CryptoKitties, the first widely recognized blockchain game, was launched back in 2017. As these games gained popularity thereafter, myths began to form, which persist and keep potential participants away, shrouding an entire industry in misconceptions to this day. We debunk five myths frequently cited by those whose attitudes toward blockchain gaming – sadly and unjustifiably – remain unfavorable.
1. Blockchain games are too complicated
Almost anyone with a smartphone, laptop, or tablet can understand cryptocurrency games. The user’s journey starts with opening a crypto gaming account, typically by entering a username, password, and email address. Then, they fund the account with cryptocurrency, which they either buy from the game platform or transfer funds from an existing cryptocurrency wallet. The crypto is purchased using a credit card or through an exchange. The user can start playing as soon as their account is funded.
As for the games, most of those based on distributed ledger technology feature designs and interfaces not unlike the applications we use daily. When blockchain games were starting out, most projects’ UX/UI was nearly nonexistent.
2. You can’t make money with play-to-earn games
This is not entirely a myth. Many play-to-earn games were and are based on unsound economics and fueled by the crypto market frenzy. Players find little to no long-term value in them. According to DappRadar, user activity declined by 10% in April 2025, with the number of unique active gaming wallets dropping to 4.8 million, the lowest so far this year. Gaming dominance in the dApp industry has also declined, now at 21%, while AI is rising with a market share of 16%.
The analysts assure this is far from the end, and what we’re observing instead is recalibration within the space. It’s not that people have stopped building; it’s that speculation and hype are cooling. We’re seeing expanding ecosystems and maturing infrastructure. The 10% decline and the fact that just $21 million has been raised may reflect the current risk appetite. Still, Arbitrum is making the first deployments from its $200 million fund; Ronin is opening its doors to external developers, and new studios are joining Immutable. Although it may not be explosive growth, it does represent a movement in the direction of sustainability.
Gaming platforms are turning to Web3-native teams to help their projects succeed. There is a noticeable shift in priorities away from unviable token models and toward interoperability, gameplay, and user retention.
The blockchain gaming industry is evolving, and part of this process involves the emergence of formidable players like Mythical Games. Its NFL Rivals, which boasts 6 M+ downloads, is a prime example of how P2E mechanics and blockchain can make popular sports like football even more exciting. NFL Rivals is developed by Mythical Games and powered by Polkadot. It lets players earn NFTs, manage teams, and trade in-game assets in real time. The game condenses football into short, mobile-friendly matches, retaining the appeal for football fans while making the game accessible to casual players.
Players collect and trade NFL player NFTs, which they also sell, buy, and exchange on secondary marketplaces. There is a multiplayer action feature where they join squads, earn rewards, and climb to the top of the leaderboards. Essentially, the game combines blockchain technology with football gaming, offering players asset ownership and entertainment.
3. Blockchain games are inherently a scam
Those who have been watching game development for some time remember the days when a crowdfunded game would get some money and skip town. The people behind a crypto project can remain anonymous, and backers think they can speculate or exit in addition to supporting the game, which has exacerbated the issue. As many games were backed unsuccessfully, crowdfunding for games lost popularity over time. Essentially, selling cryptocurrency or NFTs to support a game is akin to blockchain-based crowdfunding, but with the added risk of dealing with an entity that intends to build nothing.
Notwithstanding the above, there’s no harm in supporting a game you’re excited about via token or NFT sales. Before you invest, the adage holds: do due diligence to find out whether the developers’ experience matches their ambition. Trustworthy developers don’t hide behind anonymity or pseudonyms. Ultimately, the quality products they’ve created will ensure their reputations remain unharmed.
4. Blockchains are not secure
According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the amount of money being laundered annually is between $800 billion and $2 trillion, while Chainalysis reports that illegal cryptocurrency addresses received around $40 billion in 2024. This is a tiny portion of the total. There is a simple explanation behind the numbers, which lies in blockchain security, distribution, immutability, transparency, and consensus algorithms.
Cryptographic principles secure each blockchain transaction, ensuring data authentication and integrity. The user has a public key to get assets and a private key to protect them. Blockchains operate across a network of nodes, and the system remains unaffected even if a node or a group of nodes is compromised. All the nodes agree on a transaction’s validity via consensus algorithms. The best-known ones are Proof of Work and Proof of Stake. They make it unviable for an attacker to take over the majority of nodes in a network, also known as a Sybil Attack.
A block’s content becomes unchangeable once it’s added to the blockchain, and transaction records remain intact permanently. Anyone can view transactions or changes on public blockchains, which makes it easy to detect malicious activity.
5. The games are energy-intensive
Consensus algorithms may have their advantages, but PoW networks, such as Bitcoin, come with complex cryptographic problems that mining software and devices compete to solve. These operations require a substantial amount of energy to complete. Few blockchain games are built on PoW, though. Instead, gaming platforms opt for PoS chains like Solana, Polygon, Hedera, and Avalanche. Polkadot takes its benefits a step further with a consensus mechanism known as nominated proof-of-stake, which allows token holders to select validators to represent them in the process of validating blocks.
PoS does not take more energy than the back-end technologies powering a laptop or any cloud-based service. Among the pragmatic reasons games build on these blockchains are high throughput, lower energy use, and faster microtransaction finality. If we were to look at the total energy a relatively popular game uses, the aggregate energy used by the GPUs on the front end would be much greater compared to the PoS back end’s relatively minor consumption.
Blockchains bring decentralization, ownership, and interoperability to gaming
Blockchains introduce asset ownership, decentralization, and innovative economic models. They eliminate the liability of storing valuable items on the developer’s servers and allow players to control their in-game assets. Play-and-own, or P&O, differs from P2E by emphasizing asset ownership rather than profit. Players are not compelled to sell their digital items for financial gain.
P&O also focuses on user experience. Players can buy unique items and keep them for in-game utility or simply for their aesthetic value. This model reduces the risk of speculation and helps prevent the collapse of virtual economies due to token volatility.
You can own an in-game item, but if you can’t transfer it between games and blockchains, this ownership doesn’t mean much. Thanks to blockchain interoperability, a player possessing a weapon or a character as an NFT can leverage it within numerous ecosystems. The ERC-1155 standard sets rules to ensure assets function properly across platforms. Wallets, marketplaces, and games can recognize and interact with the same assets by following this shared standard.