Web3 Gaming’s Real Boss Fight: Investor Relations, Not the Tech — Breaking Down Yat Siu’s TOKEN2049 Take

Web3 gaming has been stuck in this weird limbo: the tech keeps leveling up, the games are finally fun, but the vibe around the entire space is still… awkward. At TOKEN2049, Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu said the quiet part out loud: the problem isn’t just gameplay or chains. It’s investor relations. Bad comms, messy token unlocks, and confused expectations are holding back projects that actually have the fundamentals to win.

If you’re curious, the quote and context are in this report from CCN: Animoca’s Yat Siu Claims Web3 Gaming Is Being Hurt by Bad Investor Relations. I’ve been tracking this space hard, and honestly? He’s right. Let’s dig into what’s really going on, how we got here, and what devs need to change so gamers actually care.

What Yat Siu Actually Said (And Why It Hits Different)

At TOKEN2049, Yat Siu basically told the crowd: Web3 gaming’s fundamentals are better than they’ve ever been, but the way teams manage investors — especially around tokens — is tanking trust. You can build a good game and still ruin it with chaotic tokenomics, unclear communication, or social media hype cycles that don’t match actual roadmap progress.

That matters because Web3 games have two overlapping communities: players and investors. Sometimes those are the same people. Often they’re not. When a studio treats token holders like an afterthought or spins up hype every time the token dips, players smell the desperation and bounce. Investors get spooked too. The result? Even solid games can end up overshadowed by market drama.

Here’s the thing: Yat’s take isn’t a dunk on Web3. It’s a challenge. Web3 gaming can be dope — ownership, open marketplaces, interoperable assets, actual mod economies — but not if people think the entire point is pumping tokens. If investor relations are messy, everything else gets ignored.

Web3 Gaming Fundamentals Are Better Than You Think

Forget the 2021 “pay-to-earn” era. The scene in 2025 looks way more like gaming, and way less like yield farming with extra steps. A few reasons why:

• Onboarding is finally normal-human friendly. Custodial wallets, account abstraction (EIP-4337), and session keys let you sign in with email/Google, play instantly, and only touch self-custody when you want. Solutions like Immutable Passport, Sequence, and Crossmint mean you don’t have to carry your seed phrase just to try a demo.
• Gas fees are basically invisible in the right setups. Between rollups (zkEVMs), app-specific chains, and sponsored gas, the “I paid $12 to move a sword” joke doesn’t land anymore.
• Mainstream-friendly chains and tooling. Immutable’s zkEVM is tailor-made for game devs. Ronin rebooted from the 2022 hack and now powers legit hits like Pixels. Solana’s throughput makes high-frequency use cases possible without choking the mempool.
• Actual games are shipping. Not just whitepapers: Gods Unchained (TCG), Parallel (sci-fi TCG with sick art and on-chain cards), Illuvium (auto-battler RPG), and Guild of Guardians (squad-based RPG) are in players’ hands. The Sandbox continues to iterate its creator tools. Nexon’s MapleStory Universe is building on-chain asset logic around a beloved IP. Pixels found an enormous audience after moving to Ronin.

So if tech and gameplay aren’t the bottleneck anymore, what is? Enter the investor relations dragon.

The IR Problem: How Tokens and Communication Sabotage Good Games

Investor relations isn’t just a corporate buzzword. In Web3 gaming, it’s the bridge between players, token holders, partners, and exchanges. When that bridge is sketchy, everyone falls through. Here’s where things go wrong:

• Opaque token unlocks: If your vesting schedule is buried in a PDF or “subject to change,” expect chaos on every cliff. Players don’t want to watch their marketplace implode because an early round unlocked 18 months later.
• Roadmap hype vs. reality: Devs promise mainnet launches, esports circuits, or cross-chain features on tight timelines… then delay, and delay again. People learn to ignore announcements. Hype inflation turns into trust deflation.
• Market-maker mystery: Teams quietly hire market-makers and OTC deals happen in the dark. Then token price action looks “managed,” and every Discord turns into a conspiracy lab.
• No separation of messages: Dev updates mix gameplay patches with token price chatter. In Web2, you’d never see Bungie or Respawn talk about stock moves. Keep game dev updates and tokenholder comms separate.
• Regulatory fuzziness: Teams dodge basic questions because they’re worried about securities law. That’s real, but you can still be transparent about supply, emissions, and governance without giving “price guidance.”
• Silence in downturns: When things go red, some teams go quiet. That’s exactly when clarity matters most. Quarterly letters, transparent treasury reporting, and clear burn rates go a long way.

The result: gamers see tokens as predatory, not empowering. Investors see studios as reckless, not visionary. That’s the choke point Yat is calling out.

