Ronin MMORPG The Forgotten Runiverse shuts down … but hopes to return

As inevitable as web3 gaming is as a concept, it’s also inevitable that the majority of blockchain games won’t be successful. So here’s our list of the games officially shutting down or rebooting as web2 experiences.

27th January 2026: Ronin MMORPG The Forgotten Runiverse has been taken offline while the team “evaluates the path forward“.

It says that its intention is “to return to the Runiverse in the future – stronger, better resourced and able to deliver the experience the community deserves”.

During its peak playtest seasons in 2024, it attracted over 250,000 players and more than 7,000 concurrent players.

Closed down

• Singapore dev 9 Lives Interactive – raised $13 million – ran out of funding, also closing down its in-development PC shooter Nyan Heroes.

• Xterio’s first party 4X mobile game Age of Dino is shutting down on 30th September. A final snapshot will be taken on 29th September.

• US developer Battlebound – raised $8 million in 2022 – closed down, cancelling development of its game Anterris.

• Dubai-based team BoomLand has announced that “after exhausting every possible option“, it’s shutting down. Surprisingly though, the servers for its mobile/browser game Hunters On Chain will remain live during 2026.

• Danish developer Bright Star – $20 million raised – closed down its MMORPG Ember Sword.

• TGC game Cosmik Battle from French developer Cometh – $10 million raised – is being sunsetted. It “did not find a sustainable distribution channel or long-term launch partners”. The company continues to operate.

• Mobile battle royale Blast Royale will officially close on 30th June but it will be open sourced. UK developer First Light Games – raised $5 million in 2022 – is still operating.

• US dev Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow – raised $3 million in 2024 – closed down, suspending development on its social deduction game The Mystery Society.

• South Korea developer Hypedream – $7 million raised in 2021 – closed down due to a lack of funding, also closing down its Derby Stars and Derby Race games.

• US studio Laguna Labs canned its forthcoming game Neo Olympus after it failed to mint out its initial NFTs.

• US developer Midnight Society closed down, canning its in-development vertical shooter Deadrop.

• Overworld – the US development studio that’s part of Xterio – $10 million raised – cancelled its in-dev game Overworld, pivoting to build the games marketing and rewards blockchain REACH.

• South Korean game developer Delabs Games has announced its LINE Next mini-dapp Ragnarok Libre is shutting down.

• Gala Games’ The Walking Dead: Empires is shutting down, with its last playable date being 31st July. NFT holders will receive “new NFTs of equal functionality in other Gala Games products”.

• US team Unioverse has announced via its Discord that after six months struggling to get new funding, it’s halted operations and its servers are now offline. Its parent company Random Games raised $8 million in September 2022.

Ditched web3, going web2

• Relaunched with NFTs on Telegram in 2024, Flappy Bird was re-relaunched in 2025 as a web2 mobile game through the Epic Games Store for Android.

• Brazilian developer Jungle – raised $6 million in 2023 – announced its mobile shooter For The Win would ditch web3 and be developed “as a mobile F2P title only“.

• Singapore dev Tatsu Works – raised $7.5 million in 2022 – announced it was canning its web3 game Tatsumeeko, shifting its activity to new web2 title Project: Wander.

Paused

Game7, the gaming initiative from the blockchain project now known as Mantle, it’s announced it’s “putting Game7 as you know it on pause“, while it tries to work out how it can operate in the web3 gaming space and generate revenue.

It says that this is the result of being too ambitious in its vision, as well as relying on third party partners for its success rather than pivoting to first party development. It says it also “underestimated how long real adoption would take, which was detrimental to everything we built”.

As a result, it’s cut its burn rate to a minimum with G7’s leadership taking “significant salary cuts” to prolong its runaway. Founders and the G7 foundation have also extending their token unlocks by 12 months.

For the record, the G7 token launched in February 2025 and has dropped 93% in price since.

Source: https://www.blockchaingamer.biz/news/38795/dead-dying-going-web2-obituary-2025-blockchain-games/