This Week in Crypto Games: ‘MapleStory N’ Hits Avalanche, Solana’s ‘Nyan Heroes’ Shuts Down

It’s tough to keep tabs on the ever-changing crypto gaming space, thanks to the constant flow of news: everything from big game launches and fun degen experiments to token price swings and occasional project collapses. It’s a lot to follow.

Luckily,we’re plugged in at Decrypt‘s GG. We cover the biggest happenings throughout the week, and then this weekly roundup provides a quick way to catch up, as well as find a bunch of other little bits of news from throughout the week.

Top stories

MapleStory N now live: MapleStory N launched on the Avalanche blockchain, marking what’s being hailed as one of the biggest crypto game releases to date. The game combines the familiar 2D MMORPG gameplay of the 22-year-old franchise with crypto tech, allowing players to own and trade in-game assets. The launch triggered a 549% spike in Avalanche active addresses and included the network’s largest NFT mint ever—over 1.7 million free Scroll NFTs.

The ecosystem’s token, Nexpace (NXPC), rose to a peak market cap above $600 million after launch Wednesday, and has settled a bit under $400 million as of Sunday. That makes it one of the biggest gaming tokens on the market right now.

Nyan Heroes is done: Solana-based, cat-themed hero shooter Nyan Heroes is shutting down after failing to secure additional funding, 9 Lives Interactive announced Friday. Despite completing four play tests through the Epic Games Store, holding a NYAN token airdrop, and attracting over one million players, the Overwatch-style PC title couldn’t overcome recent industry financial challenges.

9 Lives CEO Max Fu told Decrypt that acquisition discussions are ongoing, but could take time to produce results. The NYAN token plummeted 40% following the announcement, and is now trading almost 99% below its May 2024 peak. Other similar crypto game shutdown announcements include The Mystery Society and The Walking Dead: Empires.

Pixelmon adopts AVAX: Pokémon-inspired crypto gaming franchise Pixelmon will launch its flagship mobile RPG Warden’s Ascent on Avalanche in the second half of 2025, along with several other upcoming titles. While Pixelmon’s core assets remain on Ethereum and its existing “Monster Tycoon” game will stay on Immutable zkEVM, all future projects will deploy on Avalanche.

Pixelmon CEO Giulio Xiloyannis cited Avalanche’s ability to onboard millions of gamers and the potential for a dedicated Pixelmon L1 (aka subnet) as key factors in the decision. This partnership represents a strategic shift for Pixelmon, which has transformed from a ridiculed NFT project in 2022 to a multi-game franchise with a mobile-first strategy.

ICYMI

• Week-long crypto game experiment DX Terminal kicked off, tasking 36,000 tokenized AI agents with battling to amass faux meme coins. Early on, the traders are into hot dog-themed coins.

• A Slither.io clone called Noodle.gg went viral last week, letting players eat each others’ snakes to steal their crypto. An associated Solana meme coin got hot as a result.
• Ethereum game Pixels now has a flirting challenge with an AI agent, resulting in what some players are calling a “rizz-to-earn” mini-game with token rewards and a potential future airdrop, as well.

• Immutable-based crypto game Blast Royale is shutting down. The developers plan to open-source the game for the community to tinker with.
• Sugartown sold through its 7,777-item Cores NFT drop on Ethereum layer-2 network Abstract.

• Popular metaverse app VRChat is launching its own avatar marketplace. No, it doesn’t use NFTs.
• Off the Grid is gradually adding more players to its Avalanche L1 mainnet, enabling on-chain trading of in-game items.