We've launched 100+ tokens across various projects. Only 3 were games. Games are 10x harder than regular tokens. They require everything a token needs plus actual entertainment value. Here's what building games taught us that token launches never did.
The Wrong Build Order (And We Did It Twice)
Most teams build web3 games like this:
- Design tokenomics
- Create NFT collection
- Build smart contracts
- Add game mechanics
- Wonder why nobody plays
We did this twice. Cost us $200K combined. The game was an afterthought bolted onto financial infrastructure.
The right build order:
- Build a fun game (no blockchain)
- Test with fake currency
- Measure real retention numbers
- Design tokenomics around actual behavior
- Add blockchain only after proving the game works
This sounds obvious. It wasn't to us. We were so excited about web3 that we forgot the game part of "web3 game."
KOI Case Study: What Actually Works
KOI raised $9M with Binance Labs backing. They have 200K+ users. Their Chrome extension is genuinely useful. Here's why it worked when most SocialFi fails.
They solved a real problem first. The product helped users track social engagement across platforms. People used it before any token existed. The token came after proven utility.
User acquisition was organic. Most users found KOI through word of mouth, not paid campaigns. When your product is good, people tell friends. When your product is mediocre, you pay influencers.
Tokenomics matched user behavior. They studied how users actually engaged with the product, then designed rewards around those patterns. Not theoretical models. Real data.
Numbers that mattered:
| Metric | KOI | Failed Projects |
|---|---|---|
| Users before token | 50K+ | 0 |
| Organic acquisition | 70% | 10% |
| D30 retention | 25% | 5% |
| Team token selling | None | Immediate |
The pattern is clear. Build utility first. Prove it works. Then tokenize.
Technical Costs Nobody Tells You
Everyone asks "how much does it cost to build a web3 game?" The answer is frustrating: it depends on scale, but here's real data from projects we've worked on.
At 1,000 Daily Active Users:
| Cost Category | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Server infrastructure | $500-800 |
| RPC endpoints | $200-400 |
| Database | $100-200 |
| CDN and storage | $50-100 |
| Monitoring | $50-100 |
| Total | $900-1,600 |
This is manageable. Most indie teams can sustain this.
At 10,000 Daily Active Users:
| Cost Category | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Server infrastructure | $3,000-5,000 |
| RPC endpoints | $1,500-2,500 |
| Database | $800-1,200 |
| CDN and storage | $300-500 |
| Monitoring and security | $400-600 |
| Support staff | $2,000-4,000 |
| Total | $8,000-13,800 |
This is where projects start struggling. Revenue needs to exceed $10K/month just to break even on infrastructure.
At 100,000 Daily Active Users:
| Cost Category | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Server infrastructure | $25,000-40,000 |
| RPC endpoints | $8,000-15,000 |
| Database cluster | $5,000-10,000 |
| CDN and storage | $2,000-4,000 |
| Security and monitoring | $3,000-5,000 |
| Support team | $15,000-25,000 |
| DevOps | $10,000-15,000 |
| Total | $68,000-114,000 |
At this scale, you need serious revenue or deep pockets. Most games never reach this level, but those that do face sticker shock.
Gas Optimization: $12K/Month in Savings
One project we worked on was burning $18,000/month in gas costs. Users minting, transferring, staking. Every action cost ETH.
We spent three weeks optimizing smart contracts. Result: gas usage dropped from 180,000 per transaction to 65,000. That's a 64% reduction.
Specific optimizations that worked:
Packed storage variables. Solidity stores variables in 32-byte slots. Two uint128 variables in one slot instead of two uint256 in separate slots cut storage costs in half.
Batch operations. Instead of individual NFT mints, we built batch minting. 10 mints in one transaction cost 40% less than 10 separate transactions.
Off-chain computation. Moved complex calculations off-chain and only stored results. Verification on-chain, computation off-chain.
Removed unnecessary events. Every event costs gas. We were logging data we never used. Removed 8 redundant events, saved 15,000 gas per transaction.
Monthly savings calculation:
- Before: 180K gas × 50 gwei × 5,000 daily transactions × 30 days = $135K
- After: 65K gas × 50 gwei × 5,000 daily transactions × 30 days = $48.75K
- Savings: $86K/month (actual savings lower due to variable gas prices, but consistently $10-15K/month)
Gas optimization isn't glamorous. But it's often the difference between profitable and bankrupt.
