How VOYA Games is Bringing the Player-Owned Economy to Life

At a time when many Web3 studios are shutting down, VOYA Games has raised $5 million from top-tier Web2 and Web3 investors to build a sustainable, player-owned economy. This interview with founder Oliver Löffler dives into how they’re turning vision into traction — and why this milestone matters for the future of gaming.

Flavien (BGA) : You’re launching at a difficult time for some other Web3 games. Why do you believe now is the right time to go big?

Oliver Löffler  : Many Web3 studios are shutting down right now, and sentiment around Web3 gaming seems to have hit a low point. I actually think that’s a good reset. A lot of things were tried, a lot of money was burned, and many tokens went to zero. In my opinion, the industry has been overly focused on short-term wins. Few have truly considered how to build games that are sustainable and generate long-term revenue.

Now that many are exiting the space, it opens up room for real builders. Fundraising is harder, which forces studios to focus on generating revenue, bootstrapping, and being cautious with burn and runway. We’ve been building with sustainability in mind for a while now and have a long-term vision for the space. We believe this is the right time to show that it’s possible to build a great game with a deep, sustainable token economy. We’ll make mistakes along the way but we’re aiming to make them fast, with a small team and a long runway.

What’s the philosophical or economic foundation behind VOYA’s vision? Was there an “aha” moment that shaped it?

From the very beginning, we wrote three principles on the wall that still guide us today: Fun, Everyone, Forever.

Fun: We need high-quality games that are genuinely enjoyable and keep players engaged.

Everyone: We want to create games that appeal to both traditional gamers and Web3 degens, and ideally, have those groups support each other.

Forever: This is about long-term sustainability both in terms of business and game economies.

Our vision is to use these principles to build a true player-owned economy one that actually has real players. Blockchain enables this in powerful ways. Over the years, we’ve learned from other projects that pushed boundaries and the tech has matured too. New Technologies like Account abstraction and smart wallets emerged & make onboarding much smoother.

There wasn’t a single “aha” moment. It was more of an evolving urge to prove that Web3 gaming works and can offer real advantages. The concept of a player-owned economy took shape gradually.

Your background includes building Idle Miner Tycoon—one of mobile gaming’s biggest hits. How did that experience shape your approach to Web3 design?

I’ve been a lifelong gamer. I love to play games and I love to have fun. That passion shaped Idle Miner Tycoon back then and it shapes the games we build at VOYA now.

But you can’t just copy what works in Web2. Web3 is a much more open platform. It comes with many new opportunities but also more challenges. You have to think from first principles and design the game from the ground up with Web3 in mind. Only then are you truly innovating and pushing boundaries.

That said, one rule still holds: the game has to be fun. You can have the best tokenomics and the most beautiful graphics but if the game isn’t fun, players won’t stick around.

With 25+ tokens in use and over a million swaps already done, what have you learned?

Most Web3 games rely on one or two token models, often mimicking the soft and hard currencies from traditional free-to-play games. To me, that wasn’t very innovative.

When we first pitched a 25+ token model, many people in the industry told us not to do it. They said it wouldn’t work or capture any value. But what we found, at least in our testnet, is that it does work. It unlocks new, fun ways for players to interact with the game.

Players aren’t just trading the tokens. They’re using them to provide liquidity to pools and earn passive fees. They’re selling them to others for real money even though they’re still testnet tokens, gifting them to friends, and more. It’s already sparking the early version of a player-owned economy.

One big takeaway: this model can work. We shouldn’t be afraid of it. In fact, it shows how much value the community can create and manage on its own.

How do you balance economic freedom with economic design—and prevent chaos or exploitation?

We take inspiration from the real world. Every time we design a new feature, we ask: How does this work in the real world?

That helps us implement a kind of economic physics. For example, we don’t create resource tokens out of thin air. They have to be produced by players. And some resources are naturally scarce, only producible by holding certain NFTs with limited supply.

By implementing those real-world constraints, the players can truly own the economy. They set prices based on supply and demand and it actually works.

How do you respond to skeptics who say ‘Web3 gaming is dead’ or ‘players don’t care about ownership’?

Honestly, I hope Web3 gaming as we knew it in the past 2–3 years is dead. There were too many short-sighted projects and too many tokens launched too early only to be pumped and dumped. No real value was created.

What we need now is a reset and I think we’re entering a phase where Web3 can finally innovate and deliver value. We need to stop building around empty narratives and hype and start delivering real, playable experiences.

And no, I don’t think players care about ownership in itself. It’s a tool, a tool we developers can use to create better experiences. And that’s what players do care about.

You raised from both Web2 and Web3 leaders. How do you see VOYA positioned at the intersection of these two worlds?

I’m super grateful to have investors from both Web2 and Web3. That balance was important for us during the fundraising process. We believe real innovation happens when you combine deep game development expertise with the new opportunities of Web3.

Having backers like 1kx, Makers, RockawayX, and many amazing angels gives us the confidence that we’re on the right path building a bridge between Web2 and Web3 without creating artificial walls between players.

What gives you the most hope for Web3 gaming’s future?

The community.

I’ve never seen such deep engagement from players as I have when there’s a passionate, thriving community behind a game. It fuels everything we do.

We’ve had new team members join us just because they were fans of the project. That energy and expertise is incredibly motivating. It keeps us focused and grounded.

Web3’s biggest asset is its community. Ownership of in-game assets helps build loyalty and brings people closer to the project. One of my favorite stories: we had someone join through a Facebook ad. They had no experience with Web3 but got welcomed into our Discord. The community helped him explore our game’s Web3 features. He went down the rabbit hole and now he’s one of our most active community members and largest NFT holders. He’s even helping onboard new players.

That’s the power of Web3. That’s why I believe the best is still ahead of us.

Read the full BGA Magazine (EthCC Edition) of July 2025 here.