Amongst blockchain sectors, Web3 gaming has struggled to maintain tempo, delivering lacklustre efficiency in comparison with the explosive progress of cryptocurrencies over the previous yr. James Strudwick, govt director of Web3 agency Starknet Basis, nevertheless, believes the Web3 gaming ecosystem has made gradual progress in current instances, even when the expansion seems to be sluggish on the floor. Headquartered in Israel, the corporate runs the Starknet ecosystem as an Ethereum-based Layer-2 scaling resolution that additionally lets builders design their sport choices.
Chatting with Devices 360, Strudwick mentioned that onboarding challenges, unfamiliar UX, and restricted consciousness had been amongst essential elements that had stored the expansion of Web3 gaming tepid. His phrases coincided with DappRadar’s current report that mentioned Web3 gaming exercise registered a six % QoQ decline within the forst quarter of 2025.
As per Starknet’s remark, western markets have been slower to interact with Web3 gaming owing to lingering scepticism. In areas like Southeast Asia, India, and components of Africa, nevertheless, the curiosity in Web3 gaming has surged over the previous few years.
On this interview with Devices 360, Strudwick addresses the roadblocks hindering the enlargement of Web3 gaming, in addition to doable options that may convey a notable change within the state of affairs.
Devices 360: The place does the sector of Web3 gaming stand in comparison with conventional Web2 gaming? Which areas are displaying most and least pursuits in Web3 gaming?
Strudwick: Web3 gaming remains to be in its early levels when in comparison with the huge scale of Web2 gaming, which reaches greater than a billion on-line gamers worldwide.
Devices 360: Members from India’s gaming group usually complain that Web3 gaming is merely a method to money in on the hype round crypto, NFTs, and metaverse. What do it’s a must to say about this view?
Strudwick: It is comprehensible that some see Web3 gaming as a speculative development, particularly given the early wave of video games targeted on play-to-earn mechanics that prioritised revenue over enjoyable. Nevertheless, the business has advanced. Immediately, Web3 video games are deeply gameplay-first, with blockchain working behind the scenes to boost participant expertise.
These video games give attention to actual possession, trustless economies, and a extra collaborative growth mannequin — not hype. Builders now goal to construct sustainable, decentralised ecosystems the place the emphasis is firmly again on participant engagement and long-term worth.
Devices 360: Do Web2 and Web3 sport growth share similarities? What greatest practices from Web2 gaming may help enhance group engagement in Web3?
Strudwick: Whereas Web2 video games have mastered UX, onboarding, and participant engagement loops, Web3 video games are simply starting to combine these components. Web2 and Web3 sport growth, each, require a deep give attention to gameplay, polish, and group constructing. One of the best practices from Web2 — akin to frictionless login, participating tutorials, and responsive UI — can dramatically enhance Web3 gaming.
Builders ought to use blockchain with options like session keys and account abstraction to convey that very same stage of polish to blockchain-powered video games, creating experiences which are each accessible and immersive.
Devices 360: Ubisoft, Lamborghini are amongst corporations which have forayed into Web3 gaming. Nevertheless, after the preliminary bulletins, they not often return to the headlines. What challenges at the moment stop Web3 gaming from attaining mainstream adoption?
Strudwick: Mainstream adoption of Web3 gaming has been hindered by a mix of excessive transaction prices, poor UX, and onboarding complexity. Conventional blockchains couldn’t assist seamless gameplay as a result of sluggish speeds and payment spikes. Furthermore, gamers usually needed to work together with wallets and signal transactions repeatedly, making a clunky expertise.
Web3 video games must match the fluidity of Web2 whereas unlocking the advantages of decentralisation beneath.
Devices 360: Is there a scarcity of academic programs for Web3 sport builders?
Strudwick: Sure. The scarcity of formal academic content material round Web3 gaming stems from the truth that the event stack remains to be evolving and lacks standardisation.
As extra builders embrace languages like Cairo — which shares similarities with Rust — and extra tasks publish their growth journeys, it can grow to be simpler to create structured studying tracks, tutorials, and onboarding sources to assist the following wave of Web3 sport builders.
Devices 360: What new applied sciences are anticipated to form Web3 gaming in India in FY 2025–26?
Strudwick: Zero-knowledge rollups will provide high-throughput and safe environments the place total sport logic can run onchain. In the meantime, native account abstraction will make onboarding seamless, permitting for Web2-style login and gameplay experiences.
Composable sport architectures will allow builders to deal with video games as protocols, permitting for modifications and spin-offs with out central permission. Decentralised id and cross-game asset portability will moreover give gamers extra management and suppleness throughout gaming ecosystems.
Devices 360: What are the important thing traits influencing Web3 gaming in India, together with the position of indie sport builders and world collaborations?
Strudwick: Web3 gaming in India is being influenced by a number of key traits. Indie builders are more and more leveraging open-source engines like Dojo to construct scalable, safe onchain video games. Decentralised modding and user-generated content material have gotten extra viable, creating community-driven experiences that go far past conventional modding. On the identical time, DAOs and decentralised communities are enabling world funding, knowledge-sharing, and venture acceleration.
India’s robust indie sport growth scene is well-positioned to thrive on this mannequin, the place creativity and code matter greater than connections or capital.
Devices 360: Are you able to shed some gentle on Starknet’s contribution to Web3 gaming?
Strudwick: Starknet provides the instruments and infrastructure wanted to match conventional sport efficiency with decentralised advantages.
The platform delivers sub-cent transaction prices and sub-two-second confirmations, that are crucial for action-heavy video games. It additionally options native account abstraction, permitting gamers to check in utilizing acquainted strategies and revel in uninterrupted classes.
Developer instruments just like the Dojo Engine, Cairo language, and a rising suite of SDKs make constructing on Starknet intuitive and scalable. With dwell tasks like Realms and Affect already demonstrating what’s doable.
Current Developments in Web3 Gaming
A current weblog by Binance’s BNB Chain claimed that GameFi will evolve into the extra mature “Web3 Gaming” mannequin. GameFi merges gaming and finance through blockchain-based video games that function on a decentralised mannequin. These video games reward gamers with native tokens from their ecosystems, enabling them to earn earnings whereas taking part in.
In March this yr, The Root Community (TRN), a metaverse-focused Web3 platform, launched its “TRN Odyssey” initiative geared toward helping promising Web3 gaming tasks on the TRN Layer-1 blockchain.
Telegram final yr launched a number of Web3 mini apps on its messaging app, onboarding its customers onto the Web3 gaming ecosystem.
