Derby Race, the blockchain based horse racing game, will officially shut down on April 7, 2025. The announcement also marks the end of Derby Stars, the web3 gaming project under the same development studio, Hypedream. In a detailed farewell letter, PD Ham Seon-woo, CEO of Hypedream, explained the financial and emotional difficulties that led to the closure.

The shutdown means that players will no longer be able to access Derby Race after April 7. The company confirmed that no further minting of $Race tokens will occur, and players cannot exchange or claim rewards from wRace or Race Points. Furthermore, in-game wallets will be disabled. Players have been urged to use the PK Export function to transfer their wallets to external services like MetaMask before the cutoff date.

To help players retain control of their in-game wallets, Hypedream has provided a guide for exporting private keys before the shutdown. Players should click their profile icon at the top right corner of the Earn tab, navigate to 'My Page', click their wallet address (0x0), then select 'Manage Wallet' followed by 'Export Private Key'.

The announcement follows months of uncertainty and is the result of a multi-year journey plagued by financial hurdles, investor retreats, and personal health challenges faced by the team’s leadership.

Terra Crash Triggered Initial Collapse

Hypedream was launched in July 2021 and completed its seed round investment in early 2022. But just two months later, the company was hit hard by the Terra ecosystem collapse. According to PD Ham, Hypedream lost all its NFT revenue and one-third of its seed funding virtually overnight.

In response, the team made a difficult pivot, choosing Polygon as a new blockchain to launch Derby Stars. Despite efforts to recover, the product was not what the team had originally envisioned. Key features such as land ownership and in-game building systems were missing at launch due to budget constraints, which led to underwhelming performance and user criticism.

Health Crisis and Team Layoffs

In the months following the lackluster launch, Hypedream had to let go of 75% of its development staff. At the same time, PD Ham was dealing with a serious health crisis—facial paralysis that left him unable to move the right side of his face. Despite physical and emotional strain, the team continued to work with a small crew of ten members.

Hypedream made renewed attempts to revive the Derby ecosystem, including a migration of Derby Stars to Immutable and the launch of Derby Race on Telegram. While both projects performed reasonably well in terms of user activity, they failed to attract new investment. Interest in GameFi had declined, and enthusiasm around AI agents had faded, making it harder to secure funding.

No Recovery, No Further Roadmap

The company’s leadership tried to explore alternative monetization strategies, including Twitter-based games and betting systems through partnerships like Fanplay. But none of these experiments led to meaningful traction. Despite multiple attempts at additional fundraising rounds, no investors came forward.

After three years and nine months of operations, and despite launching two products, Hypedream could not sustain its business. The final decision to shut down both Derby Stars and Derby Race was made by the remaining team after exhausting all options.

Apology and Gratitude from the Team

In a heartfelt message, PD Ham expressed deep regret for not delivering on the community’s expectations. He took full responsibility for the project’s shortcomings and praised his team for their dedication, noting that not a single member left even after significant downsizing. He also thanked the Derby community for its unwavering support over the years.

The letter closed with a final message of gratitude and a wish for happiness and success for the community that had stood by the project through its highs and lows.