Web3 Gaming Latches on to Nostalgia and Iconic Franchises

Web3 gaming is going mainstream in 2025, and nothing says this more than a string of titles that are using or are tied to some of the most recognizable franchises and intellectual property (IP) in the world.

FIFA, Might and Magic, EVE Online, and even Peaky Blinders-linked Web3 games are slated for release in the next year or so.

These games need to succeed, or at least not be complete failures, to avoid further embarrassing moments for a sector struggling to clear up its reputation.

Web3 Gaming Recognition

Now that Peaky Blinders is officially getting a AAA Web3 gaming release, it’s time to talk about the current direction of blockchain gaming.

This will leverage some of the most beloved IPs in gaming and entertainment to attract the mainstream audience.

It’s a tricky situation, as some games will use the Web3 features more than others.

It’s no secret that gamers aren’t the biggest fans of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and crypto being in their games. There have been plenty of flops in recent years that ultimately tarnished the ‘Web3’ label, especially in connection with games.

The biggest game in football, FIFA, has a Web3 home with FIFA Rivals developed by Mythical Games. Launching sometime this year, FIFA Rivals promises real-time matches, club leaderboards, tradeable collectables, and so on. It’s setting out to establish its own in-game economy, so naturally, it will focus more heavily on the Web3 elements than other titles.

Conversely, Ubisoft’s newly announced Might & Magic: Fates mobile card game with Immutable Labs will feature NFTs and in-game rewards, but using the marketplace to trade the NFT cards is optional, as users can still earn all the game’s cards through gameplay alone.

This will reportedly let players enjoy the entire experience at the highest competitive level without ever needing to buy or sell an NFT.

Then you have titles such as EVE Frontiers from the people behind the famous gigantic space-faring massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), EVE Online.

This will be another Web3-heavy title that promises to allows players to create crypto, economies, and experience costly perma-destruction in a galaxy-spanning survival horror title.

The team behind the legendary MMORPG, Ragnarok: Online, launched what is essentially a pure nostalgia-bait Web3 version of the original game, called Ragnarok Landverse: Genesis, which has introduced digital ownership and play-to-earn mechanics through crypto and NFTs.

Competition and Saturation

Just as the mobile gaming market exploded as every major franchise began pumping out “freemium” titles that raked in millions of dollars using simple addictive game loops and their recognition alone, Web3 gaming’s IP push could suffer a similar fate.

So far, the biggest draws in Web3 gaming, at least with mobile games, have been idle tapper games that require minimal effort. They pulled millions of players, millions of dollars, and distributed billions of tokens, for better or worse.

These types of titles will continue to proliferate, especially as developers continue to iterate on play-to-earn/play-to-airdrop/play-to-win mechanics.

But, it’s not all doom and gloom. As mentioned, some games will do everything they can to embed and integrate crypto and blockchain at every level of the game.

Developers and brands also appear to be making a serious effort to make the Web3 elements optional rather than essential.

The industry needs to produce genuinely good games that don’t depend on the constant use of crypto in-game or promise of crypto rewards. It’s received a pretty bad reputation for constant boom and bust cycles, and delivering sub-par gaming experiences.

Now, with the reputations of major franchises and studios on the line, the stakes are even higher, for every failure in Web3 gaming is usually met with an eye roll and every success with a muted clap.

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