22 May 2026 | Weekly news roundup

MapleStory Universe's Vibe Camp hackathon has closed with over 430 entries. [00:22] MapleStory Universe's Vibe Camp and the rise of web3 game jams in the AI era. [02:10] Why Verse8's AI platform made this hackathon easier to enter - over 430 entries. [02:48] Playing the Vibe Camp games -- many seems high quality. [03:12] MapleStory’s curation dilemma -- openness vs controlling the IP. [04:47] Axie Infinity has run the third playtest for Atia’s Legacy this week.[05:50] Combat was 8x8 bouts, 5 weapons. There was also a paid AXS tournament.[06:49] Axie Terrariums got an update with more ways of boosting your yield. [09:17] Terrariums generated $95,753 during its first week. [12:46] Wemade's founder has sold his 39% stake for around $600 million.[14:25] Why are Chinese-linked investors buying into Wemade?[17:38] What does the sale mean for Wemade’s blockchain strategy?[18:51] Avalon says it will be using Sony's Soneium blockchain (an Ethereum L2).[22:00] The blockchain will be used for ownership and payments but no wallets or gas.[24:40] EVE Online and EVE Frontier's Carbon game framework is now fully open source.[26:50] This is a key part of Fenris' vision for EVE Frontier as an open ecosystem. [27:20] MapleStory Universe vs EVE Frontier: two different blockchain philosophies.

Jon Jordan talks to Nexpace COO Keith Kim about MapleStory N's first year, and how AI will power the MapleStory Universe ecosystem in 2026. [01:00] MapleStory N’s first year - $31M revenue, 3.8M accounts, 650K engaged wallets.[02:10] How the profile was different for MapleStory N to traditional MapleStory gamers. [02:57] What we have done well is being agile and altering our strategy, adjusting quickly.[03:25] The pace of updates for MapleStory N is 3-5x faster than for a web2 game. [04:20] The Winter update - new maps, new bosses - has driven really good numbers.[05:06] From Feb 2026, MapleStory N started recouping more token value than it emitted.[05:40] June could be MapleStory N’s highest revenue and biggest NXPC token deflation.[09:45] In web2, players play for fun. In web3, some players spend as much as $100k a day. [11:12] Players really try to make money during the first 3 months of any blockchain game. [13:36] Our goal is to work out how we can add blockchain to make MapleStory more fun. [14:40] It took 6 months to gain confidence in our direction from the reaction of real fans. [16:05] When Keith realized the eye-opening power of AI for games. [17:13] Nexpace has been encouraging the team to build their own games with AI.[18:55] We're trying to consider the scenarios of how AI changes the game industry.[19:17] Initially, we were worried that game IP becomes less important in the AI era.[21:18] You have to let your fans use AI to extend your IP.[21:58] We hope our MapleStory Universe builders make more money than we do.[26:05] Some IP holders want to tightly control their brand. We just want to limit AI slop. [28:20] We need to change our view of what is high-quality content. It's up to the users.[30:04] This is a very exciting time to be a builder, especially with MapleStory. [33:38] Professional developers can also build proper businesses on MapleStory IP.

Axie: Terrariums goes live, Fishing Frenzy and Pudgy Party close down.[00:42] Sky Mavis is rebooting its vision for Axie land NFTs with Terrariums. [01:25] It builds on the complex learnings of the original Axie land game Homeland.[02:14] Homeland was an attempt to combine land-based gameplay and NFT staking. [04:31] It was a surprisingly deep resource-management game but a bad staking system.[07:10] Sky Mavis removed staking in early 2024, and everyone stopped playing Homeland. [08:39] Terrariums is the v1 attempt to rebuild a land NFT staking system using the bAXS token. [10:33] Terrariums will also be the base layer for land gameplay, which will be added over time. [12:48] Ronin idle mobile/browser game Craft World has announced 60,000 MAUs. [16:00] Craft World is a full onchain game but very accessible. [19:53] You can market it to a web2 audience and there's no talk of wallets or gas or tokens. [23:37] In Craft World, you can't buy your way to top status. Time is a key resource too. [25:28] Fishing Frenzy is shutting down. In contrast to Craft World, it was a crypto-first cozy game. [28:05] You can sustain crypto-first games for as long as players think they will get free rewards. [30:22] Pudgy Party is shutting down as Pudgy Penguins focuses on Pudgy World web portal. [33:00] Pudgy Party was good but lacked the marketing support required for a social game. [34:35] Pudgy World is cheaper and easier to operate and market as a platform.

