Hey Arbinauts, excited to share a preview of this upcoming week as the Arbitrum Gaming Catalyst and ecosystem continue to grow.
First of all - huge shout out to the Arbitrum contributors that made GDC 2025 such a success for us. The Arbitrum Foundation, Offchain Labs, Gaming Catalyst, and partners including Wolves DAO, our impressive showcase builders including Proof of Play, Jin Anomaly, Beacon, Xai Games (and their builders!), and too many other folks to name made a huge splash.
The amount of traditional game studios and builders that learned about Arbitrum and walked away with a fresh, more positive impression of the potential of blockchain for gaming had all of us feeling like we are moving towards the right direction.
Over the next week, we will be sharing quite a few updates that have been planned in coordination with the GCP Council and key delegates. Those of you that were at the Arbitrum Delegate day at Eth Denver may have seen some of this already!
Upcoming updates include:
- Onboarding our official DAO Relations partner
- Team expansion/new hires
- A comprehensive Q1 2025 review on progress
- Governance / entity docs (we have communicated that this is coming soon, and this will be updated live in the next 1-2 days on the website!)
- Updates on GCP Council pay and next steps
- Updates on ARB management practices (ARB to USDC conversion handled by GCP Foundation and vesting), 6 month transparency reports
We also wanted to share a few answers to questions asked by community members.
- Was the movement of 40m ARB and an additional 20m ARB purposeful?
Yes, this was coordinated between the Arbitrum Foundation and GCP Foundation as part of our vesting timeline. Additional details will be provided this week on processes.
- Why focus on gaming? Shouldn’t we double down on the areas that drove Arbitrum’s success from 2022 to 2024?
There isn’t a strong reason we shouldn’t pursue multiple verticals with strong programs that onboard both developers and users. While gaming has a massive addressable market, skepticism is fair: it’s competitive, resource-heavy, and hasn’t produced a breakout hit… yet.
But signs of progress are undeniable. In 2024, daily active wallets in gaming grew over 400%, and on-chain transactions neared 6 billion. Games like Pirate Nation are driving meaningful on-chain activity, directly aligned with Orbit’s value. Investor confidence remains high, with $1.6B invested last year, and top-tier talent now entering the space.
Yes, challenges persist—many games fail to sustain interest, and poor alignment between game design and blockchain utility has hurt early efforts. But that’s changing. Studios like Raijin are reinventing game distribution for Web3, and titles like OTG and Riftstorm are proving Web3 games can succeed on traditional platforms when gameplay comes first. Major players like Sony, Square Enix, and NetMarble are now actively investing and experimenting.
We encourage a broader view. Web3 gaming is evolving, and Arbitrum has the infrastructure, vision, and capital to help great teams build lasting success across gaming and beyond.
- Why weren’t governance docs shared earlier?
We have been working with many engaged delegates that are 100% Arbitrum aligned to improve the communication process, and part of that plan was to release the governance docs after Eth Denver along with the start of a key partnership with a trust DAO communications team. For those who persistently requested the documents, we responded directly and transparently asking for patience as we finalized the DAO comms structure and website updates. Additionally, both the Arbitrum Foundation and GCP Council members, including several key delegates, have confirmed the existence of a carefully structured entity in response to inquiries.
While it’s great to hold folks accountable (we also encourage the Arbitrum DAO to ask for transparency and are actively trying to improve), we also request that the DAO work with delegates and GCP Council members in good faith to manage expectations and timelines.
Creating negative public discourse to hurt Arbitrum’s ecosystem and programs is not productive, and discourages the participation of great builders, investors, and potential partners from joining this great ecosystem we have built over the years.
Thank you so much everyone! More soon this week.