Web3 Game ‘Nyan Heroes’ Officially Shuts Down Due to Lack of Funding
Another high-profile blockchain game project has shut down amid the Web3 industry's funding crunch.
Solana, Nyan Heroes, an Overwatch-style shooter with a cat-controlled robot theme on the Solana platform, has officially announced its closure. Developer 9 Lives Interactive said it was unable to raise enough funding to complete the product, despite positive signals from the gaming community.
After four successful beta tests on the Epic Games Store, attracting more than 1 million players and 250,000 wishlists, Nyan Heroes was expected to be one of the most prominent Web3 games of 2025. However, difficulties in raising funds have forced the development team to make the decision to stop.
"This is not the outcome we wanted," the studio shared on X (formerly Twitter). "We have achieved many important milestones but have not been able to secure funding to continue developing the game."
CEO Max Fu said the team is considering selling the studio or the IP rights. However, he admitted that "any solution will take a long time to reach an agreement."
In parallel with the sad news, the value of the NYAN token - the native token of the Nyan Heroes ecosystem - has plummeted. At the time of writing, NYAN is trading around $0.006, down more than 98% from its peak of $0.45 in May 2024. Its current market capitalization has fallen below the $1 million mark.
The NYAN token was the center of the largest airdrop on Solana earlier this year. However, the project's collapse has reinforced concerns that gaming tokens are losing their real value.
Web3 Gaming continues to be in crisis: Are 'greed and naivety' to blame?
The closure of Nyan Heroes is not an isolated case. Previously, in February 2025, the Web3 game Mystery Society on Ethereum also had to suspend development due to lack of funding, despite raising $3 million in a funding round led by Shima Capital.
Gala Games also recently announced that it would stop supporting The Walking Dead: Empires in July. The blockchain game development and investment community is increasingly realizing that massive player counts or airdrops are no substitute for a sustainable revenue model.
Loopify, the founder of Treeverse and investor in Nyan Heroes, shared frankly on social media:
“They have impressive play numbers, but a lot of it is due to incentives. Ultimately, the most important thing is still net revenue — only achieved when there is a fit between product and market.”
Game tokens plummet – IMX is the only bright spot
The game token market is going through a dark period. Most gaming tokens have fallen out of the top 100 on CoinGecko. IMX – Immutable’s token – is the rare name that has maintained its position, reflecting investors’ strictness towards projects that have no real use value.
Conclusion:
The collapse of Nyan Heroes is a wake-up call for the entire Web3 gaming industry: good ideas or a large number of players are not enough. In a capital-hungry market, only products with a clear business model, creating real value and being able to adapt to market demand can survive.