Key Takeaways
- After years as a private firm, Animoca Brands says an IPO could be back on the table after the U.S.’ pivot.
- Web3 gaming represents around 25% of Animoca’s investment portfolio.
- CEO Robby Yung says crypto survived the recent flash crash thanks to its mature market structure and sophisticated risk management systems.
The crypto markets were rocked to their core following the Oct. 10 flash crash, and yet disaster hasn’t struck the entire ecosystem as it has in the past.
Speaking with CCN at the European Blockchain Conference 2025, Animoca Brands CEO Robby Yung explained why things are different this time around, how its Web3 investment portfolio has changed, and why it’s going ahead with an IPO launch this year.
Animoca IPO
Animoca Brands is one of the biggest investment firms in Web3 today, with dozens of firms such as Axie Infinity, Polygon, Kraken, The Sandbox, and many others in its portfolio.
It wasn’t always this way. The Hong Kong-based studio was once focused on the mobile gaming market with a substantial portfolio to boot.
At this time, it went public on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
Five years later, in 2020, it was delisted from the ASX because of its pivot to Web3, crypto, and blockchain.
“We’ve been private since then,” says Yung, but not to the firm’s detriment. It’s public exposure pulled in shareholders, and they retained a share of the retail and institutional investors thanks to that legacy.
Now, it’s planning a U.S. IPO comeback.
“So we always said, since the time we delisted, that it would be our goal to relist the business when we felt the timing was right. So this subject has basically come back into the forefront since the end of last year.“
What spurred Animoca into action? Firstly, the U.S. softening its regulatory stance, “which isn’t just about the U.S.,” Yung adds, “but also about the fact that U.S. regulatory precedent often has a knock-on effect in other jurisdictions.”
Secondly, the embrace of the financial markets.
“Now there seems to be a great interest in what’s going on generally in the digital asset space. So for us, that’s exciting, because we feel like we represent a real opportunity in being, arguably, the leader in kind of the altcoin space.”
Portfolio Tweaks
Indeed, the markets are piping hot in 2025, largely propelled by the U.S.’s pro-crypto approach, a fresh wave of institutional adoption, and ongoing advances in the industry.
Rampant speculation resulted in the largest crypto wipeout in history. Some $19 billion was lost overnight.
One particular segment of crypto, namely Web3 gaming, has also seen an incredible rise throughout 2025. It was also Animoca’s bread and butter.
Earlier this year, Animoca’s David Ching told CCN that Web3 gaming was “a strategic fit” for its portfolio, but in light of the recent market action, how does he feel about it today?
“Web3 gaming is always something that’s really near and dear to our hearts, because that’s our heritage. We were a game company solely before we discovered blockchain,” Yung told CCN.
However, he admits that now, it’s less a part of the business. “It used to be everything. Now it’s 25% of our business, probably.”
He explains that Web3 gaming had a tough run following the 2021/2022 hype cycle, as following this, “they ran straight into the headwind of a bear market, like to beat all bears.”
“Since 2022, after FTX and the market took a downturn, we went through a process of rationalization, like any organization, because it’s just good fiduciary duty to make sure you’re not overspending beyond your means,” Yung expressed.
This made it difficult for Web3 gaming studios to gain traction. It was a pretty devastating shakeout for the sector as a whole.
Furthermore, they’re trying to get the attention of gamers who “may love playing two or five games” in a market with millions of games.
“So in order to find great games in a marketplace, you need to have enough people making enough shots on goal, so to speak, until you score, because that’s the business of making games,” Yung added.
Not every movie is a hit, Yung notes, but there are tried and tested methods to leverage, “that’s why you’ve seen 78 Marvel films,” he laughs, “because there are reliable techniques.”
Scale
Looking at games like Axie Infinity, which survived the post-2021/22 downturn, they’ve cultivated a “very active community”, and they’re still building.
But it’s not a game that’s on everyone’s lips. It’s found its core audience and caters to that demographic “very well,” says Yung.
Pixels, Off the Grid, and others are prime examples of this, Yung explains. There are plenty of successful Web3 games.
Web3 gaming has an advantage, though. Thanks to relatively lower infrastructure costs in Web3, it’s easier to build games that cater to highly engaged, but smaller audiences, “because the average revenue per user is much higher.”
“There’s no freemium aspect to it. Literally everybody buys assets in order to participate in the game, so that means there is a cost of entry,” the Animoca Brands CEO opined.
The revenues earned then allow them to run the game for an audience “in the millions rather than hundreds of millions,” Yung added.
Ultimately, this leads Animoca to be more selective in its investment process; it’s got to get those aforementioned “shots on target”.
“We don’t invest at the business plan stage, because we want to see that they’re able to connect with an audience and a community.“
Yung highlights that they’re looking for games that have been “alpha tested out” on the marketplace and have gained traction with users.
Market Success
It’s a cutthroat industry for sure. “Whilst it’s still an art,” Yung shrugs, the success of gaming is still measured in metrics.”
Traditional gaming is no stranger to studio closures and mass layoffs, which places additional pressure on Web3 gaming, which also has to contend with the tough tides of the market.
The recent flash crash was another stress test for the entire blockchain industry, but Yung agrees things are different this time around; there’s a baseline that, so far, has prevented the dip from becoming a total death spiral.
Unlike the dominoes that fell following the almighty FTX crash, which wiped out hedge funds, investment firms, and billions of dollars in the process, the market’s structure now has “very sophisticated risk management systems in place that don’t leave them open to the possibilities of what happened last week,” explains Yung.
The problem is, we get a little greedy, and it was largely amateur investors in leveraged positions that got hurt the most during the wipeout, Yung adds.
If there’s one “chestnut” of advice that “every old guy will tell you,” he chuckles, “don’t use leverage.”
Furthermore, “we don’t necessarily sell and take profit when we should”, we lack discipline, “when you allow it to become too emotional, then it’s not a job, it’s entertainment.”
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Eddie is a gaming and crypto writer at CCN. Covering the often weird and wonderful world of Web3 with an adoring, but skeptical eye.
Prior to CCN, Eddie has spent the past seven years working his way through the crypto, finance, and technology industry. He began with PR and journalism with Bitcoin PR Buzz and BitcoinNews.com, eventually working his way to become a copywriter with a dozen firms, including the likes of Polkadot before returning to journalism in 2023.
Having studied Radio production and journalism at University in the UK, Eddie spent a few years making podcasts and presenting on a local London radio station as he built up his writing chops.
A lifelong skateboarder, Eddie can often be found at the skatepark or touring the streets looking for something new to try. That, or kicking back playing JRPGs on his original PSP.
