{"id":376536,"date":"2025-02-28T11:11:12","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T05:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/greed-and-stupidity-are-killing-crypto-games-says-mystery-society-ceo-crypto-news\/"},"modified":"2025-02-28T11:15:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T05:45:04","slug":"greed-and-stupidity-are-killing-crypto-games-says-mystery-society-ceo-crypto-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/greed-and-stupidity-are-killing-crypto-games-says-mystery-society-ceo-crypto-news\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Greed and Stupidity\u2019 Are Killing Crypto Games, Says \u2018Mystery Society\u2019 CEO – Crypto News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Mystery Society<\/a>, a Web3 game that pairs the casual-friendly gameplay of Among Us with a murder mystery vibe, has suspended development after developer Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow said it struggled to find funding<\/a> to continue supporting the game.<\/p>\n

The web-based game debuted in early 2024 as the studio raised $3 million in a funding round led by Shima Capital. Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow was founded by game industry veterans and led by CEO Chris Heatherly, who previously oversaw Disney\u2019s Club Penguin gaming platforms and later NBCUniversal\u2019s gaming division.<\/p>\n

Mystery Society initially launched on Ethereum<\/a> scaling network Polygon<\/a> and then migrated to Immutable<\/a> late last year, with plans to launch a MYSTRY token around the game. But now the token is on hold following Monday\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n

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We are very sad to announce that The Mystery Society unfortunately will be suspending development.<\/p>\n

We built an S-tier team, shipped and live operated an actually fun game with promising metrics, and built a passionate community, but unfortunately, the state of web3 gaming is\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/PqMv355KGd<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 The Mystery Society (@InviteToMystery) February 24, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe will keep the game live for as long as we can while we look for a new home,\u201d the team\u2019s X post read. \u201cWe are considering a relaunch without the Web3 elements on Steam. And we are open to shifting the game to a publisher\u2014either in Web2 or Web3\u2014if there are any willing to take it forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post briefly pointed to issues securing funding to continue development on the game, and when reached for comment, Heatherly didn\u2019t mince words about the current state of play.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s the mother of all clusterfucks for Web3 gaming right now\u2014the crypto market’s crashing, VCs are tapped out, and a poor track record of game token [generation events, or TGEs],\u201d he told Decrypt<\/i>. \u201cMost of the dry powder was deployed months ago, and many VCs have been forced into liquid trading of alts and memes to try to show returns to LPs so they can raise new funds. The risk appetite is non-existent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, crypto prices have been battered of late. While Bitcoin<\/a> and other assets surged in the wake of President Trump\u2019s November election win, with some reaching new all-time peaks, many top coins have already shed most of those gains. Bitcoin traded below $83,000 on Thursday, barely a month after peaking above $108,000.<\/p>\n

Gaming tokens have taken some of the hardest hits, trading much like meme coins with their volatile swings. And as of this writing, only two gaming tokens remain in the top 100 coins by market cap<\/a>, with several falling from the list in recent months. Most of last year\u2019s biggest new gaming tokens<\/a> have since cratered in value.<\/p>\n

In his comments to Decrypt<\/i>, Heatherly pointed the finger at a desire from investors and traders for quick returns on a token, all while recent momentum around meme coins crashes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeme coins have really fucked the space more than people want to admit,\u201d he said. \u201cIt lured people into magical \u2018ponzinomic\u2019 thinking that you don’t need a real product, you just need hype, and you can just rotate from token to token, narrative to narrative by chasing alpha.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heatherly said this is why many crypto game creators are launching things like dedicated layer-2 networks, Telegram spinoff games, and AI agents in an effort to keep the hype alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that some of this isn’t potentially worth doing,\u201d he clarified, \u201cbut it\u2019s being done to court investment or hype a token, not in a principled or long-term way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heatherly still thinks Web3 gaming has a future. A model in which players can sell their NFTs or tokens for some level of return when they stop playing a digital game could help boost Web3 adoption, he believes. But that only works when expectations are kept in check, and players don\u2019t demand a massive token reward just for trying out a game.<\/p>\n

The Mystery Society was developed while considering the performance of comparable \u201cWeb2\u201d games like Among Us and Stumble Guys, which Heatherly said have each earned hundreds of millions of dollars without crypto economics. He believes the free-to-play industry would rapidly shift on-chain if such a model was proven out, but that requires moving past the \u201cget-rich-quick fantasy\u201d that remains pervasive in the space.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreed and stupidity from just about all players is killing the space before it can prove itself,\u201d Heatherly added. \u201cWe need to be focused on building healthy on-chain businesses first, and end this TGE-to-nowhere ponzinomic fallacy. Every Web3 gaming founder I know is frustrated, burned out, and just doing what they are doing to try to survive\u2014but with true conviction evaporating by the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there may be light at the end of the tunnel. On Wednesday, Heatherly wrote<\/a> that he\u2019s received outreach from various chains and creators in the space, and is considering an idea to \u201ctokenize the IP\u201d for The Mystery Society or pursue another path forward.<\/p>\n

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So many people have reached out and offered support after our announcement of the suspension of development on @InviteToMystery<\/a> <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had a lot of good conversations on how to keep this going. <\/p>\n

Some of the opportunities:<\/p>\n

– A podcaster reached out to see if he can make podcast\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Chris Heatherly (@chrisheatherly) February 27, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI got into this because I missed Club Penguin and I wanted to do Club Penguin for adults,\u201d he wrote on X. \u201cAnd somehow, all the people I got introduced to just wanted to extract, and it just felt soulless and so disconnected from what I want to do and am good at.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the last few days, you\u2019ve let me know that you<\/i> may still be out there,\u201d Heatherly continued. \u201cYou<\/i> may still care. You<\/i> may want to build something together that\u2019s more than a pump and dump. You<\/i> may want to build a real clubhouse for Web3. If you<\/i> are still out there and you<\/i> want to figure this out, I think I see a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

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