New cycle here for blockchain gaming

New cycle here for blockchain gaming

The blockchain gaming market is witnessing increases in capital and more studios aiming to drive the Vietnamese gaming industry towards $1 billion in revenues.

Global blockchain gaming investment in 2024 hit around $1 billion, photo Le Toan

SSI Digital Ventures, the digital technology and blockchain platform under SSI Securities KSC launched one month ago, has committed to invest up to $200 million in the digital technology and blockchain sector in Vietnam.

Mai Huy Tuan, CEO of SSI Digital Ventures, said that the platform will focus on providing financial resources, strategic guidance, and new advantages for young enterprises to thrive. “In 2025, SSI Digital Ventures plans to fund approximately 10 projects in the Vietnamese market focusing on blockchain and AI with a minimum disbursement of $10 million,” Tuan said. “SSI is committed to accompanying the government in building a healthy, sustainable, and highly competitive technology ecosystem,” he added.

The blockchain market in Vietnam is considered the most promising in the Southeast Asia region, with a compound annual growth rate of up to 78.1 per cent and is expected to reach $2.5 billion by 2026, according to MarketsAndMarkets. Its strong development also brings promising prospects and attractive opportunities for game developers.

Thai Thanh Liem, chairman of mobile game publishers Topebox, commented that the trend of shifting to blockchain games by Vietnamese developers started in mid-2021 and is increasingly taking shape within the player community and game studios.

“The transition of a portion of game developers has helped Vietnam keep up with global development in the blockchain field. Compared to the high competitiveness of the traditional game market, blockchain is bringing a breath of fresh air to the Vietnamese gaming industry. Developers have more playgrounds, supported by a strong ecosystem,” Liem said.

According to MetaDos CEO Quang Nguyen, the strong convergence between web2 and web3 through the widespread adoption of various blockchain platforms dedicated to gaming with advantages like fast transaction speeds, security, free transactions, and a growing user community has helped blockchain games effectively reach traditional gamers.

“The number of high-quality game products will continue to increase, creating real appeal to traditional gamers. The sustainability of the economy within blockchain games is also being reinforced to generate long-term value instead of focusing on short-term profits,” Nguyen said.

In the past few years, Vietnamese blockchain game products such as My DeFi Pet, 9D, Theta Arena, and Sipher have emerged with market capitalisations ranging from tens to hundreds of millions of US dollars. However, after reaching a peak in 2022 along with the growth of digital currencies, the market has experienced a prolonged downtrend.

According to BlockchainGamer website, total investment into global blockchain gaming companies in 2024 is estimated to have been around $1 billion, a 70 per cent decrease compared to 2023 and significantly lower than the peak of $5.3 billion in 2022.

However, 2025 is considered a new growth cycle for the blockchain gaming industry thanks to the resurgence of cryptocurrencies along with many large investment funds such as BlackRock and Fidelity viewing bitcoin as a digital asset.

Yahoo! Finance forecasted that the global blockchain gaming market will grow by 67.6 per cent, from $8.5 billion in 2023 to $314 billion in 2030. Data from PitchBook, the definitive source for global capital market information in Q3/2024, shows that 27 per cent of investment transactions are in blockchain game companies, while last year, this ratio accounted for only 19 per cent.

Lam Huynh Phat, foreign affairs director of online company Gosu, said, “Besides having good products, blockchain game developers need to demonstrate the capabilities of their production team, financial health, and a clear development roadmap to investors,” Phat said. “To attract capital into this field, Vietnam needs to prove its ability to create high-quality blockchain games that meet the diverse needs of users.”

Founded in 2012, GOSU is among the top five game production and distribution companies in Vietnam, with three representative offices and three game studios nationwide. The company’s products are not only popular in Vietnam but also exported to 50 countries, serving over 45 million customers.

According to a report from Newzoo, Vietnam is among the top five countries in the world for game releases, with 4.2 billion downloads. It is expected that by 2026, revenue from games and apps in Vietnam will reach $2.7 billion.

VIR