Crypto games need ‘more shots on goal’ to win, says Framework Ventures’ Spencer

The Framework Ventures’ co-founder says the company’s on-chain gaming thesis hasn’t changed

article-image

enchanted_fairy/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Despite the ups-and-downs of the last year in crypto, Framework Ventures co-founder Vance Spencer said his on-chain gaming thesis hasn’t changed.

“It’s become clearer in terms of how it plays out,” he said, adding: “It takes probably a couple years to build a game” and a hundred or a hundred and fifty million dollars. “And that’s not even including marketing and advertising.”

At Blockworks’ Permissionless conference in Austin, Texas, Spencer said first-mover advantage will play an important role in who succeeds in the nascent crypto gaming subsector. 

“That means that the people who started building in the last bull market, it’s probably going to be one of those to market first,” he said. 

Spencer said the timing of potential on-chain game releases has also become more clear, with the expectation that “three to four to five well-financed, well built-out, important games” will launch within the next six to nine months.

“A lot of people want to own assets. It’s the difference between playing poker for fake money versus playing it for real money.” 

Spencer insisted that crypto games can be fun, although they don’t seem to exist yet. “We just need more shots on goal.”

“If you think about DeFi back in 2020, 2021,” Framework Ventures co-founder Michael Anderson said, “a lot of those were just really incentivized games.” He explained it’s a matter of iteration, building on previous formulae but adding more fun elements to the picture.

Clones incoming

Spencer pointed to the Friend.tech phenomenon as an example of how the gaming market will likely play out on a larger scale. The layer-2 Base network social app emerged from a quiet Web3 social app scene, he said, suddenly drawing “five million revenue in the past two months.”

“All of a sudden, there’s 50 Friend.tech clones.”   

It’s the same dynamic in every market, Spencer observed. The familiar pattern took place in early DeFi, with a few protocols proving product market fit, he said, after which “everybody chased them.”

“We’re now seeing the true believers build it out,” Spencer continued. “The next phase is going to be the chase, or one of them actually works and then all the [venture capitalists] get super fired up and start funding competitors.”

Having recently returned from Korean Blockchain Week, Spencer observed that developers from the region are building “probably 50 to 100 games in the next couple years.” 

“It’s going to happen,” he said.

Comparing the relatively slow growth of successful crypto games, Spencer argued that many early internet ideas were not actually failures — they just took years to succeed, when key technological improvements finally enabled their original visions to work. “There was just a mobile phone size hole or some UI aspect that was missing.”

“That’s going to happen with crypto, as well.

Spencer appeared to feel most confident about growth in DeFi and real world assets, saying he sees “basically, 100% certainty of those growing another 10 to 100X.” On-chain gaming faces a more challenging path, with about 60 to 75% odds of being “absolutely huge,” Spencer said. “It’s just a matter of iteration.”


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates (1).jpg

Research

Jupiter has emerged as the undisputed liquidity backbone of Solana, commanding over 90% of spot DEX aggregation and 80% of perp trading volume. But behind the numbers lies a far more ambitious play: a cross-chain, vertically integrated super-app spanning swaps, synthetics, NFTs, memecoins, and launchpads. This report explores Jupiter’s rapid rise, the monetization upgrades reshaping its revenue profile, and the risks that could unwind its dominance, from token dilution to competition. With annualized revenues nearing $300M, the upside is undeniable, if it can navigate the turbulence.

article-image

Curve founder Michael Egorov is working on a new protocol designed to eliminate impermanent loss, rethink token emissions, and capture BTC-native yield

article-image

Mining outfits have gone bust in the wake of prior halvings. Not so this time around.

article-image

Zora’s announcement that its token is for “fun only” sparked a debate about the need for such tokens

article-image

In recent weeks, Helium has hit new all-time highs while passing major protocol milestones

article-image

Financial advisers in a January survey said equity ETFs were their top choice for gaining crypto exposure in 2025

article-image

“Why put a target out there that’s really speculative, not knowing exactly where this environment is going to go?” CarMax CEO Bill Nash said