For a few years, a web3 game could get attention by announcing a token. That era is over, and the numbers from 2026 explain why.
If you're launching anything that touches blockchain and games now, you're pitching a smaller press, a more skeptical audience and a regulatory picture that changes depending on which side of the Atlantic you're standing on.
The hype cycle ended with a body count
In April, CoinDesk reported on a Caladan study of the sector. Roughly 93% of GameFi projects were judged effectively dead, with tokens down about 95% from their 2022 peaks. Gaming took 62.5% of web3 venture funding in 2022. By 2025 its share was in single digits. More than 300 blockchain games have shut down, according to DappRadar data cited in the piece.
The line we'd underline: even at the height of the boom, just 12% of gamers had tried a crypto game, according to a Coda Labs survey cited by Caladan.
That's the real lesson. The money showed up. The players mostly didn't. Nobody covers a protocol. They cover what it lets people do, and for a lot of projects, the honest answer was "trade a token."
Fewer writers, and they're busy
The games press has been shrinking at the same time. Press Engine, the tool many studios use to send press releases and invites, tracks the number of games journalists. Its data, reported by The Game Business in July, showed 349 journalists had left games media so far in 2026 and only 63 had joined. The US (down 104) and UK (down 54) were the hardest hit.
Behind those numbers are real desks. Inverse shut its gaming section in January. In February, Eurogamer cut editorial staff, including its four-person video team, VGC reported.
There's a useful counterpoint in the same Game Business piece. Alex Donaldson, a former Eurogamer editor who just launched a new outlet called Respec, said games PR and marketers are starting to realize "you can get more with a placement at a smaller, more dedicated outlet, which also has an audience that can evangelize, than you might get from a brand with the biggest Similarweb number."
Fewer writers means each one has less time for a pitch that starts with tokenomics. It also means the smaller, community-led outlets matter more than they used to.
The rules arrived, on two timetables
In the US, the picture is split. The GENIUS Act, a federal framework for payment stablecoins, was signed into law in July 2025. The broader market-structure bill, the CLARITY Act, failed a Senate procedural vote on September 15, 2026. DLA Piper's analysis says it may not advance before the new Congress starts in January 2027, when bills generally have to be reintroduced.
In the UK, the timetable is fixed. The FCA published its final cryptoasset rules on June 30, 2026. Firms can apply for authorisation between September 30, 2026 and February 28, 2027, and the regime takes effect on October 25, 2027. Until then, the FCA's oversight of crypto stays limited to financial promotions and anti-money-laundering controls.
That last part matters for PR. In the UK, how you promote a cryptoasset has been regulated since October 2023. One story, two markets: a line that reads as a fun hook in a US pitch can read as an inducement to invest in London.
What to do about it
- Lead with the game. What do players do in the first ten minutes? What's fun about it? If the blockchain part is invisible to players, say so. If it isn't, explain what it gives them that a normal game doesn't. Gamers tune out marketing. Give them something true instead.
- Take the token out of the headline. If your announcement only works because of a token, writers will treat it as a finance story, and most games desks don't want one. Have a version of the pitch that stands up with no price, no chart and no roadmap of future utility.
- Show it working. Hands-on builds, playtests, footage, and a developer who can talk about design. With fewer writers, the ones still working want things they can play and verify.
- Pitch the communities, not just the masthead. The dedicated outlets, newsletters, podcasts and creators your players already trust. Respect their audiences. They can tell when you're faking it.
- Get compliance to read the UK copy. Anything that could read as an invitation to buy or hold a token deserves a review against the FCA's financial promotion rules before it goes to a British outlet or creator. US copy needs care too: regulators there still police misleading claims and undisclosed paid promotion. That's a job for your lawyers, not your agency, but the agency should ask the question.
- Have the hard answers ready. Writers will ask about shutdowns, refunds, who holds the treasury and what happens if the token fails. A team that answers plainly earns more trust than one that pivots to vision.
The upside of a quieter room
Less noise is an opportunity for teams with something real. The writers left on the beat have seen every version of the hype pitch. A game that's fun, a team that's straight with them and a pitch built for players will stand out more now than it would have in 2022.
Launching a game, or a web3 product that has to win over players? Request a briefing.