When we kicked off 2024, the sentiment was “do or die for blockchain gaming”. Now, looking back, it’s clear that the year was anything but quiet. Major studios, indie darlings, and new products and partnerships have all left their mark—establishing 2024 as a defining year for web3 games, and for Polemos.

Achievement Unlocked: Blockchain Ideals in Action

Through game delays, challenging launches, and bear markets, web3 gamers are a deep-down optimistic bunch. Enthusiasm for blockchain gaming requires a degree of hope for future technology. In blockchain gaming spaces on Discord and X, even skeptical players tend to believe that when new tech comes with new complications, more new tech can solve it.

This tech-optimism has defined the lofty expectations in the blockchain gaming industry. Emerging alongside some of the earliest NFT projects, expansive discussions among contributors and crypto-native gamers have collectively imagined a ‘metaverse’ of interoperable gaming. There is no singular blueprint, and visions vary across leaders and DAOs, but this collective dream is full of ideals such as:

• Meaningful rewards for skilled players, and for time spent gaming.

• Healthy, balanced games and game economies.

• Mutual benefit between gamers and across distinct, interconnected platforms.

Lending and borrowing on the Forge, now live, is a major milestone for Polemos, and a contribution to blockchain gaming that aligns with its most inspiring ideals. We are celebrating our development team at this exciting time, who will continue to add game support to the platform in this new year. (Check out our Forge FAQ to learn more.)

Our first Rental Rumble – Illuvium Leviathan Tournament

Illuvium is the first game integrated into the platform, giving players the ability to rent illuvials for competitive play and stake illuvials for passive income. This early partnership marks the realization of one core objective: making it possible for anyone to jump into web3 gaming without needing to heavily invest in in-game assets.

Polemos celebrated the launch of renting and staking with a fun, randomized, hyper-RNG tournament featuring Illuvium’s gameplay. Players created new accounts and competed using rented assets funded through our platform, ensuring fairness and demonstrating its capabilities. The tournament combined single-elimination rounds with a Checkmate-style final, rewarding both strategy and adaptability. Livestreams, community engagement, and broad prize distribution created an inclusive, memorable experience for participants and spectators alike.

For further insight regarding how renting and staking on the Polemos Forge fits into the Illuvium ecosystem, check out Caveman’s two recent discussions with @kingscoriox and @Nijafe_Plays, both Illuvium Key Opinion Leaders.

Early adoption & our strategic partnership with Buff

After going live with Illuvivum integration on December 18, the Polemos Forge reached more than 1500 game assets staked in its first week, with hundreds of Illuvium players staking and borrowing Illuvium assets on the platform.

We’re just getting started. Stay tuned as we continue to roll out even more integrations, including Futureverse in January, and exciting Buff partnership updates ahead. Futureverse is built on the Root Network to integrate gaming, entertainment, and social interaction in a web3 metaverse. Buff has already been rewarding gamers for playing the games they love, and this partnership creates an opportunity to bring up to 16 million players into the GameFi space through our ecosystem. We are looking forward to bridging the gap between web3 game content and traditional audiences— particularly those who value innovative rewards technology.

Staking Illuvials Live
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Polemos x Futureverse YouTube

Partnership: Polemos & Buff polemos.io

Memorable Moments & Trends in 2024

While Polemos finished off 2024 with a milestone tournament and product launch, the year also saw numerous significant releases, shifts, and trends in blockchain gaming at large.

Illuvium – from launch to overhauling Overworld

In 2024, we covered Illuvium from pre-launch through launch with tutorials, critiques, and that wild airdrop season, dissecting launch challenges along the way. Polemos Content Manager Caveman explored what makes Illuvium fun with Illuvium CEO Kieran Warwick, and addressed the uncertain future of Overworld.

Now, Illuvium plans to overhaul Overworld into an “MMO Lite” after thoroughly refining Arena into a top-tier autobattler. Kieran’s roadmap addresses economy safeguards, microtransactions, along with as the need for more compelling gameplay—also asking the community to decide whether Overworld remains open or closes until it’s rebuilt.

What it means for blockchain games: Even AAA studios can face early challenges, but Web3 projects face extra hurdles—from decentralized governance to high player expectations around fairness and economy. Illuvium’s pivot highlights the importance of listening to feedback, refining gameplay first, and rebuilding trust—key lessons any blockchain game can learn from.

