VersaGames Shuts Down

Reflections on the Project's End

TL;DR

· VersaGames is shutting down. We explored passing it on to another team, but given the lack of funding and the current state of web3 gaming, this isn’t feasible.

· The team will burn all their tokens. We'll provide liquidity on Cronos for the next month to allow tokenholders to exit. The only remaining value lies in three unreleased investments (approx. $100k each), which may never launch. If any returns materialize, we’ll distribute them to remaining tokenholders.

· Please unstake your $VERSA and either hold or sell into the liquidity (guaranteed for at least 1 month). We plan to deploy ~$50k to support approx. 10 million externally held tokens.

· For more details, read the full post. I'm available on Discord for any questions.

Reflections of VersaGames

When we started VersaGames, web3 gaming was on the rise. There was real excitement around a new model where developers built in the open, gamers could own part of the economy, and tokenomics replaced traditional ad spend for user acquisition. The promise of ownership, interoperability, and a true gaming metaverse felt revolutionary. It could be like poker—more engaging when there’s real value at stake—but applied to traditional gaming, without crossing into gambling.

Web3 also seemed to offer a better way to raise funds: through community and shared incentives, rather than relying solely on VCs and big ad budgets. With that vision, we set out to build a platform that helped players discover great games, onboard safely, and connect with developers. We aimed to support community growth, fundraising, and liquidity—whether users were gamers or investors.

And we’re proud of what we built: a full-featured platform with quality content, strong editorial, and tools designed to serve both gamers and developers. The product was ready to scale with the next wave of adoption in web3 gaming.

I'm incredibly proud of the team's effort. Where we fell short, I take responsibility. We misread the market and misunderstood product–market fit as the cycle evolved. In hindsight, web3 gaming is still in its early days, with major challenges: a small real-user base, a focus on financial gain over entertainment, and developers often prioritizing short-term profit over long-term value.

Still, I hope web3 gaming matures into something meaningful—games that are truly fun, lasting, and offer something unique, even if niche.

Timeline & Use of Funds

VersaGames began in August 2021, self-funded by my co-founder and me with ~$260k. On April 12, 2022, we raised $2M via an IDO on Cronos (CRO–VVS LP). As part of the agreement, we had to hold VVS—unfortunately through the Terra Luna collapse in May 2022. If we still held those assets today, they’d be worth ~$341k, but we moved to USDC as soon as we could.

We also provided ~$1M in liquidity to allow early sellers to exit. Since we still believed in the project and wanted to protect the IDO price, we bought back tokens from the market, spending ~$1.494M in total, significantly reducing the external supply.

After the FTX collapse in Nov 2022, it became clear that web3 gaming would take longer to mature and funding would be hard to find. I began working elsewhere to continue supporting VersaGames, while we downsized and explored pivots.

In August 2023, part of the core team shifted focus to Fortnite UEFN. We incubated their new venture, reducing our ongoing costs. By then, we had already spent:

· ~$930k on salaries (19 months × 12 people × $4.1k avg/month)

· $300k in three $100k SAFT investments

· $375k to support the Fortnite team

The Fortnite team has since left web3 entirely and won’t launch a token. So, as a final step, my co-founder and I will burn all our tokens (despite buying ~$1.494M worth on the secondary market) in exchange for transferring the incubated stake.

Around 10 million external tokens remain. These holders could benefit from any future SAFT investment returns (if those projects launch), and we’ll provide ~$50k USDC in liquidity this month to allow for a fair exit.