What Players Actually Care About (And How Web3 Can Help Instead of Annoy)

I’m a gamer first. Here’s a reality check for teams shipping on-chain features:

• Fun first, wallets second. If I need to bridge assets, swap gas, and watch a Dune dashboard before I can beat Level 1, I’m out. Let me play in 30 seconds. Offer opt-in ownership when I’m hooked.
• Fair economies. If NFTs = pay-to-win, you lose. Keep power progression off-chain or soulbound. Use tradable assets for cosmetics, land, or purely optional flex.
• Interoperability that counts. Don’t promise one sword across 20 games. Make it meaningful within an ecosystem: think skins usable across a publisher’s titles, or creator-made maps that treat assets as building blocks.
• Anti-bot and anti-dupe tech. On-chain helps with provenance, but not botting. If economies can be botted, they will be. CAPTCHAs, device fingerprinting, server-side checks — all still matter.
• Real creator tools. Mod kits, UGC storefronts, and rev-share that’s automatic. Web3 can make that cleaner than black-market skin sites or gray-area mods.

Look at Fortnite’s creator payouts and CS2’s skin markets. That’s what gamers already understand: create, trade, flex — without turning the entire game into a spreadsheet. Web3 should unlock those vibes on steroids, not replace them with token farming.

Case Studies: Wins, Ls, and The “Almost There” Crew

Pixels on Ronin — The “Just Let People Play” Lesson

Pixels’ move to Ronin was a turning point. Friction dropped, creator culture exploded, and daily activity shot up because the game loop is simple and sticky. The token narrative is there, sure, but gameplay is the driver. IR takeaway: put player fun ahead of token headlines, and your community does the marketing for you.

Gods Unchained and Parallel — TCGs That Respect Players

Both games show how to use digital ownership without ruining balance. Cards are tradable, tournaments are competitive, and devs communicate like game studios, not day-trading desks. IR takeaway: separate gameplay updates from token talk, publish clarity around pack drops, and keep power-creep in check.

The Sandbox — Builders > Buzz

The Sandbox has leaned hard into creator tools, partnerships, and consistent seasonal updates. Not everything hits, but they’ve proven UGC worlds can be more than a flex. IR takeaway: show a pipeline, not just a pitch. Keep partners updated, show users what’s coming, and don’t make every announcement a token moment.

Ubisoft Quartz and Big-Pub Caution

Ubisoft’s Quartz NFTs didn’t land the way they hoped, partly because the value proposition wasn’t clear to players. Meanwhile, Valve still blocks crypto on Steam, while Epic keeps the door open on the Epic Games Store (with proper labeling). IR takeaway: explain benefits in gamer terms, not chain-speak, and don’t expect brand power to carry confusing features.

Korean Publishers — Ambition Meets Friction

Studios like Nexon (MapleStory Universe) and Wemade (MIR4) have chased on-chain economies hard. When the loop is grindy or monetization is heavy-handed, it becomes a whale fest. When done carefully, existing MMOs could become the perfect playground for player-owned crafting and trading. IR takeaway: transparency on sink/source design is as important as token supply.

How Studios Can Fix Investor Relations Starting Now

Here’s a straight-up playbook for better IR in Web3 gaming. It’s not optional anymore.

• Two communication tracks:
  • Player track: patches, events, balance changes, roadmaps.
  • Tokenholder track: treasury, unlock calendars, emissions, governance proposals, market structure policies.
• Public, immutable token dashboards: A live, on-chain page showing circulating supply, upcoming unlocks by category (team, investors, ecosystem), and treasury wallets. No “DM us for details.”
• Quarterly letters with real numbers: DAU/MAU, retention cohorts (D1/D7/D30), ARPDAU, marketplace GMV, percent of users in custodial vs. self-custody, and bot mitigation stats. Don’t hide behind “UAW” if half are sybils.
• Unlock hygiene: Time unlocks around content beats, not dead months. Use linear vesting where you can. Build market depth before cliffs, and tell people what to expect.
• No price talk from official channels: You can discuss mechanics and policy without hinting at targets. Treat your token like an in-game economy, not a meme stock.
• Player councils and creator advisory boards: Elect or handpick a rotating group to pressure-test updates. Publish meeting notes. If you drop a surprise economic change, you’re asking for a riot.
• Regionally aware legal posture: What you can say in the EU (MiCA) isn’t the same as the US (SEC risk). Keep messaging compliant by region, but keep core data the same for everyone.

Tech Choices That Actually Reduce Friction

IR doesn’t live in a vacuum; it’s tied to your tech stack. Some architecture choices make both gaming and investor communications easier.

• Account abstraction (EIP-4337) + session keys: Let people play with email/social login, sponsor gas for early sessions, and offer a one-click path to self-custody later. It’s the smoothest funnel.
• ERC-1155 for multi-asset economies: Perfect for large collections of semi-fungible items like cards or materials. Way more gas-efficient than spamming ERC-721s.
• App-specific rollups or sidechains: Immutable zkEVM, Avalanche Subnets, or chains like Ronin let you control gas, throughput, and data visibility. Publish your block explorer and performance stats.
• Custody with export: Start custodial for noobs, but guarantee export to a self-custody wallet at any time. Make that a headline feature, not a footnote.
• Built-in anti-sybil checks: Combine on-chain activity heuristics with off-chain signals. Show your bot remediation rate in quarterly letters. Zombies drain economies and ruin metrics.