On-Chain vs Hybrid vs Off-Chain
Every web3 game makes this decision. We've built all three approaches. Here's the honest trade-offs.
Fully On-Chain:
Best for: Simple games, pure DeFi mechanics, trustless required.
Problems: Expensive at scale, slow gameplay, limited complexity.
Real example: On-chain idle game. 500 DAU max before gas costs exceeded revenue. Players waiting 15 seconds between actions killed engagement.
Hybrid (Most Common):
Best for: Most games. Balance of speed and trust.
How it works: Game logic runs on traditional servers. Only ownership and key transactions hit the blockchain.
Real example: Our surviving game uses this. Gameplay on AWS, NFT ownership on Polygon, token transactions on Ethereum L2. Players don't notice the blockchain until they withdraw.
Fully Off-Chain:
Best for: Games that don't need blockchain. (Seriously, ask yourself: do you need blockchain?)
Problems: No trustlessness. Centralized. Might as well be web2.
Honest take: 80% of "web3 games" should just be regular games with optional NFT export. They add blockchain for funding, not functionality.
Decision framework:
| Question | If Yes | If No |
|---|---|---|
| Must every action be verifiable? | On-chain | Hybrid or off |
| Are you building for 10K+ DAU? | Hybrid or off | On-chain possible |
| Is latency critical (action games)? | Off-chain | Hybrid okay |
| Do users need true ownership? | On-chain or hybrid | Off-chain fine |
Chain Selection: Ethereum L1 Is Almost Never Right
We launched our first game on Ethereum mainnet. Users paid $50-200 per transaction during gas spikes. Game died partly because playing cost more than earning.
Chain comparison for gaming (late 2024 data):
| Chain | Avg Transaction | Finality | Good For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ethereum L1 | $5-50 | 12 min | High-value only |
| Polygon PoS | $0.01-0.05 | 2 min | General gaming |
| Immutable X | $0 (gasless) | Instant | NFT-heavy games |
| Arbitrum | $0.10-0.50 | 1 min | DeFi-integrated games |
| Base | $0.05-0.20 | 1 min | Consumer apps |
| Solana | $0.001 | 400ms | High-frequency actions |
Our current recommendation:
Start on Polygon or Immutable X. They're cheap, fast, and have gaming-focused tooling. Migrate to app-specific rollups only if you hit 50K+ DAU and need custom economics.
Ethereum L1 is for final settlement of high-value transactions. Not gameplay.
What We'd Do Differently
Starting over today, here's the exact approach:
Months 1-4: Build the game in Unity or Unreal. No blockchain code. Test with fake points. Measure Day 7 and Day 30 retention obsessively.
Month 5: If retention is good (35%+ Day 7, 12%+ Day 30), design tokenomics based on actual player behavior data. Not theoretical models.
Month 6: Deploy contracts to testnet. Run 1,000+ beta users through the real token economy. Find exploits before launch.
Month 7: Mainnet launch on Polygon or similar L2. Start with small NFT collection (1,000 not 10,000). Prove demand before scaling supply.
Months 8+: Iterate based on data. Add features players actually request. Ignore features VCs suggest.
The biggest lesson: patience. Every failed project rushed to market. Every successful project took longer than planned but launched with confidence.
Resources
Smart Contract Development:
- OpenZeppelin - Battle-tested contract libraries
- Hardhat - Development environment
- Foundry - Fast testing framework
- Remix - Browser-based IDE
Game Engines:
- Unity - Most common for web3 games
- Unreal Engine - Higher fidelity option
- Godot - Open source alternative
Web3 Infrastructure:
- Alchemy - RPC and development platform
- QuickNode - Multi-chain infrastructure
- Infura - Ethereum API access
- Thirdweb - Web3 SDKs for games
Gaming-Specific Chains:
- Immutable X - Purpose-built for NFT games
- Polygon - General purpose L2
- Ronin - Axie's chain, gaming focused
Documentation:
- Ethereum.org - Official docs
- Solidity Docs - Language reference
- ERC Standards - Token standards reference