Failed Gaming Startups
72 venture-backed gaming startups have shut down after raising $630.2M combined — about 3% of the entire graveyard. The biggest cohort last raised in 2022, and the most common final round was Seed.
Gaming is hit-driven, and venture math struggles with hit-driven businesses. Studios in the graveyard mostly ran out of runway between titles, or scaled live-ops teams for player bases that never materialized.
The Damage, by the Numbers
$3.1M
Median raised before shutdown
$8.8M
Average raised — the big flameouts drag it up
1
Died holding $100M+ in funding
0
Raised $1B+ and still closed
Class of the crash
Closed gaming startups by year of their final funding round
11
36
16
9
2021
$93.7M
2022
$333.1M
2023
$164.0M
2024
$39.4M
How far they got
Last round raised before shutting down
Pre-Seed
11
Seed
34
Series A
4
Series B
3
Debt & Notes
2
Other
18
Based on the last five years of fundraising data tracked in the VCbacked database.
The Graveyard
Showing 100 of 72 closed startups
Company | Raised | Last Round | What They Did | Location | Founders | Site | Contact |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Space Ape | $108.0M | Debt | Space Ape creates mobile games for apple and android smartphones. | London, England, United Kingdom | John Earner | Reveal | |
Simplebet | $87.4M | Debt | Simplebet turns every moment of every sporting event into a betting opportunity. | New York, New York, United States | Chris Bevilacqua | Reveal | |
Ready Player Me | $72.5M | Series B | Ready Player Me develops a cross-game avatar platform for the metaverse. | Tallinn, Harjumaa, Estonia | Haver Järveoja | Reveal | |
Spectrum Labs | $45.0M | Series B | Spectrum Labs is a technology company that helps build a safer internet through AI content moderation. | San Francisco, California, United States | Jackson Moses | Reveal | |
AR Artie | $35.5M | Series A | A next-gen mobile gaming platform that circumvents app stores to bring games directly to players on social media and video apps. | Los Angeles, California, United States | Armando Kirwin | — | Reveal |
exceL eSports | $23.7M | PE | exceL eSports is a gaming organisation serving global. | London, England, United Kingdom | Joel Holmes-Darby | Reveal | |
Powder | $20.1M | Grant | Powder is a mobile app that enables gamers to create the best gaming clips and share exiting gaming stories. | Paris, Ile-de-France, France | Barthélémy Kiss | Reveal | |
iiRcade | $15.7M | Venture | Bringing Arcade Gaming to the 21st Century | Skokie, Illinois, United States | Jong-Wook Shin | Reveal | |
Jock MKT | $12.2M | Series A | Jock MKT is a fantasy gaming platform where users can make real money. | Boston, Massachusetts, United States | David Isman, Tyler Carlin | Reveal | |
Banger | $11.6M | Venture | Banger is a blockchain-powered gaming platform that provides its users with an array of earning possibilities. | Madrid, Madrid, Spain | Borja Villalobos | Reveal | |
Kryptomon | $11.1M | Series A | Kryptomon is an NFT Game where Pokémon meets Cryptokitties and Tamagotchi Telegram official channel: http://t.me/Kryptomon | Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands | Bartolomeo De Vitis | Reveal | |
Midnight Society | $11.1M | Venture | Midnight Society is a game studio developing online multiplayer games. | San Mateo, California, United States | Guy Beahm | Reveal | |
Gamestream | $10.9M | Venture | Gamestream is an innovative cloud gaming solution. | Paris, Ile-de-France, France | Ivan Lebeau, Olivier Lebigot, Xavier Cavin | Reveal | |
Infinite Canvas | $8.8M | Venture | Infinite Canvas is a publisher for user-generated, creator-led games. | New York, New York, United States | Sebastian Park, Tal Shachar | Reveal | |
Darewise Entertainment | $8.0M | ICO | Darewise Entertainment is a social online gaming company that provides interactive and socially-connected experiences through gaming. | Paris, Ile-de-France, France | Benjamin Charbit | Reveal | |
