Realms of Alurya and Wonder Wars are the latest to go amid a wave of crypto gaming closures in 2025. Both games were hosted on Ronin, a gaming-focused sidechain of Ethereum, and cited financial trouble as the reason for halting development.

Wonder Wars and Hello Monster Shut Down Entirely

The team behind Wonder Wars and its parent studio Hello Monster confirmed on May 29 that both the game and studio would cease operations. In a detailed message on X, the team explained that despite strong community support, they fell short of key business metrics.

"Unfortunately, despite all the passion and effort, we weren't able to secure the necessary funding to develop a live service game for the coming years," said Hello Monster. "We also didn't reach the key metrics needed to make Wonder Wars a sustainable or profitable game in the long run."

They further explained why the project could not continue. "The broader market conditions didn't help either. Web3 gaming continues to face significant headwinds, and the momentum needed to push Hello Monster and Wonder Wars forward simply hasn't materialized at the scale we needed," the studio stated.

The decision also affects the project's planned utility token, which will no longer be launched. "It wouldn't be honest to launch a utility token that would have no real use in the mid or long term and would end up being purely speculative," the developers said. "That's not who we are. That's not in our DNA. We are game developers."

The game will remain online until the end of June, giving players a chance for one last run before servers shut down.

Realms of Alurya Enters Maintenance Mode After Lost Partnership

On May 28, Realms of Alurya entered maintenance mode following the abrupt end of a publishing deal with Treasure. The team explained that this unexpected change caused a major financial disruption. The game had just launched a new in-game event called Hunt & Mint.

"As the Hunt & Mint event comes to a close… we recognize the need to take a step back and address these challenges properly," wrote Oscar Soler, Creative Director and Co-founder of the game. "More importantly, we're now focusing on securing the support and stability needed to move the project forward."

Soler revealed that their exclusivity agreement with Treasure included milestone-based funding, which was only partially delivered. "Without any prior notice, Treasure informed us that all agreements were being terminated immediately. By that time, we had received roughly 50% of the promised funding."

The timing couldn't have been worse. "This was communicated to us just one week before the biggest event in our game's history," Soler said.

Despite the blow, the team managed to quickly migrate the game to the Ronin network and launch the event. But the results were not enough to secure new investment. "We hoped that the event would buy us enough time to secure new investors. Unfortunately (and understandably) it didn’t perform as we had hoped for."

Soler was candid in his message to players. "We screwed up relying so much on our publisher… We should have had a secondary source of funding, we've learnt our lesson the hard way."

For now, the game remains offline as the team looks for new partners. "We are reviewing all proposals and committed to finding a sustainable solution," Soler said.

A Larger Pattern of Web3 Game Shutdowns

These shutdowns are part of a broader trend affecting the blockchain gaming sector. Several games have announced closures in May alone.

Nyan Heroes, a Solana-based shooter, stopped development despite having over a million users during testing. Blast Royale, a mobile battle royale game, is shutting down on June 30 but will open its codebase to the public. Rumble Kong League and Ember Sword also folded due to funding and development struggles.

Earlier, Gala Games confirmed that The Walking Dead: Empires will sunset on July 31 after three years in the making. NFT holders will receive compensation in the form of assets for other Gala titles.

Meanwhile, Shatterline, a sci-fi shooter, will remove its multiplayer mode by June 26 and shift to single-player.

The Road Ahead

The closure of Realms of Alurya and Wonder Wars underscores the volatility of the web3 gaming space. As token-driven games face increased scrutiny and user expectations grow, studios are discovering that early hype is not enough to sustain long-term success.

As such, many are now watching closely to see which titles will weather the storm, and which ones will be the next to fold.