2026 | Predictions

02/01/2026 49 min

Listen "2026 | Predictions"

Episode Synopsis

Key trends for blockchain games in 2026? Stablecoins, AI agents, FIFA Rivals, AppTokens. [1:17] You need to know what doesn't work before you can find out what does work.[3:18] We thought the value of a blockchain game would be reflected in its token price. It's not.[7:25] In 2025, we saw projects become more focused on who their specific audience is.[9:20] One of the small successes in 2025 was risk-to-earn games for degen gamers.[11:43] But mass market blockchain games are increasingly hiding their crypto elements.[14:58] Blockchain gaming as revolution has failed. Blockchain games as evolution may not.[15:28] Mythical Games is moving to a new stablecoin-based marketplace.[18:15] The success of its FIFA Rivals game in a World Cup year will be interesting to see.[20:00] Stablecoins will continue to become more significant in gaming and fintech in 2026.[24:00] Crypto tokens will kill your game fastest than they can make your game work.[26:20] Cross-chain infrastructure is now much better, which enables better UX.[28:01] AppTokens remain interesting but are difficult for developers to [31:58] AI agents were predicted to be a big trend in 2025 but they weren't.[35:54] AI agents are symbiotic with blockchain. Games could be the first test case.[39:17] AI agents have the potential to fix many of blockchain gaming's problems in 2026.[42:30] Gaming's biggest challenge at present is cost of marketing for web2 and web3.[46:50] Blockchain games are the best positioned part of gaming to take advantage of AI.