If you’re building or upgrading your rig to stream or test these games at high settings, I dropped a full setup walkthrough here: my gaming setup guide. And if you’re eyeing next-gen GPUs for Unreal 5 worlds and ray-traced madness, peep this breakdown: RTX 5090 review.

Pros and Cons of Web3 Gaming Heading Into 2026

Pros

• Player ownership that matters: True marketplaces for cosmetics, land, cards, and creator assets. Better than gray-market sites and chargeback nightmares.
• Creator-first ecosystems: Automatic revenue splits, mod monetization, and portable reputations for creators and guilds.
• Composability: Devs can build on each other’s economies and tools. UGC can become an economy, not an afterthought.
• Transparent economies: On-chain data keeps devs honest and lets communities audit supply and sinks.

Cons

• Speculation gravity: Tokens attract traders. If you don’t manage narratives and supply, gameplay gets overshadowed.
• Platform friction: iOS still applies tight rules. Steam bans blockchain apps. Epic is more open but requires clear labeling.
• Botting and multi-accounting: On-chain doesn’t solve this by itself. You still need old-school anti-cheat and economy design.
• Complexity tax: Bridges, wallets, and gas can creep back in if you don’t abstract it away.

Metrics That Actually Matter (For Both Players and Investors)

If you want to convince anyone that your game is healthy, show the same metrics great Web2 live-service games use — and then layer on on-chain transparency:

• Retention: D1/D7/D30. If you can’t keep players, token emissions won’t save you.
• Engagement: Session length, matches per player per day, UGC creation rates, and social graph growth.
• Economy health: Sink/source balance, inflation of key resources, marketplace take rates, velocity of premium items.
• On-chain clarity: Circulating supply now vs. fully diluted, unlock schedule by category, treasury runway in months.
• Bot remediation: Percent of flagged accounts, appeals processed, time-to-ban.

Post these quarterly, stick to the same format, and don’t hide the bad quarters. That’s how you build real trust.

How This Impacts Gamers and Creators Right Now

For players: you’re going to see more games where buying a skin doesn’t lock you into one launcher forever. Trading will be native, not sketchy. Expect more creator hubs where your build or map can actually pay you back if people love it. Also expect some games to bungle this and make a mess — but the good ones are getting easier to spot: smooth onboarding, fair monetization, and updates that talk about gameplay, not token tickers.

For creators and streamers: markets around collectibles and UGC are about to get deeper. If you’re competitive in fighters or shooters, think about how digital collectibles integrate with your brand. Imagine viewer quests that mint fan passes based on match outcomes, or collaborative maps where rev-share is built in. If you’re grinding ranked in something like Tekken 8, our tips still apply regardless of chain talk — check out the Tekken 8 guide if you’re trying to level up.

So… Was Yat Siu Right?

Yeah. The tech is there. The games are catching up. But investor relations is the final boss a lot of studios are still under-leveled for. You can’t ship a great patch and then nuke trust with a surprise unlock. You can’t market a bull run and then deliver a beta delay. You can’t say “community first” if your token dashboard looks like a puzzle room.

Fix IR and a lot of the skepticism melts away. Players want ownership when it improves their experience. Investors want clarity without price theatrics. You can serve both — but it takes discipline, the right stack, and communication that respects each audience.

Actionable Checklist for Teams (Print This, Tape It To Your Wall)

• Launch a live token dashboard with supply, unlocks, and treasury wallets.
• Publish a Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4 letter with gameplay metrics and economy health — every quarter, no excuses.
• Split your content calendar: player updates vs. tokenholder updates.
• Time unlocks alongside major content beats with deep liquidity prepared.
• Offer custodial onboarding with instant export to self-custody.
• Enforce cosmetic-first trading; keep power off-chain or soulbound.
• Staff a real community team that can talk economy design, not just vibes.
• When you miss a deadline, say why, say what changed, and show the new plan.

Conclusion: Make It About Games Again — And Be Honest About Everything Else

Web3 gaming doesn’t need another thread promising “the next era.” It needs studios to handle investor relations like professionals and design economies like game designers, not day traders. Yat Siu’s callout at TOKEN2049 matters because it puts the spotlight where it belongs: not on whether blockchains are evil or perfect, but on whether teams can communicate clearly and build sustainably.

I want a future where buying a skin in one game doesn’t mean I lose it when the servers die. Where creators actually get paid for the worlds they build. Where esports collectibles feel like owning a moment, not buying a bag. That future is possible — and honestly, close — if studios stop tripping over their own token strategies.

What do you think? Have you played any Web3 games that nailed it (or totally faceplanted)? Drop your experiences below. Do you want more breakdowns of specific titles, token models, or economy design? Hit the comments, and let’s talk about the games — and the systems — we actually want to play.

Source: Animoca’s Yat Siu Claims Web3 Gaming Is Being Hurt by Bad Investor Relations