The Sandbox announces its AI creation and distribution platform The Sandbox Studio.[02:05] The Sandbox announces The Sandbox Studio, its AI-powered creator tools. [03:00] Roblox as the obvious benchmark for AI-powered UGC in games[04:20] Did The Sandbox waste time in H2 2025 on Corners, its memecoin experiment?[06:40] What The Sandbox Studio actually is, and why it is still only in alpha[07:25] Why Sandbox’s old creator tools were already good, but never solved distribution[08:35] Roblox vs Sandbox: the importance of instant publishing and social concurrency[10:10] AI harnesses vs AI models[11:47] Will such specialist frameworks matter once foundation models get much better?[13:10] The big strategic question: do creators need The Sandbox Studio if AI can make games directly?[14:00] Sandbox’s plan to help creators publish to web, Telegram, Steam and app stores[15:30] Roblox’s massive advantage: creators publish inside an existing audience[16:40] Why The Sandbox’s lack of player concurrency remains its core problem[18:10] The missed opportunity of The Sandbox land as a connected world/map[20:15] Jon's launched his own AI game - Soccerverse Showdown[21:10] How the World Cup leaderboard idea evolved from a Soccerverse internal concept[22:35] Comparing Soccerverse Showdown with a more traditional fantasy-football game[24:48] How player influence in Soccerverse generates World Cup points[25:59] Why ROI may be more interesting than total points on the leaderboard[27:15] Claude Fable “did two weeks of work in three hours”[28:45] The feeling of publishing a first game after 25 years covering games[30:00] Nexpace as a strong example of blockchain and AI execution[30:45] MapleStory Universe revenue, Avalanche chain and ecosystem strategy[31:20] Verse8, Vibe Camp and AI-generated MapleStory experiences[32:05] First AI-built MapleStory-based games are now live on Verse8

Nexpace announced a $60,000 Vibe Camp for MapleStory UGC using Verse8 AI tools. [00:32] MapleStory Universe, Verse8 and the $60,000 AI UGC VibeCamp[04:00] Why MapleStory Universe is one of web3 gaming’s serious IP plays[05:03] How Verse8 lets users vibe-code games[06:10] Why AI-generated games work better with existing emotional IP[07:40] Nexpace’s ambition for third-party creators to out-earn the core team[08:40] EVE Frontier did a similar hackathon in March[09:45] It's like there's a new UA funnel: attracting builders, not just players[11:45] Soccerverse and World Cup experiments[12:38] The Grand Tournament: community-built fantasy football on Soccerverse[14:59] Buying player influence to boost your fantasy team[16:15] Jon’s Soccerverse Summer Showdown concept[17:24] How World Cup scoring maps to Soccerverse player influence[19:35] Using ROI scoring to stop whales simply buying victory[22:48] Why AI coding changes what game communities can build[24:46] FIFA Rivals hits 2.5 million downloads[31:22] Saga exits blockchain and pivots fully into AI agents[32:05] Why Saga came too late to blockchain gaming[36:43] Pixels cuts headcount and refocuses[41:37] Why Luke Barwikowski’s stubbornness still matters

Can Aavegotchi DAO takeover the project, the State of Pixels, and the rise of open source in the agentic era. [00:35] Aavegotchi dev Pixelcraft is one of the OG web3 gaming studios.[05:16] It's looking to hand over control of Aavegotchi to the DAO.[06:28] DAOs haven't been successful for reasons like coordination and authority.[07:25] It's a nice vision, but the reality is Pixelcraft ran out of money. [08:01] By 1st September, the DAO has to have decided what's happening going forward. [09:16] Why “gamey games” are harder to hand over to communities or DAOs.[09:55] State of Pixels. It's sustainable but not growing.11:30 Pixels is now considering adding open-source elements. [12:05] AI significantly changes what community developers can build in blockchain games.[13:50] The emerging pattern is surviving web3 games are moving to APIs, MCPs and agent access.[15:15] Why blockchain and AI fit together culturally and technically.[19:05] Define “game games” versus “non-game games”.[20:49] Why blockchain games should focus less on moment-to-moment fun and more on meta. [23:30] EVE Frontier, MapleStory and Soccerverse as examples of meta-focused web3 games. [25:25] These games have emergent experiences. They don't require constant content updates. [28:30] Don’t put things onchain to create value. Put existing value onchain so it can be realized.[32:40] Community-built Soccerverse fantasy football as a sign of where this goes next.[35:05] The first 10 years of blockchain gaming were about discovering what didn’t work.[35:40] AI plus blockchain will enable things the traditional games industry won’t build.[37:06] Why agents will become native players for blockchain games. [38:20] The future split: Mario-like gameplay games versus agent-filled systemic web3 worlds.

