For those pushing 'web3 gaming is inevitable' - here's a reality check worth considering.

Run this simple test: strip away the token entirely. If your game crumbles the moment you remove the token layer, then you've discovered something fundamental - it was never really a game at all. What you built was just a speculative market dressed up with gameplay mechanics as window dressing.

This explains why web3 gaming hasn't taken off the way advocates predicted. The revenue model is inverted. Players aren't the actual customers - speculators are. The incentive structure rewards token price movement, not compelling gameplay. When the token stalls, so does user retention.

Until that dynamic flips, web3 gaming remains trapped in its own contradiction.