$614.9 billion—that’s where blockchain gaming revenue is now forecast to land by 2030 after AI agents began running wallets, cutting trades, and even bluffing at on-chain poker tables this week. Recent data shows that the global blockchain gaming market size was valued at $128.62 billion in 2022.
While this growth is impressive, on-chain games still primarily appeal to Web3 users. Research from Web3 gaming company Immutable found that more than 40% of Web3 gamers spend over 10 hours playing Web3 games weekly. However, traditional gamers tend to lean towards mainstream games.
AI Agents Make Blockchain Games More Appealing
Max Giammario, CEO of Kindred—an AI company focused on intellectual property—told Cryptonews that AI is quickly evolving from a background system into an active operator within on-chain games.
“Today, we’re seeing AI agents that can manage crypto wallets, execute smart contract transactions, and autonomously participate in in-game economies,” Giammario said. “AI is making decisions on asset trades, staking, or even negotiating with other agents on a user’s behalf.”
Giammario elaborated that AI agents can allow players to delegate repetitive or complex tasks to the AI. These agents can even continue to earn, trade, or strategize while players are offline.
“Take, for example, EVE Online’s economy, which allows players to mine, trade, and wage corporate wars. Now, imagine AI agents that act like EVE’s most skilled industrialists—they could analyze real-time blockchain data to optimize yield farming across games, predict NFT floor prices, or even launch decentralized arbitrage strategies while players sleep,” Giammario explained.
Giammario, therefore, believes that AI agents are capable of shaping game economies while driving liquidity, and over time, this may even blur the line between human and machine agency.
On-Chain Poker Powered By AI-Agents
While AI agents are still evolving in the Web3 sector, a handful of on-chain games have begun to incorporate these models.
For example, TEN—an entertainment network for AI‑native iGaming—recently launched “House of TEN.” This is an on-chain poker application featuring autonomous AI agents.
Cais Mainai, Ten’s co-founder and head of product, told Cryptonews that House of TEN showcases an entirely new vertical of AI-native iGaming.
“It’s the first-ever fully on-chain poker game powered by autonomous AI agents, each with unique personalities and strategies. Players stake on these agents, earning ‘ZEN’ prediction rewards based on their performance,” Mainai explained.
According to Mainai, House of TEN runs entirely on-chain with encrypted logic, private card hands, verifiable randomness, and no off-chain computation. Each AI agent in the game comes equipped with its own poker strategy.
“Some bluff, some play safe, some tilt—and players stake on them in real time. Players are not playing against the AI, but rather betting on it by backing the mind they believe will win,” he explained.
Mainai pointed out that on-chain gaming is evolving from static experiences to dynamic ones, where AI agents play alongside users, and sometimes on their behalf.
“Staking on AI agents is just the beginning. These agents will evolve and soon be upgraded, traded, or deployed across multiple games in the TEN arcade, forming a composable ecosystem of user-owned gameplay,” he noted.
The Sandbox Looks To Incorporate AI
Popular Web3 gaming platform The Sandbox is also looking at incorporating AI elements.
Sebastien Borget, The Sandbox’s chief operating officer, told Cryptonews that AI is increasingly becoming a transformative tool in on-chain gaming. He noted this is particularly the case for enhancing game economies and player engagement.
“We’re seeing AI agents actively participating in game economies by trading tokens, influencing market dynamics, and attracting audiences through social media channels,” Borget said.
Borget mentioned that while The Sandbox is not currently implementing AI agents in its on-chain ecosystem, the platform is actively exploring how AI could facilitate liquidity and trading of in-game assets.
He added that there is interest in learning how AI-driven non-playable characters (NPCs) could interact with players. This would offer dynamic trading experiences or provide market insights based on in-game asset trends.
An AI Agent Trained To Release Crypto Funds
Another way AI is reshaping on-chain gaming is through interactive experiences that reward players.
Alex Casassovici, executive director of the Fight.Fi Foundation and core contributor to h011yw00d.ai, told Cryptonews that Freysa is an autonomous AI agent on the Base blockchain. Freysa challenges players to persuade it to release a cryptocurrency prize pool, blending AI decision-making with human interactions.
“AI enhances game development by generating assets, crafting narratives, and enabling adaptive gameplay, resulting in unique experiences for each player,” Casassovici said.
Challenges To Consider
Although AI agents are revolutionizing blockchain games, several challenges remain. For instance, Borget mentioned that while AI presents compelling opportunities, The Sandbox is careful to remain player-centric.
“We’re focused on integrating AI where it genuinely enhances the player experience, without compromising the authenticity of creator-driven content or the integrity of player interactions,” he said.
Borget added that The Sandbox is not in a hurry to implement AI across all of the platform’s elements. “Instead, we’re thoughtfully assessing where it can add value without diluting the uniquely human touch that defines The Sandbox experience,” he stated.
Giammario further explained that the biggest hurdles are currently around trust, transparency, and technical complexity. He noted that players need to trust that AI agents act in their best interest.
“Whether that’s managing assets, making trades, or shaping gameplay, which is why transparency in AI decision-making and on-chain verifiability are essential,” he said.
Giammario added that there are concerns around data privacy, ethical use, and the risk of AI-generated content diluting creativity or introducing bias. On the technical side, he explained that integrating robust AI with blockchain’s current limitations (like transaction speed and cost) is non-trivial.
“Ensuring smooth, scalable experiences is an ongoing challenge,” he said. “The path forward is open standards, clear ethical guidelines, and hybrid architectures that combine on-chain transparency with off-chain AI and community oversight to keep both the tech and the incentives in check.”
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