Joystick Guild | $8.0M | Seed | Joystick Guild is a gamefi, communities & NFT asset company. | Los Angeles, California, United States | — | Reveal | |
WAGMI United | $7.3M | Seed | WAGMI United is linked to blockchain and sports management, owning Crawley Town FC. | Santa Monica, California, United States | Sean Gearin | Reveal | |
BeyondPlay | $6.5M | Seed | B2B Saas startup for the Igaming Industry | London, England, United Kingdom | Karolina Pelc | Reveal | |
GameOn | $6.3M | Grant | GameOn creates games that utilize NFTs, predictive gaming, and fantasy elements, all crafted to optimize fan involvement. | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | Matt Bailey | Reveal | |
Midsummer Studios | $6.0M | Seed | Midsummer Studios is a independent, well-funded and committed to building a new kind of studio. | Hunt Valley, Maryland, United States | Jake Solomon, Nelsie Birch, Will Miller | Reveal | |
Fanimal | $6.0M | Seed | Fanimal is a live events platform selling tickets in low, transparent prices, and group purchase. | Santa Monica, California, United States | Dave Galbraith | Reveal | |
GamerGains Lab | $5.8M | Seed | GamerGains Lab is the first-ever token and cryptocurrency-based play and earn platform. | Miami, Florida, United States | Jonathan Brovda | Reveal | |
Emergent Games | $5.4M | Seed | Emergent Games is a metaverse and blockchain games studio. | London, England, United Kingdom | — | Reveal | |
Realms of Ethernity | $5.0M | Venture | Realms of Ethernity is a MMORPG metaverse game on Polygon. | Gainesville, Florida, United States | — | Reveal | |
Overeality | $5.0M | Undisclosed | Overeality is a metaverse community to bring people together and give everyone a voice. | Palo Alto, California, United States | — | Reveal | |
TokenWin | $5.0M | Angel | TokenWin is a leading crypto casino & sports betting platform offering 12,000+ games and 30,000 monthly live events. | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | — | Reveal | |
Mecha Morphing | $4.9M | ICO | Mecha Morphing is a aesthetic blockchain game platform. | Santa Clara, California, United States | Jack Pan | Reveal | |
Kudos Labs | $4.9M | Seed | Kudos is a reward platform for gamers with the mission to give back to the community. | Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden | — | Reveal | |
Tiv | $4.4M | Seed | Tiv offers a loyalty platform that allows gamers to earn rewards for playing games and enables game developers to change gamer behavior. | Chicago, Illinois, United States | Jed Strong | Reveal | |
Tokigames | $4.3M | Seed | Tokigames is a software company that develops gamification, audience marketing and engagement solution. | Singapore, Central Region, Singapore | — | Reveal | |
MetaBlaze | $3.7M | Venture | MetaBlaze is a blockchain-based gaming startup gaming platform to earn crypto metaverse. | Tórtola, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain | — | Reveal | |
Phoenix Labs | $3.5M | Series A | Phoenix Labs crafts a new AAA multiplayer experience for players to create lasting, memorable relationships for years to come. | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | Jesse Houston, Robin Mayne, Sean Bender | Reveal | |
Fitchin | $3.5M | Seed | Fitchin is a fully integrated gaming community playground that connects esports teams, content creators. | Tórtola, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain | — | Reveal | |
Gaming Society | $3.5M | Seed | Gaming Society is a gamification company that provides content around sports, entertainment, and culture. | Los Angeles, California, United States | Jaymee Messler | Reveal | |
M80 | $3.5M | Seed | M80 is the next-generation organization created for the esports and video game lovers of today. | Boston, Massachusetts, United States | Marco Mereu | Reveal | |
X1 Esports and Entertainment | $3.1M | Series B | X1 Esports and Entertainment is a gaming and media portfolio company focusing on the video game and content creator industries | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | Adam Giddens | Reveal | |
