Gamefi Narrative Is Finally Showing Signs Of Life

What Happened

GameFi tokens were left for dead after a brutal 2025. The sector ended the year down roughly 75%, wiping out most investor interest. But early 2026 is starting to show something different.

When asked what really matters for a GameFi recovery, and which signs investors should focus on beyond short-term price moves, Robby Yung, CEO of Animoca Brands, said in an exclusive commentary to BeInCrypto:

Market Context

Usage data and prices are quietly turning up across a few gaming-focused chains. It is still early, but for the first time in months, the numbers suggest GameFi may be stabilizing — with a handful of tokens moving first.

Base itself is reinforcing this signal. Beyond B3’s dominance in per-wallet activity, Base has also ranked near the top in total daily transactions over the same period, indicating that gaming activity is feeding into broader network usage.

That brings the focus to price. A small group of established GameFi tokens is already responding.

Axie Infinity is emerging as one of the strongest leaders in the GameFi rebound. AXS is up roughly 117% over the past seven days, clearly outperforming most large-cap gaming tokens as January progresses.

From a price perspective, AXS began its rally in early January and is now consolidating after a sharp vertical move. This pause resembles a bull-flag structure, where price digests gains without breaking the trend. As long as higher lows continue to hold, the pattern remains constructive rather than exhausted.

Why It Matters

The first signal comes from on-chain usage.

As the first month of 2026 begins, these signals are starting to line up, as highlighted by experts like Yat Siu, Chairman of Animoca Brands.

This does not mean GameFi is back in full force. But it does suggest that the worst phase of abandonment may be passing.

Trend support is tightening. The 20-day exponential moving average (EMA) is rising toward the 100-day exponential moving average, which often acts as a medium-term trend filter. A confirmed bullish crossover would reinforce the continuation case. A clean daily close above $2.20 would signal a breakout from consolidation and open upside toward $3.11 and even higher.

Details

GameFi Is Showing Early Signs of Life Again — What Gives

While scanning early-2026 Dune analytics dashboard data across EVM chains, one metric stood out: average transactions per active wallet. This measures the depth of activity, not just the wallet count. Over the past four consecutive days, B3, the gaming layer built on Base, has led all major chains on this metric, beating Optimism, Mantle, Flow, and others.

That matters because real gaming behavior shows up as repeated actions by the same users.

A similar pattern is appearing on Sei, another gaming-heavy chain. Over the past several days, Sei has consistently stood out in daily unique addresses.

When broken down further, DappRadar data shows multiple Sei-based games posting sharp 24-hour growth in active wallets.

Context matters here. GameFi fell nearly 75% in 2025.

“For the GameFi category in general, I think that there needs to be a solid, engaging product underlying the token (as always),” he said.

Axie Infinity (AXS): Sentiment Surge and Structure Align

One reason Axie is moving ahead of the pack is improving sentiment, driven by a shift in how the community views the project. On January 17, positive sentiment for AXS spiked to 8.31, the highest level seen in over six months. Positive sentiment tracks how often a token is discussed favorably across social and on-chain channels, and spikes of this size usually reflect renewed engagement rather than late-stage speculation.

That sentiment shift lines up with a fundamental catalyst highlighted directly by Robby Yung, who addressed Axie’s recent strength:

“The catalyst, in this case, was a change in the tokenomic model for AXS, which was very well-received by the community, and led to an uptick in buying as the community was reinvigorated, so this is very much a grass roots-led movement,” he mentioned.

While that sentiment reading has cooled slightly, it remains elevated compared to recent weeks, keeping attention focused on AXS.

Invalidation levels are well defined. A sustained drop below $1.98 would weaken the bullish structure. A deeper move below $1.63 and eventually the 100-day moving average line would invalidate the setup.