Web3 games are bridging the gap between crypto natives and gaming natives by offering true asset ownership, community governance, and engaging gameplay. Discover how projects like Mythical Games are reshaping blockchain gaming for mainstream adoption.
A crypto native is, in the strictest sense, someone with the necessary knowledge to use crypto instruments independently.
On a more personal note, they understand and embrace Web3’s trustless, decentralized ethos. On the other hand, a gaming native is someone who has played games across platforms for a long time, understands gaming culture and terminology without needing explanations, and feels at home in online communities like Twitch, Discord, and Reddit. For true gamers, games can be a form of social connection and creative expression.
Why Web3 Games Are Appealing to Crypto Natives
Web3 games target players who know how to use cryptocurrencies and NFTs. These digital assets are indispensable in the games, after all. While traditional in-game purchases (characters, skins) are locked within the ecosystem, these assets are tokenized in Web3, which means players entirely own and can trade, sell, or otherwise use them across platforms.
Crypto natives are familiar with the difference between utility tokens (used for in-game purchases, upgrades, transactions, etc.), reward tokens (earned through gameplay and used to cash out or stake), and governance tokens (which allow players to vote on decisions affecting game development).
Web3 players use game tokens to buy land, skins, weapons, etc. Some games make it possible to earn passive income through staking. Players can also exchange tokens for fiat on crypto exchanges.
Gaming Natives Find Solace in the Familiar
The concept of Web3 didn’t start getting popular until around 2021, although it was coined by Gavin Wood in 2014. It’s safe to assume the gaming natives of 2025 got started with Web2 games, which differed from Web3 in that they relied on a central authority.
In Web3, the community votes on rules, game updates, and other adjustments using governance tokens. Publishers and developers own in-game assets and data and control traditional games. Web3 game players are then, in a sense, also crypto natives in that they embrace decentralization and support true ownership of in-game assets. This support partly underlies their decision to start playing Web3 games.
On the other hand, there’s more to Web3 games than the crypto tokens used in them, which makes the term “crypto native” restrictive. Players need to understand more than crypto to be successful at these games.
Mainstream adoption of blockchain games would require the players to understand crypto and the elements that overlap between Web2 and Web3 games, such as strategy, progression, skill expression, and community.
For example, both the Web2 game Clash Royale and Web3’s Skyweaver involve a real-time strategy using cards with similar depth. Deck-building is a critical element of both games’ strategies. Players of Clash Royale buy card packs but don’t own their cards, while Skyweaver players own their cards as NFTs, which they can trade or sell.
Therein lies the dilemma: can the games appeal to both crypto and gaming natives?
Pool of Possible Target Users
Mythical Games, the creator of the acclaimed blockchain game NFL Rivals and exciting upcoming releases like FIFA Rivals, Pudgy Party, and Blankos (coming to mobile), ensures its games have something for everyone.
On iOS and Android, NFL Rivals challenges the user to build a team of NFL players from digital cards. Once they’ve assembled a team, they can play offense-only games against AI or rise to challenges, such as losing in the fourth quarter and needing to win to earn rewards.
There’s also a multitude of NFL players to unlock, limited-time events, and leagues to cover as the player progresses. The game offers incentives and exciting gameplay to gaming natives and fans of the NFL, while crypto natives will appreciate the MYTH token underpinning the dynamic economy. MYTH drives efficient and secure transactions across the ecosystem with low fees, high scalability, and seamless interoperability.
At the core of the ecosystem is the Mythical Platform, which removes the complexity of adding a secondary game economy. The platform was created by and for developers with onboarding guides to usher in an era of frictionless Web3 gaming.
The post Crypto Natives vs Gaming Natives: Can Web3 Games Win Them Both? appeared first on Cryptonews.
