What’s the highest level of monetization? The Elemental Knight chain game announced that it had gone bankrupt after losing millions each month, and yet some players even opened companies to take over directly.

“Elemental Knights” declared bankruptcy after losing 8 million yen per month, but was surprisingly taken over by a new company established by the player guild! The game will suspend service at the end of April for restructuring, with a planned restart in fall 2026, setting a rare record of players saving a blockchain game.

After Elemental Knights Online announced its closure, players started a company to take over

Launched in 2022, the blockchain game version of “Elemental Knights Online,” called “Elemental Knights Online Meta World,” developed through a collaboration between Taiwan and Japan, announced it would end operations at the end of February this year, but recently received an unexpected turnaround.

The game operation team, Metap Inc., announced that they have officially signed a basic agreement (MOU) with the future operating transfer target, “Kabushiki Kaisha Hanabi-tei.”

It is understood that Kabushiki Kaisha Hanabi-tei is a new company jointly established by members of the highly active guild “Hanabi-tei” in the game, くろかげ and Alamode.

After evaluating the past performance of the takeover candidate, the operation team believes that having a seasoned player community directly establish a company to take over will be an extremely reliable partner for continuing the game’s life.

Image source: “Elemental Knights Online” official Twitter Elemental Knights Online announced closure, players started a company to take over

Elemental Knights loses 8 million yen monthly, scheduled to shut down at the end of April

The blockchain version of “Elemental Knights Online” is published by Metap Inc., based on a remake of the same-named MMORPG developed in Taiwan, which has a 14-year history in the Japanese market and has been downloaded over 8 million times.

This version introduced blockchain technology, allowing players to own non-fungible token (NFT) assets such as land and items within the game. In addition to the basic dual-currency play-to-earn mechanism, it also opened up the option for players to stake Tether (USDT) to earn profits.

Image source: “Elemental Knights Online” official website The blockchain version of “Elemental Knights Online” introduces NFTs, dual currencies, and staking services

However, after less than four years of operation, the team assessed financial difficulties and could no longer sustain the game service, leading to the full shutdown scheduled for April 30.

The operation team revealed that the fixed monthly cost of “Elemental Knights Online” reaches about 10 million yen, including infrastructure costs, personnel expenses, listing maintenance fees, and token buyback costs. Compared to the high operational expenses, the game’s total monthly revenue is only about 2 million yen.

This results in an operational loss of about 8 million yen (approximately 1.58 million TWD) each month, and even phased cost-cutting measures could not smoothly improve cash flow.

Elemental Knights plans to restart service this fall

Fortunately, after the blockchain version of “Elemental Knights Online” announced its closure, a new operation team, Hanabi-tei, took over and plans to relaunch this year, aiming to reduce dependence on external factors like cryptocurrencies and redesign a revenue structure suitable for the scale of the service.

To ensure a smooth transition and reduce unnecessary costs, the current game service and related market mechanisms will be suspended as scheduled on April 30, and the dedicated crypto wallets and staking services will also end simultaneously. Although servers will temporarily shut down, players’ on-chain NFTs and tokens will remain stored on the blockchain.

Both parties plan to sign a formal contract between late April 2026 and the end of Japan’s Golden Week, with development work expected to restart in mid-May. If all progresses smoothly, “Elemental Knights Online” is expected to relaunch as a new service between August and September 2026.

The pinnacle of monetization?

After another cycle of bull and bear markets in the cryptocurrency space, and with the NFT market waning, the token economy of blockchain games is facing severe challenges such as significant revenue drops and mass player attrition.

In the past year or two, many blockchain games have announced closures. Including the Japanese blockchain game “CryptoSpells,” which operated for about six and a half years, and “Coin Musume” (コインムスメ), a game themed around personified cryptocurrencies, both ended services by the end of 2025. “Captain Tsubasa RIVALS” has also ceased service on all platforms, while the “MapleStory N” universe operated by Nexon subsidiary Nexpace is still active.

In this environment, “Elemental Knights Online” was surprisingly saved by a group of dedicated players, igniting an incredible miracle in the winter of blockchain games. It also makes me wonder if this is the highest form of monetization…

Further reading:
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