Introducing Web3 to gamers; Gamefi from indie to Epic

Gaming in 2024 delivered an eclectic mix of blockchain adoptions, from long-running indie MMOs to near-AAA projects pivoting quietly (or controversially) into web3. Below are three examples—MapleStory, RavenQuest, and Shatterline—that together paint a picture of how old favorites and new labs each found crypto in 2024.

Maplestory Universe
When it first launched in the mid-2000s, MapleStory was by most measures an “indie MMO”— though it later grew under a major publisher’s umbrella. In 2024, MapleStory Universe on Polygon brought that original side-scrolling nostalgia into web3. The result: a lighthearted, pixel-packed gaming world that’s still easygoing for its legacy fans, despite the crypto additions.

Polemos Content Producer Lyka spotlighted Maplestory Universe in her video Crypto Games I’ll be playing this 2025, highlighting how Nexon leveraged “The Genesis” (a dedicated pre-release version) to rally community buzz months before launch.

Lyka also touched on Maplestory, among other titles, at the at the YGG Play Summit, a web3 games showcase in Manila. Learn along with Lyka about the familiar core game, and the blockchain applications surrounding it in the full video: When Gamers meet Web3. The Play Summit’s speed-dating-style “Match+Play” session brought first impressions to a panel of web2 creators.

Although some gamers may see MapleStory Universe as too “niche” to be a mainstream on-ramp, it’s worth noting how this beloved IP was an underground hit long before blockchain—and has potential to draw in certain nostalgic gamers.

Ravenquest
Meanwhile, RavenQuest continued to gain traction as an independent blockchain MMO, adapted for the blockchain from Ravendawn—an established, non-blockchain MMORPG still in parallel development. Early on, some Ravendawn veterans questioned the pivot to web3, but regular AMAs demonstrate ongoing interest—covering land sales, class balance, economy fixes, and more.

lnighter (Nicolas Schrik, Ravenquest CEO & Game Director) disclosed that an “absolutely insane” 90,000 adventurers had played in Ravenquest’s Phase 3 by the mid-December AMA. A proven MMO concept adapted to the blockchain is a distinctive approach. In the coming year, we’ll be observing how models like this compare to others, when it comes to making inroads with traditional gamers.

Shatterline
This multiplayer PVP and PVE roguelike from Ukraine-based studio Frag Lab, left Steam and implemented web3 mechanics, relaunching on the Epic Games Store—leaving its enthusiastic but wary community grappling with “pay-to-win” fears.

Lyka broke down this backlash in her coverage:

This Hero shooter is back with some changes…, where she highlighted how fans loved Shatterline’s early-access launch but felt blindsided when the devs announced optional NFTs, token integration, and the Steam departure.

In I got better at Shatterline PVE after doing THIS, Lyka offers insights on Shatterline’s “Expedition Mode,” plus her own take on the dev’s blockchain plans—especially how they ring-fenced PVP from tokenized advantages, hoping to ease the pay-to-win anxiety.

Several gaming titans ventured into blockchain

Sony
The PlayStation powerhouse made significant strides into the space in 2024. In March, Sony patented “super-fungible” gaming tokens, a new type of token for gaming assets, before acquiring Amber Japan in July, a cryptocurrency exchange (rebranding to S.Blox).

In August, Sony announced Soneium, an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain aimed at integrating web3 into entertainment and gaming.

Epic Games Store
The Fortnite publisher and gaming giant further established itself as a home for blockchain games, welcoming an array of web3 titles, including:

Ubisoft
Ubisoft launched two Web3 games in 2024: Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles and Captain Laswerhawk: The G.A.M.E.

Champions Tactics is a PVP RPG, which was criticized for some very expensive NFTs. To hear Lyka’s honest impression from November, check out: Ubisoft’s NFT Game is here…

Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E is a top-down multiplayer shooter, based on the Netflix series “Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix”. (The Netflix series itself is inspired by the 2013 video game “Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon”). Ubisoft’s venture into web3 features Rayman, bringing along a long-standing mainstream IP franchise.

Web3 games & Polemos are set up for a fast-paced 2025

Blockchain gaming remains an emerging frontier, full of both promise and unknowns. Even the most prominent titles in our space grapple with large-scale revisions and community skepticism. 2024 proved one thing beyond doubt: this industry is moving fast. For us here at Polemos, it was a banner year—co-sponsoring Permissionless III alongside Illuvium and Futureverse, partnering with Buff, and launching our staking and renting platform.

Keep following along for details on our Futureverse integration, Buff partnership, and more to come early this year. Whether you’re a longtime community member or a new reader, we can’t wait to share the next phase of blockchain gaming with you in 2025. Thanks for joining us in this journey!