Raini Shutdown & Virtual Worlds: Crypto Gaming Roundup

The rapidly shifting crypto gaming landscape.

Analysts agree: tracking developments across Web3 gaming is complex. Amidst news cycles focusing on NFT launches, community experiments, tokenomics fluctuations, and project lifecycles, staying informed presents a challenge.

This week’s update from Decrypt aims to consolidate key happenings. Herein, we explore major developments, notable moments, and brief perspectives shaping the sector.

Top Stories

Raini’s Pivot Ends Card Game Journey

Growth constraints and unprofitability ultimately forced the conclusion of Raini’s Battlegrounds card game, despite its crypto elements.

Raini Studios recently announced that its Avalanche-based NFT card game, Raini: The Lords of Light, will cease operations on July 21. Functionally akin to Hearthstone and available on Epic Games Store, the competitive card battler will first distribute over 2 million RST tokens (valued at approximately $3,800) as final token rewards to players before its closure.

Initial development saw the game debuting its NFT cards on Ethereum before migrating to the Avalanche chain. Notable for its fantasy theme and integration of crypto culture references—including Dogecoin and the FTX saga—through humor, Raini nonetheless struggled with declining player engagement. The studio cited player number reductions as the primary reason for the project’s suspension.

However, Raini Studios is actively shifting strategic focus. Development is now prioritized for upcoming action games, Lucha Throwdown and Uncaged: The Jon Jones Brawler, complete with a new deflationary tokenomics strategy for their native RST token. In the immediate term, the RST token experienced a 60% weekly price increase but remains down nearly 99% from its 2024 peak.

Eve Frontier Unveils Free Trial

CCP Games’ blockchain-integrated Eve Frontier aims to showcase the narrative potential for legacy tracking through its New Era Founders Access program.

Developed by CCP Games, based on the renowned space MMO Eve Online, the Ethereum-based title Eve Frontier: The Undying now offers a 10-day free trial period from June 27 to July 7. This trial period serves as an “entry ticket” to explore the space survival game, enabling players to mine resources, establish bases, and earn “Grace” points.

These Grace points can then be converted into permanent “Eve Points,” which track a player’s legacy across game iterations—a feature CCP Community Developer Ben Sisson emphasized as highly sought after by veteran “Eve” fans. The trial follows the much-anticipated launch of “New Era Founders Access,” which lifted the previous NDA limitations on early players.

The game’s design features “cycles” or seasonal resets where short-term progress dissipates but overarching, long-term rewards persist. Operating on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) Redstone network, Eve Frontier integrates tradable in-universe tokens alongside a game-specific LUX token whose utility remains enigmatic as currency and rewards embed into player progression.

Arriving on the heels of a $40 million funding round secured by the parent company, CCP Games anticipates Eve Frontier‘s launch to blend established universe appeal with emergent blockchain capabilities. This integration is viewed as a positive progression in expanding the franchise while innovating on the industry-disruptive platform ethos CCP Games espouses, offering players a shared environment compatible with third-party development.

A recurring theme across the industry remains investor advisors’ inclination to explore projects labeled as “GameFi,” blending gaming enjoyment with financial mechanics or blockchains.

GameFi Hubs, Optimized Macs: Crypto Bits We’ve Noted

The Sandbox & Cirque du Soleil

Decentraland competitor The Sandbox announced a landmark collaboration with real-world entertainment behemoth Cirque du Soleil to bring “breathtaking performances and immersive storytelling” into its metaverse environment.

Announced via Twitter at the NFT New York event on June 25, 2025.
This venture appears poised to integrate Cirque’s signature artistic productions into the sandbox.
Details and a timeline for implementation await.
No specific social media sharing included in this excerpt but original link and presentation point suggested.

Performance Gains for Off The Grid

DC‘s Off The Grid (an apparent typo in original title), a WebXR experience accessible via Stealthic browser, demonstrated significant technical advancements for Mac users.

Key observation: Runs natively on Apple Silicon (ARM architecture), enhancing performance.
Recent optimization update refined settings for varied hardware capabilities.
Users now have the option to select a “Low” graphics setting (Mac equivalent to PC “Low”) for improved performance without necessitating top-end hardware.
Tested specifically on an Apple M4 Max system with 128GB RAM.
The blog post context suggests this update potentially paves the way for wider Mac adoption of the head-mounted display (HMD) metaverse experience.