Steam Said No to Blockchain in 2021. In 2026, a Blockchain Pioneer Built a Steam Tool Without It

In October 2021, Valve drew a line. Steam, the world's biggest PC games store, banned games built on blockchain technology, cryptocurrency or NFTs, saying it was extending its existing policy against games with in-game items of real-world value. For blockchain game makers, the most important storefront in PC gaming was closed.

Five years later, one of the best-known companies in blockchain gaming has built a product for Steam games, and left the blockchain out. In August 2026, Immutable, the Sydney-based company behind Gods Unchained, launched Immutable Audience, a platform for promoting Steam games before their release. Immutable says it does not use blockchain.

From Fuel Games to a $3.5 billion valuation

Immutable began in 2018 as Fuel Games, founded by Robbie Ferguson, James Ferguson and Alex Connolly. Its first release that February was Etherbots, and it closed a $2.4 million seed round in July. In 2019 it rebranded as Immutable and released Gods Unchained, a card game in which each card is an NFT.

Its growth tracked the boom:

• 2021: partnered with NRG Esports on Guild of Guardians and raised $3 million from founders' collectible NFTs.
• February 2022: announced a $100 million fund with GameStop for NFT gaming grants.
• March 2022: raised $200 million in a Series C led by Temasek, at a $3.5 billion valuation.
• July 2022: laid off at least 20 staff, including core Gods Unchained team members.
• May 2024: Guild of Guardians launched, developed with Mineloader.

The company also built Immutable X, an Ethereum layer-2 network created with StarkWare and used by other companies for NFT marketplaces.

The platform rules that shaped the move

Immutable has long had to work around storefront rules. Steam's 2021 ban kept blockchain games off the biggest PC store. Epic took a different line: in February 2022, its chief executive said the Epic Games Store would accept blockchain games that followed relevant laws and regulations. But that openness had limits. When the ESRB gave Gods Unchained an Adults Only rating in December 2023 over its crypto-based gambling elements, Epic temporarily removed it, then reinstated it after updating its content policy (the rating story).

Against that background, a product designed to work alongside Steam, rather than against its rules, makes sense. A promotion platform that needs no tokens can serve the world's biggest PC market without running into Valve's policy.

What it says about web3 gaming

It would be a stretch to read one product launch as the end of blockchain gaming, and Immutable has not said it is leaving the field. But the move fits a wider pattern in 2025 and 2026: companies that rose on tokens and NFTs looking for revenue that does not depend on them. In Korea, Neowiz closed its Intella X blockchain platform in 2025; Nexon kept MapleStory N out of its home market (why).

Why it matters

Platform rules may shape blockchain gaming as much as government rules do. Steam's ban, Epic's conditional welcome and rating boards' views on crypto gambling decide where these games can be sold. A company that builds for Steam without blockchain is accepting those rules rather than fighting them.

WGC's take: Immutable spent eight years trying to put game items on a blockchain. Its newest product is a bet that the most valuable thing it learned was how to find players, not how to mint tokens. Watch whether other web3 studios follow.