Gaming metaverses were really big in 2020 just like hype with NFTs and ICOs before them. However, now in 2026 the state of things in the metaverse industry feels way different from what it was before when major brands invested millions of dollars just to secure a piece of land in the new VR world. Back then, their native tokens like MANA and SAND dominated headlines of the financial press including Forbes stating that this is the new big thing that will conquer the world. There were lots of different mechanics how crypto enthusiasts could invest starting from floors and plots of land, and ending with airdrops and NFT farming. But today, the crypto community is focusing more on infrastructure, governance, and sustainable digital ownership rather than trying to farm the airdrops or buy the perfect plot of land that later can be resold to double or triple the investments. And now, after you no longer see big headlines promising high profits, where are the gaming metaverses and what is their future?
After the great hype of 2020 is over, we saw how almost all major play-to-earn economies collapsed including huge projects like Axie Infinity and FLOKI. The reason for this collapse lies mainly in their inflation-heavy nature when games were designed without keeping in mind user engagement. Most of the projects that depended just on token emissions without really interesting gameplay mechanics quickly started losing players’ interest and their liquidity started to go down immediately. Well, it’s good when you have rewards here and there that you can later sell for real money, but they cannot replace real engagement and community. Developers learned the hard way that game economies must be carefully designed in advance and have a long roadmap to stay relevant on the market.
But there are good outcomes as well. After the fall of the classic model, the P2E projects started focusing on giving players more rights for in-game items instead of promising daily income. In other words, more and more in-game assets became tradable and exchangeable across the entire ecosystem. The game process changed too: new onboarding processes and wider compatibility with other blockchains now improve adoption among investors who hold tokens on different blockchains. Blockchain ID integration similar to the one you can find on 777bet login page, allows users to access in-game environments without complex KYC procedures.
Tokenomics 2.0 and the End of Infinite Emissions
What’s wrong with the emissions, you may ask? One of the biggest differences between early games on blockchain and games we have now in 2026 lies in how token supply is designed. The industry is now 100% sure that unchecked emissions harm trust and lead to losing players in a long term perspective. When everything you do inside the game generates new tokens without proportional sinks, inflation becomes the major issue when it comes to user experience and maintaining interest in the game. After developers understood the concept of the problem, they began applying new principles borrowed from macroeconomics that we all face in real life. They started with controlled supply curves and replaced open faucets that increased the total supply of tokens. Burn mechanisms were also adjusted and integrated into crafting systems to make sure the number of tokens is not inflated in the process.
According to the analysis in the Rebuilding Tokenomics After the P2E Crash, CoinDesk claims that P2E games now changed the angle and focus on utility-driven demand over reward inflation and this is one of their key changes directed towards fixing the main problem within P2E economies. Some game studios even hire real-world economists before launch to make sure their economy concept is well designed. Economists are often responsible for calculating model supply velocity, they simulate user growth plateaus and even do some stress-testing for reward mechanics under multiple scenarios. All this is just to make sure that an in-game economy is bulletproof against common P2E issues and will not be broken in a couple of months after the game hits the market.
Rebuilding trust with your players is another thing that a P2E project should prioritize in 2026 especially after so many players lost their investments after the crash of the market. Investors and players simply don’t treat in-game tokens as lottery tickets anymore. They want revenue models diversified as well that will push studios to generate income with implementing marketplace commissions, cosmetics and branded crossovers.
Market experts expect this to reduce volatility and help emerging projects make some market exposure in 2026-2027 when the possible uptrend in the market will occur. And while we will still see some speculative spikes, the base minimum that everybody expect from the P2E project is stability.
Regulatory Clarity and Institutional Entry
Regulation was once considered a threat to blockchain gaming and the entire crypto industry. But this is no longer true in 2026 and we saw how regulation made it possible for hundreds of institutional investors to invest in Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF during 2024-25. You can definitely say that regulation gave a huge boost to the crypto industry so this is exactly what most of the crypto enthusiasts expect to happen with P2E gaming if it will be regulated.
Between 2024 and 2026, we have seen a couple of jurisdictions trying to clarify digital asset classifications and make first steps towards regulation. And when rules are clear, institutional investors are way more willing to invest in this business. At this point not many venture funds and esports organizations are showing interest in collaborations with studios who develop blockchain-native games. But this trend is going to change especially when there’s gonna be another market uptrend and big businesses will seek ways to expand to the crypto world.
Another big question is compliance because in 2026 audited smart contracts became standard and nobody wants to deal with projects who are at risk of hacking or have insecure mechanisms inside their games. Studios who are unable to meet existing standards or treasury transparency requirements will barely survive the market downturn.