The big beasts arise as we talk EVE Frontier, MapleStory Universe and how Wemade's approach bests Ubisoft. [00:34] Jon attended EVE Fanfest 2026 in Iceland. What are his takeaways?[02:40] Why EVE Fanfest works beyond being just an event for players.[05:05] EVE Frontier is EVE Online if made from scratch now.[06:46] In Cycle 6 (out 25th June), EVE Frontier finally becomes more of an actual survival game.[09:28] Modular shipbuilding replaces fixed ships.[10:40] EVE Frontier is a game that rewards players who improve their manual gameplay skills. [11:55] “This is a game that makes EVE Online feel cuddly.”[13:58] Does EVE Frontier need non-EVE players?[15:30] The fundamental approach is blockchain as a unified API.[16:38] Why some CCP/Fenris developers want to work on EVE Frontier, not EVE Online. [17:38] How EVE Frontier is using AI for coding and prototyping.[19:10] Nexon is talking about MapleStory Universe, MSU 2.0 and VIBE IP.[22:11] MapleStory Universe did $31 million in revenue in year 1. [23:22] The real KPI for MSU 2.0 is the revenue third-party devs make. [25:55] Average EVE Fanfest attendee had played 7,900 hours of EVE Online. [30:50] Legend of Ymir has released the ability to mint and trade character NFTs.[32:00] Legend of Ymir NFT character trading was $77,000 on day 1. [34:40] Ubisoft is shutting down Champions Tactics’ web3 features on 27th May. [36:00] Ubisoft’s blockchain problems are a minor part of much wider issues for the company. [39:00] Champions Tactics was beautifully made, but too narrow in its addressable audience. [42:29] Wemade is iteratively learning. Ubisoft is scattergun, lacking learning loops. [44:30] The post-crash shape of blockchain gaming is now becoming apparent.

Jon Jordan talks to Verse8 CEO Kevin Lee about the challenges and opportunities for the AI game-making platform. [01:09] Kevin Lee’s background at Planetarium doing web3 investing and private equity.[02:56] Verse8 started as a WebGL engine project inside Planetarium.[03:31] We first realized the potential of AI technology for game-making in 2024. [04:44] By 2025, it was clear that LLMs could generate very high-quality and complex. [06:15] Verse8 can do hypercasual games, add crypto and other monetization. [08:15] Verse8 has 200,000 DAUs and 3.5 million MAUs.[10:40] We didn't design this as a web3 project but there's potential for degen experiments.[12:52] Verse8 could be “YouTube for games” because everyone can now make games. [14:20] Verse8's $5 million seed round and why Korean strategic investors backed it. [15:28] Investors also have agreements for use of their legacy IPs within Verse8. [17:44] In particular, there will be an integration with MapleStory Universe. [18:54] There are some technical limitations. You can't make open-world MMORPGs.[20:44] Verse8’s moat is its high performance WebGL game engine. [22:50] Everyone ger $10 of free tokens but then users have to pay for additional usage. [26:10] We're competing with Roblox, Steam, Epic and even YouTube for screen time.[31:19] Over the next six months we need to prove creators can generate real revenue.

The big news this week is CCP Games' MBO, rebranded as Fenris Creations and backed by Google DeepMind. [00:32] Fenris Creations (ex-CCP Games) has gained independence from Pearl Abyss for $120 million.[02:26] Pearl Abyss originally bought the company for $225 million in 2018. [03:26] Why CCP and Pearl Abyss were an awkward fit, culturally and corporately. [04:35] Pearl Abyss now has very successful games such as Crimson Desert so doesn't need CCP. [05:28] Fenris still owes Pearl Abyss $50 million for a loan. [06:52] CCP/Fenris has been loss-making for many years. [07:07] $60 million of EVE Frontier tokens have now been sold to investors. [07:47] The original unanswered questions around the deal - debt, operational capital etc. [10:28] Google DeepMind now has a minority stake in Fenris Creations. [11:30] Why DeepMind is interested in EVE Online as a learning environment for AI models and agents.[12:50] Long-term memory for agents is of particular interest. [13:50] Why DeepMind is a major credibility boost for the newly independent company. [14:48] DeepMind potentially reframes EVE Frontier’s significance as a blockchain game. [17:00] FIFA Rivals has launched its World Cup Legacy mode.[20:10] The Legacy mode allows people to play through the past 4 world cups and collect players. [23:30] Legacy players allows Mythical to better control the supply of rare NFTs. [24:35] Animoca Minds has launched a $10 million developer program.[30:49] Animoca has extended the exclusivity period for its reverse Nasdaq listing process.

Reaper Actual raises capital, tracking FIFA Rivals NFT sales, and whatever happened to Wildcard's Thousands?[00:25] FIFA Rivals NFTs have finally migrated to the Pulse market. [02:55] Pulse uses USDC stablecoin for all NFT trading, even for in-app trading. [8:11] FIFA Rivals is fairly simple; 90 second mini-games and build your team.[10:12] Even powerful players are not too expensive: Guimaraes for $74, Haaland for $40. [13:40] Playful is shutting down its Thousands platform.[14:21] Unclear what might remain of Wildcard as a game, but the IP is continuing it seems. [16:18] Wildcard’s very weak Steam Early Access performance - less than 150 concurrent peak. [18:38] How the timing of the WC token launched on Arbitrum played into this decision. [19:37] Was web3 forced onto Wildcard by its crypto investors?[21:46] Reaper Actual raises more funding ahead of its Steam Early Access in mid-May. [24:26] Explaining the separate web2 and web3 versions of Reaper Actual.[26:49] Steam is a big problem for blockchain-adjacent games.[27:59] Reaper Actual’s blockchain-light messaging.[30:28] Choosing the “hill to die on” when it comes to web3 game design.