The Web3 gaming sector has shifted from speculative models to a focus on sustainability, improved gameplay and robust infrastructure. A game developer director views the current market correction as a necessary reset that clears the way for stable growth by eliminating projects lacking fundamentals.
A Necessary Reset for Web3 Gaming
Over the last few years, the Web3 gaming sector has undergone a significant transformation, moving from a period of hype and speculative play-to-earn (P2E) models toward a focus on sustainability, improved gameplay, and better infrastructure. Web3 game developers largely view the current market correction as a healthy and necessary reset.
According to Manfred Pack, the game development director at DAR Open Network, the focus has shifted from unsustainable speculation to building long-term value. Pack believes the initial hype around non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and P2E models was always unsustainable. The market correction, he argues, has effectively cleared the path for more stable growth by weeding out projects that lacked fundamentals.
Pack insists the developers who have stayed in the space are no longer “chasing speculation” but are instead committed to creating games that are designed to last. He told Bitcoin.com News he believes that blockchain is not a shortcut to success, and a game must first be fun and engaging, with blockchain features merely enhancing the core experience.
The Foundations of Developer Confidence
The confidence among developers stems from several key convictions, Pack stated. First, they believe digital ownership is a fundamental and permanent change in the industry.
“Confidence in Web3 gaming comes from the conviction that digital ownership is a structural shift, the steady maturation of infrastructure like wallets, scalability, and standards and the realization that blockchain is not a shortcut to success,” he argues.
The development director also believes the underlying infrastructure of Web3 has steadily matured, with significant improvements in wallets, scalability solutions and industry standards. Developers for their part have learned from past failures, recognizing that a sustainable game economy must be built on genuine gameplay and community participation, not just tokenomics.
Pack also pointed out that the speculative bubble was not solely caused by developers.
“Investors poured capital into hype-driven projects lacking fundamentals, which fueled volatility and made the correction inevitable. But this reset has cleared the path for more sustainable growth,” the director contends.
The Rise of AI Agents
The convergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and Web3 is creating a new era for gaming, moving beyond simple bots and pre-scripted behaviors. While the initial hype around AI in games was driven by a narrow set of capabilities, the technology’s proponents believe the true revolution is just beginning. Pack, like fellow gaming experts, insists more impactful innovations are on the horizon. He adds:
The more impactful innovations, such as AI-driven PvP agents that can learn and adapt to player strategies, or fully ‘lifelike’ non-player characters that can interact meaningfully over time, require significantly more development and research. These are complex systems that take time to mature.
In the long run, these AI agents have the potential to fundamentally transform gaming by creating dynamic, persistent worlds where players’ actions shape experiences. These agents can also “enhance the social and economic dimensions of games, particularly in blockchain-enabled ecosystems where agent-driven economies and interactions can coexist with player-driven content.”
The Interoperability Challenge
Despite steadily evolving over the past few years, the Web3 gaming industry is considered to have failed to deliver on one of its most ambitious promises: a truly seamless cross-game experience. The influx of innovation and capital has failed to help developers deploy games that live up to the vision of Web3.
Pack links this apparent failure to an Achilles heel of the blockchain industry — a lack of interoperability.
“The biggest challenge is interoperability. Each blockchain and game often uses different standards, making seamless portability difficult. Bridges help but bring added complexity, costs, and security risks,” the director states.
In addition, Pack also identifies the challenges of balancing progression and economies across multiple games as another key hurdle to attaining a truly seamless gaming experience. Furthermore, some gaming studios are reluctant to let external assets into their economies because this is seen to dilute monetization or disrupt player progression.
To make interoperability succeed, Pack says, “we need both technical frameworks and business models that make collaboration worthwhile.” According to Pack, DAR Open Network is an example of a Web3 gaming ecosystem that has been created to overcome this interoperability challenge, as it allows for the transfer of data, assets, and value between different networks. He also asserts DAR Open Network’s chain-agnostic design makes it possible to deliver cross-game interoperability and shared experiences without forcing users to constantly move assets or manage complex onchain processes.
The Role of Regulation and Public Trust
Turning to regulation or the lack thereof, Pack admits that this remains a major hurdle as different jurisdictions’ classification of tokens or NFTs ultimately “slows innovation and creates risks when experimenting with new models.” However, most developers still acknowledge the importance of regulation for the Web3 gaming industry.
“Still, most developers acknowledge that well-designed regulations are essential. They bring clarity, protect players, and create a stable foundation for long-term growth,” he asserts.
Pack nevertheless concedes that failed early Web3 games did immense damage to public trust and overturning this may be the industry’s biggest challenge yet. Looking ahead, the director believes partnerships between studios, infrastructure providers, and ecosystems will be key to the Web3 gaming industry as it attempts to give users a truly seamless cross-game experience.