A fully onchain game is a game in which all of its logic — including assets, rules, and status — is stored on the blockchain or rollup layer and implemented through smart contracts.
Based on whether they are on the chain, games can be divided into Web2.0 games that do not use any blockchain technology, that is, traditional games; Web2.5 games that only put assets on the chain and implement game logic off the chain, which are commonly referred to as GameFi games; and real Web3.0 games are those in which both assets and game logic are on the chain, which are called full-chain games.
Full-chain games are in stark contrast to traditional mainstream games, which are usually run on private, isolated servers and players have little sovereignty. The decentralized approach of on-chain games brings players asset ownership, an open economic system, open module transformation capabilities, data persistence and transparency.
At the end of 2024, the Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA) released an industry survey report, pointing out that since the last market cycle, the blockchain game industry has paid more attention to user experience (UX) and user interface (UI), giving priority to providing a smooth experience comparable to traditional Web2 games. BGA predicts that this trend will continue to expand in 2025, with the focus shifting from financial mechanisms to improving player experience. Blockchain games are gradually hiding cryptographic elements. Blockchain game platforms are moving from explicit cryptographic elements (such as token economies and NFT markets) to more seamless integration, allowing Web3 functions to run in the background.
Compared to traditional games that rely on regional server networks for stability and data management, blockchain integration enables true digital ownership through on-chain asset tracking and transactions. BGA predicts that traditional centralized game servers are transitioning to blockchain infrastructure, demonstrating how the gaming industry is embracing the concept of digital ownership.
The blockchain infrastructure’s support for on-chain games includes the blockchain’s own technological innovations, such as account abstraction and rollup architecture; it also includes DePIN infrastructure innovations based on the blockchain, such as decentralized network support for game communication networks, decentralized cloud computing support for game operation and computing, decentralized storage support for game data caching, and so on.
Inflection point: On-chain games usher in ease of use and low latency
By May 2025, on-chain games are still lagging behind mainstream games in two key areas: smooth user experience (i.e. ease of use) and speed (i.e. low latency). But the good news is that these two aspects are reaching an inflection point.
First, the innovation of blockchain account abstraction is effectively solving the user experience problem. It is a method to simplify the end-user experience of blockchain technology by separating blockchain technology from the complex underlying technology of blockchain, that is, removing specificity and adopting generalization.
Secondly, the on-chain gaming infrastructure is moving towards low latency.
Latency is the time difference between a player’s action and the result in the game. In traditional online games, latency is the time it takes for data to travel from the player’s device to the game server and back. The latency principle of on-chain games is the same, but the “server” is replaced by the network or rollup, where game logic and state updates are executed.
For players to have a smooth gaming experience, the ideal latency should be controlled between 30 and 60 milliseconds (ms). If it exceeds 300 milliseconds, it will appear stuck. The current average block time of Ethereum L1 is 12 seconds, or 12,000 milliseconds. In comparison, although it is currently possible to build on-chain games on Ethereum, such high latency makes real-time battle games almost impossible to achieve.
But elsewhere the situation is improving at a faster pace.
The L1 public chain Solana uses a block propagation mechanism called "shreds", which has a latency of about 15 milliseconds. Another on-chain game engine solution, MagicBlock, based on a customized "ephemeral rollups", can help applications on Solana achieve a block speed of about 10 milliseconds. This is ideal for gaming applications.
The L2 public chain MegaETH is currently in the testnet stage, but due to its unique "mini-blocks" design, it can produce a block every 10 milliseconds. In the e-sports scene, 20 milliseconds or less is considered to be an excellent latency performance, so MegaETH has great potential to carry high-level competitive games (if you want to experience this speed in advance, you can try the real-time game "Crossy Fluffle" on the L2 testnet).
As new chains like MegaETH come online and existing networks continue to speed up through technological innovations such as shreds and Flashblocks, we are entering a new stage: Web3.0 games can finally match the low-latency experience provided by mainstream game private servers.
Conclusion
If the skins in "Honor of Kings" can be cast into NFTs for circulation and trading, and if the game props in "Black Myth: Wukong" are digitally owned by the players, this is not only the essential difference between traditional games and Web3.0 games, but also a new situation created by Web3.0 games.
The ease of use and low latency of full-chain games pave the way for large traditional games like "Honor of Kings" to run on the chain. There may be more follow-ups in the future, and multiple factors will jointly promote the development of fully on-chain games. From a more macro perspective, a decentralized, player-owned on-chain e-sports ecosystem is now tangible.
Of course, lower latency and smoother performance do not automatically mean good games, but it does remove the last major technical barrier that has long prevented us from building ideal games on the chain. It also brings good signals for blockchain-based metaverse games.
