In a blow to web3 gaming, Nyan Heroes has officially shut down. The Solana-based hero shooter—where players took control of cats piloting giant mechs—ended development on May 16 after its creators, 9 Lives Interactive, failed to secure enough funding. 

This marks the end of a game that had built strong momentum over the past few years. More than one million players joined across four playtests, and over 250,000 users wishlisted the game on Steam and the Epic Games Store.

"We're collectively heartbroken that we won't be able to bring our cat-inspired universe to completion," the team said in a final post on X.

The developers also said that their most recent build "failed to drive the player numbers" they needed. Even with talks around publishers, grants, and possible acquisition, no deal came through.

$NYAN Token and NFT Prices Drop After Shutdown

After the news broke, the game's $NYAN token lost over 40% of its value. It is now down nearly 99% from its all-time high. The Genesis Cat NFTs were hit just as hard, dropping over 70% in price. The floor value now sits around 0.024 SOL on Magic Eden.

Other Web3 Games Face Similar Fate

The end of Nyan Heroes adds to a growing list of web3 games shutting down in 2025.

In January, Deadrop developer Mystery Society pulled the plug after three years of work. That team also cited an inability to raise the funds needed to go forward.

Earlier this month, Gala Games confirmed that The Walking Dead: Empires will end support this July. Like Nyan Heroes, it struggled to maintain momentum in a tough funding climate.

Blast Royale Also Announces Shutdown

Just hours after the Nyan Heroes announcement, web3 battle royale Blast Royale shared that it too will shut down. The game will officially close on June 30, but the team has decided to open source the project starting June 1. That means anyone from the community can continue development using the game's codebase with no restrictions.

The studio says it will continue to support community efforts by providing access to its developers and designers. In-app payments have been disabled, but the Discord will remain open as a space for fans to share memories and ideas.

What Was Nyan Heroes?

At its core, Nyan Heroes was a hero shooter with a twist. Set in a sci-fi world called Nekovia, players took control of agile cats piloting heavy mechs. Think Overwatch, but with cats and robots.

The game leaned hard into mobility, borrowing from real-life feline agility with mechanics like wall-running, wall-climbing, super jumps, and air-dashing. Players could chain these together to cross the map quickly or dodge enemy fire.

The game was built using Unreal Engine 5 and featured web3 integration, allowing players to earn and trade in-game assets via blockchain. It was one of the more polished-looking web3 shooters to date, with some of the development talent coming from major franchises like Halo and Destiny.

The Play to Airdrop Push

Nyan Heroes ran a series of play to airdrop events to get players engaged. The final playtest, from March 26 to April 13 this year, was the biggest of all, with 6.7 million $NYAN tokens up for grabs.

There were three reward tiers:

  • Challenger Tier: Players who completed 50+ matches and ranked in the top 5,000 split 3.7 million tokens.
  • Leaderboard Tier: Competitive players with at least 25 wins and top-3,000 ranks shared 2 million tokens, with the #1 player earning a whopping 250,000 tokens.
  • Genesis Tier: NFT holders got bonuses and multipliers, depending on the rarity of their assets.

These campaigns were designed to reward casual and hardcore players, while giving NFT holders a reason to stay in the game. Despite all these efforts, it wasn't enough.

Who Built Nyan Heroes?

The game was made by 9 Lives Interactive, a remote studio founded in 2021. They were previously known as Rude Robot Studios. The team had veterans from Halo and Destiny, bringing AAA experience to the web3 space.

In 2024, they raised $3 million to support the game's global launch. Over time, Nyan Heroes got media attention from outlets like IGN and Game Rant. It even topped the Epic Games Store's trending charts more than once.

But behind the scenes, money was drying up. In a statement to Decrypt, CEO Max Fu said:

"It's been a difficult last few months. Currently, we are exploring acquisition of the studio and/or the IP. Some discussions are underway, but I suspect it may take some time to finalize a decision."

Where Things Stand Now

For now, Nyan Heroes is frozen. The team has turned off comments on its latest X post and removed chat channels from Discord. The community has been left in silence, waiting to see if the game might return one day.

It's unclear whether anyone will step in to pick up the studio or its IP. But fans will likely remember Nyan Heroes as one of the more polished and creative projects of its kind.