Gaming NFT marketplace Aqua no longer exists, CEO Sean Ryan announced Linkedin Friday. The plan was first shared last month, but as of today it is official.
“At Aqua we’ve done some things well and some things not so well, but the Web3 gaming market isn’t scaling to mass market size in a logical time frame,” Ryan wrote. “That’s why it was time to call it a day and move on to other opportunities, especially for our great employees.”
“I’m still a big believer in the idea of gamers taking ownership of their gaming assets, but it will take a little longer [than] we all hoped,” the CEO added.
Ryan, who previously worked as VP at Facebook, launched Aqua in 2022 and worked with blockchain companies such as Immutable and Polygon Labs. Now, after less than two years, the “player-centric” NFT gaming startup has closed its doors.
https://t.co/GOdYHhqYNu will stop effective December 1, 2023.
For players with an AQUA Wallet, follow the instructions in the link below to transfer your funds to another wallet, or contact support@aqua.xyz for assistance.https://t.co/VMZ07tzcUJ pic.twitter .com /CGn6AgRrgS
— AQUA.xyz (@aquadotxyz) November 17, 2023
In an image accompanying the post, Ryan also shared that the startup was struggling to raise money in a broader crypto gaming market with “slower than expected growth.”
“I strongly believe in this category, but sometimes it’s just too early,” Ryan said Declutter‘s GG when reached on Friday.
Aqua wanted to offer a gaming NFT marketplace, as well as more integrated marketplace solutions for game developers. The marketplace supported NFTs on Ethereum, as well as scalable networks Polygon and Immutable X.
Earlier this year, Ryan said Declutter in an interview that Aqua is designed for real gamers – not for ‘degenerate’ crypto traders who want to make money by flipping gaming NFTs for profit.
After the fall of Axie Infinity, NFT games are made for gamers, not for Degens: Aqua CEO
And from his conversations with more than 50 different blockchain game developers, Ryan found that developers overwhelmingly wanted a seamless game marketplace that doesn’t drive gamers to a third-party website.
That was recently said again by Aqua’s competitors at Sequence, who just launched its own developer tool to create their own in-game marketplaces.
Ubisoft-backed Horizon launches Sequence Builder to make crypto game development easier
For better or for worse, there’s a ton of competition in the gaming NFT marketplace right now. Gaming key retailer G2A recently made the leap into NFT sales, OpenSea has (but hasn’t) revamped its gaming offerings and content. dismissed staff), And Magical Eden also has emphasis on gaming as a core focus for the future.
But Aqua isn’t the only gaming NFT platform to be pulled this year. In August, GameStop announced it would destroy its NFT wallet, citing “regulatory uncertainty.”
Edited by Andrew Hayward