It’s the most wonderful time of the year, the time to look back and consider what we learned during 2025 and how to make the most of that knowledge in 2026.
In this article we catch up with SKALE CEO Jack O’Holleran.
What was the most significant trend for blockchain games in 2025?
Jack O’Holleran: SocialFi pulled a lot of attention at the start of 2025 because it challenged how players connect, but the momentum shifted once people realized that novelty is not enough to sustain a community.
Gamers want worlds that feel fast, fair, and frictionless. They want to feel value, not speculation. As the year progressed, the industry moved away from SocialFi for its own sake and toward experiences where performance, privacy, and seamless gameplay took center stage. Gasless transactions, instant finality, and protected on-chain logic became the expectation, not the aspiration.
The games that won were the ones that used social features to elevate the experience rather than define it. Players showed that they want to spend their time in places that deliver real joy and real agency. That renewed focus on pure fun and genuine value is what reshaped blockchain gaming in 2025.
How did SKALE adapt to these changes?
We adapted by doubling down on the fundamentals that matter most to players and developers. When the industry shifted away from SocialFi gimmicks and toward real utility, we were already focused on performance, privacy, and frictionless design. SKALE’s gasless architecture and fast finality gave game studios exactly what they needed to build experiences that players actually enjoy spending time in.
We also invested heavily in tools that support richer gameplay and more resilient economies, including encrypted execution that protects both strategy and fairness.
Our goal has always been to give creators the foundation to build fun and immersive worlds. As the market matured in 2025, that focus put us in exactly the right position to help teams deliver the type of games players were asking for.
How do you think this will change in 2026?
In 2026 I expect the shift toward real utility to accelerate. The industry spent 2025 stripping away the noise and rediscovering what players actually want. Next year will be about scaling that into mainstream experiences.
Studios are already moving from prototypes to full worlds that rely on fast execution, low friction, and private onchain logic. With technologies like encrypted consensus and gasless gameplay becoming standard, developers will be able to build deeper economies and richer social layers without sacrificing performance.
The biggest change in 2026 will be the move from early adoption to sustained engagement. Games will not be judged by how clever their token mechanics are. They will be judged by whether players choose to spend their time in them. That focus on fun, fairness, and long term value is what will define the next wave of growth.
What was your favourite blockchain game during 2025?
Gunnies was my favorite blockchain game in 2025 because it delivers fast, smooth action without any of the friction players are used to seeing in this space. The third person shooter format is tight and responsive, and every match feels alive with movement and surprises. The art style brings back the sense of play from an earlier era of gaming, the kind of energy that made people fall in love with games in the first place.
What makes it stand out is how natural the experience feels. You never think about the chain. You just play. Gunnies shows how far blockchain gaming has come and what is possible when great design sits on top of real performance.
What’s your New Year’s resolution and what resolution would you enforce on the industry?
My New Year’s resolution is to keep pushing the user experience closer to invisible. The more seamless we make blockchain, the more players, developers, and everyday users can engage without friction. That has always been the goal. Performance, privacy, and reliability need to feel natural so the technology fades into the background and the experience takes center stage.
If I could enforce one resolution on the industry, it would be to stay focused on building for the long term.
Blockchain is not a fad and it is not an extractive mechanism. It is the future backbone of digital systems, but only if we commit to real utility and real value. We need to move past short-term hype cycles and prove, through action and design, that this technology can support the applications people rely on every day. That is how we earn trust and move the entire ecosystem forward.
Read all our End of Year features via the EOY 2025 tag.
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