business
models, clearer regulation, and a more diversified regional base of builders and investors.
MACRO AND MICRO
SENTIMENT
OVER THE NEXT 12 MONTHS
Respondents were asked to assess both their outlook for the blockchain gaming industry over the
next 12 months and their confidence in their own organization’s ability to thrive in the current climate.
Interestingly, the distributions track closely across both questions, indicating that professionals
do not strongly differentiate between macro and micro sentiment. Confidence in organizational
performance appears largely anchored to confidence in the broader sector.
Very
Optimistic Somewhat
Optimistic NeutralSomewhat
Pessimistic Very
Pessimistic Prefer
Not to Say
INDUSTRY OUTLOOK
26.3% 40.3% 17.8%6.3%4.0% 5.3%
COMPANY OUTLOOK
21.7% 4 4.1 %19.8%10.3% 4.2% 0%
When Emfarsis first partnered with the BGA to launch the State of the Industry
Survey and Report in 2021, telling the industry’s story was a lot simpler. Back
then, the narrative revolved almost entirely around play-to-earn. There were
fewer builders, fewer regions represented, and a lot less going on in terms of
how we thought about what it means to make a great blockchain game. In 2025,
the picture is so much richer: a truly global industry in constant expansion and
renewal. It’s not even purely about blockchain anymore — AI has to be part of
the conversation now too.
Despite this progress, there’s obviously a consensus among us that blockchain
gaming hasn’t made it yet, and for this reason, I see our survey respondents
applying greater scrutiny than ever. Interestingly though, our sentiment
analysis showed that the toughest critics are also some of the most optimistic
when it comes to industry outlook. It’s these tireless builders who will determine
what blockchain gaming will look like in another five years, when we do our
tenth annual survey in 2030!
Leah Callon-Butler
Director
Emfarsis
Ve r y
Optimistic
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2223
Looking at different organizational categories,
the sentiment differs sharply. Traditional game
studios are the most pessimistic group, with 18.2%
“very pessimistic” and over 40% expressing some
form of pessimism, the highest of any segment.
Investors are also far from bullish: they show
36.1% neutral sentiment (the highest neutrality
in the dataset) and 13.9% somewhat pessimistic,
with only 8.3% very optimistic, signaling caution
rather than confidence.
Blockchain-native studios are more positive,
however, with over 37% somewhat optimistic,
though still carrying 14.3% mild pessimism.
Protocol and tooling teams are among the
most upbeat groups, with 71.4% total optimism.
Ecosystem-supporting organizations — including
guilds, esports, launchpads, and service
providers — cluster around mild optimism,
typically showing 31-52% somewhat optimistic,
18-24% neutral, and very low strong pessimism.
Respondents who are between jobs express
more muted sentiment, with 23.1% neutral and
7.7% very pessimistic.
EXTERNAL ISSUES
This question about external issues is not
designed to classify any issue as positive or
negative; rather, it identifies the external factors
that respondents believe most strongly influence
the industry’s direction and therefore warrant
greater attention.
After thousands of Web3 gaming
projects — most of them failures
— devs are still building. For those
of us who have been in the gaming
industry for a while, we see how
onchain features, stablecoins, and
AI can fix so much of what is wrong
in Web2 gaming. We are at the
cusp of figuring it out.
Christina Macedo
Founder & CEO
PLAY Network
POLICY AND
REGULATION
Nearly two-thirds of respondents in 2025
expressed a positive outlook on policy and
regulation, with 46.6% expecting a somewhat
positive impact and 17.8% expecting a very
positive one. Only 10.3% foresee negative effects,
while 24.1% anticipate no impact at all.
This overwhelmingly optimistic sentiment reflects
the global regulatory climate of the past year
— from U.S. developments such as the GENIUS
and CLARITY acts for stablecoins, to clearer
frameworks emerging across Asia, Europe, and
MENA. Collectively, t