Free Trial/Demo Mode vs Wallet-Required Full Game

Ideal for Mass-Market User Acquisition. Removes the initial friction of wallet creation and funding, allowing players to experience core gameplay instantly. This matters for hyper-casual games, brand awareness campaigns, and genres where discovery is key. Expect 10-50x higher initial click-to-play conversion rates compared to wallet-first flows.

Challenge: Converting to On-Chain Activity. The primary risk is creating a 'demo trap' where users never migrate to the full game. Success requires a clear value proposition (e.g., exclusive assets, competitive leagues) unlocked by wallet connection. This model demands sophisticated progression gating and incentive design to bridge the gap.

Ideal for True Web3-Native Economies. Attracts a pre-qualified, crypto-literate user base from day one. This matters for play-to-earn models, DeFi-integrated games, and NFT collections where asset ownership and on-chain interoperability are core features. These users have higher LTV (Lifetime Value) and are primed for community governance.

Challenge: Severe Funnel Constriction. The upfront requirement acts as a hard gate, limiting your total addressable market to existing crypto users. You compete directly for a smaller, more discerning audience. This model fails for genres requiring massive scale (e.g., casual mobile) but excels in building deeply engaged, high-commitment communities.

Maximizes User Acquisition Funnel: Eliminates the primary barrier to entry—wallet creation and funding. This can increase initial user sign-ups by 300-500% for web2-native audiences. Critical for mass-market casual games or educational platforms like those built on Immutable zkEVM or Polygon.

Weakens Economic & Security Assumptions: Players have no skin in the game. This makes the game vulnerable to Sybil attacks for airdrop farming, inflates meaningless engagement metrics, and provides no direct on-chain revenue until conversion. Unsuitable for DeFi-integrated games or true asset ownership models.

Ensures Committed, Valuable Users: A connected wallet (like MetaMask or Phantom) signals intent and filters for users with crypto liquidity. This creates a higher-quality, monetizable user base from day one, with clear on-chain activity for protocols like TreasureDAO or Avalanche Subnets. Essential for play-to-earn economies.

Severely Limits Addressable Market: The friction of wallet setup, gas fees, and seed phrase management can block >95% of potential web2 users. This is a major growth bottleneck for games targeting broad audiences, as seen in the early struggles of many Ethereum L2 gaming ecosystems before implementing sponsored transactions.

Authentic User Base & Economic Alignment: Filters for users with skin in the game, leading to higher-quality engagement and lower churn. This matters for token-gated experiences, DeFi integrations, and NFT-based progression where real economic activity is the core loop.

High Friction Onboarding: The wallet creation/connection step is a major drop-off point, especially for non-crypto natives. This matters if your primary goal is mass-market user acquisition and you compete with free-to-play Web2 games.

Frictionless Top-of-Funnel Growth: Removes the largest barrier to entry, allowing players to experience core gameplay instantly. This matters for proving fun factor, viral marketing, and converting curious players before asking for wallet commitment.

Weak Economic Signaling & Sybil Vulnerability: Attracts low-intent users and makes the game susceptible to bot farms, diluting community quality and on-chain metrics. This matters for protocols relying on genuine user activity for rewards or governance.