SenpAI.GG | $3.1M | Seed | SenpAI.gg is a gaming coach for the 1.4 billion PC gamers globally. | Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States | Berk Ozer | Reveal | |
Zappaty | $2.8M | Seed | Fully encrypted, cloud-based file sharing and collaboration platform for consumer and business use. | Glasgow, Glasgow City, United Kingdom | David Stickland, John Thornewill | Reveal | |
Ryu Games | $2.7M | Seed | Changing the way people make and play mobile games | San Francisco, California, United States | Ross Krasner | Reveal | |
beastcoast | $2.6M | Venture | Beastcoast is an online esports game organizer that specializes in organizing games and tournaments based on players' interests. | New York, New York, United States | Brian Anderson | Reveal | |
Telescope Labs | $2.1M | Pre-Seed | Building the best analytics stack & economy engine for Web3 | London, England, United Kingdom | Hosu Choi | Reveal | |
MonkeyBit | $2.0M | Seed | MonkeyBit creates the next Web3 social amusement ecosystem. | Los Angeles, California, United States | — | Reveal | |
Pocket Size Games | $2.0M | Seed | Pocket Size Games (PSG) is an independent remote-first mobile game studio. | Los Angeles, California, United States | — | Reveal | |
Omnidrone | $2.0M | Corporate | Omnidrone is a videogame developer focused on tablets and mobile platforms. | Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain | Elias Lozano | Reveal | |
EnterDAO | $1.8M | Seed | EnterDAO is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) building products to enable new markets within the Web3 metaverse economy. | Sofia, Grad Sofiya, Bulgaria | — | Reveal | |
Slot Check | $1.7M | Seed | Slot Check is a mobile web app that provides real-time slot machine performance data. | Madison, Wisconsin, United States | — | Reveal | |
QUDO AI | $1.7M | Seed | QUDO AI is building a player engagement tool that rewards gaming activity and performance with a crypto token, while promoting their game. | London, England, United Kingdom | Ken Gibbs | Reveal | |
Kandle | $1.7M | Seed | Kandle is a gameFi that empowers the existing and next billion crypto traders globally by introducing fantasy gaming to crypto. | Singapore, Central Region, Singapore | Jaideep Yadav | Reveal | |
DeflyBall | $1.6M | Seed | DeFlyBall is a developer of a blockchain NFT gaming platform. | Los Angeles, California, United States | — | Reveal | |
kaikoo | $1.3M | Seed | Kaikoo is an esports platform for players and coaches that provides connectivity, analytics, and automated coaching solutions. | Málaga, Andalucia, Spain | Daniel Ruiz-Giménez Coderch | Reveal | |
Gamepay | $1.2M | Pre-Seed | Gamepay is a metaverse company that creates play to earn games focused on multiverses. | Singapore, Central Region, Singapore | — | Reveal | |
Rise Of Defenders | $1.0M | Seed | Rise of Defenders is a project created by METAHERO S.A. | Panama City, Panama, Panama | Tai Nguyen Trong | Reveal | |
Firework Games | $1.0M | Seed | Firework's goal: immersive metaverse predicted by AI based on each users prior behaviors, same dimention while users perception is unique. | Central, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong | — | Reveal | |
LF Group | $1.0M | Seed | LinkedIn for gamers. We help gamers of every kind find a perfect team. | London, England, United Kingdom | Alexey Moiseenkov | Reveal | |
Skry | $1.0M | Pre-Seed | Skry provides data and insights on digital collectibles | Boulder, Colorado, United States | Mike Roth | Reveal | |
Odds On Compliance | $1.0M | Seed | Odds On Compliance is a consulting firm specializing in sports betting, iGaming and gambling compliance and regulatory frameworks. | Boca Raton, Florida, United States | — | Reveal | |
