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The blockchain gaming craze has dried up in China
China’s tech giants launched crypto pets games in the vein of CryptoKitties, but they no longer exist after burning investors
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This article originally appeared on ABACUS
When CryptoKitties launched in 2017, it kicked off a craze for blockchain-based games that allowed people to buy and sell virtual animals.
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There are now more than a million virtual cats available across various blockchains. And not just cats: There are digital dogs, cyber bunnies, crypto alpacas, frogs and robots, many of which are now abandoned remnants of one of the fastest technology boom-and-bust bubbles the world has seen.
Chinese tech companies were quick to capitalize on the trend, but the biggest games wouldn’t last long. Many players who sunk their hard-earned cash into collecting digital pets got burned when the bubble popped.
Lured by aggressive promotion and promises of becoming a millionaire, Mr. Dong transferred US$14,200 to buy virtual pigs on a game called Bit Pig. In late July, however, he found that the platform no longer worked and his investment was gone, according to a WeChat post from the internet police in Shanghai’s Pudong district.
At its peak, the hype drove thousands like Mr. Dong to invest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based projects. The technology, based around a tamper-proof distributed ledger, found its way into every industry imaginable, including gaming.
But how would a virtual pet have any value at all?
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