Mint State Labs | $940K | Pre-Seed | MSL is an entertainment and gaming technology provider helping creators build, distribute, and market blockchain-powered experiences. | Valencia, California, United States | Peter Morales | Reveal | |
Boilr | $927K | Pre-Seed | Boilr operates and provides an online platform that helps with sourcing game developers and creators. | Paris, Ile-de-France, France | — | Reveal | |
GGEM | $610K | Seed | GGEM develops a Web3 gaming platform offering blockchain gaming technology, game distribution streamlining, and game management services. | Hong Kong, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong | Ruslan Volodkovichz | Reveal | |
Liteup Media | $500K | Corporate | Liteup Media operates as a mobile games influencer marketing startup. | Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany | — | Reveal | |
10K Riders | $500K | Seed | 10k Riders is a mobile publishing company that offers IP ownership, profit-shares in their clients' favor, and non-exclusivity. | Limassol, Limassol, Cyprus | Ilia Tumenko | Reveal | |
Titan AI | $500K | Pre-Seed | Titan AI uses generative AI to create mobile games for underserved audiences. | Berkeley, California, United States | Fabien-Pierre Nicolas-Kim | Reveal | |
MNM Gaming | $430K | Seed | MNM Gaming is a British Chinese gaming brand that supports and promotes gaming cultures across nations. | London, England, United Kingdom | Daniel Chung | Reveal | |
Cardalonia | $420K | Pre-Seed | Cardalonia is a virtual world where players can build, own and customize their own experiences on the Cardano Blockchain. | Tallinn, Harjumaa, Estonia | Alice Sand | Reveal | |
WildMeta.Earth | $400K | Pre-Seed | Metaverse platform that combines gaming and education to enable climate action. | Vanves, Ile-de-France, France | — | Reveal | |
Working Game Studio Ltd. | $375K | Pre-Seed | SaaS | London, England, United Kingdom | Can Abacigil, Eren Baydemir, Selcuk Kiziltug | Reveal | |
BetRoyale.io | $371K | ICO | Free to play sports betting | Waterloo, Ontario, Canada | — | Reveal | |
Zillions | $350K | Seed | Zillions is a software company that specializes in AI, computer visualization, and data capture. | Henderson, Nevada, United States | Alejandro Mendoza | Reveal | |
iRocket AR | $300K | Seed | ArtieVerse.AR is a free-to-play, geolocation-based AR mobile game powered by Web 3.0 technology | London, England, United Kingdom | — | Reveal | |
Scrye | $300K | Program | Scrye helps to connect the metaverse to the universe with play to impact gaming. | Washington, District of Columbia, United States | Jacob Madden | Reveal | |
Applehead | $250K | Pre-Seed | Applehead is a revolutionary token creating real-world impact | Tallinn, Harjumaa, Estonia | Henri Keskküla | Reveal | |
ULTD | $250K | Pre-Seed | ULTD is a mobile-based augmented reality game powered by web3 technology and NFTs | Bentonville, Arkansas, United States | — | Reveal |
More From the Graveyard
Frequently Asked Questions
How many gaming startups have failed?
The VCbacked Startup Graveyard currently tracks 72 venture-backed gaming startups that have shut down, collectively raising $630.2M before closing. That is roughly 3 percent of all closed companies in the database, which is based on the last five years of fundraising data.
What is the biggest gaming startup failure?
By total capital raised, the largest gaming failure in the database is Space Ape, which raised $108.0M before shutting down.
Why do gaming startups fail?
Gaming is hit-driven, and venture math struggles with hit-driven businesses. Studios in the graveyard mostly ran out of runway between titles, or scaled live-ops teams for player bases that never materialized. Across the dataset, the most common last round before shutdown in gaming was Seed, and the largest cohort of failures last raised in 2022.
Can I contact founders of failed gaming startups?
Founder names are shown free on this page for every closed gaming company. VCbacked paid plans reveal verified founder contact details where available and unlock CSV export.