NFT game Stepn will block users from mainland China

Users of the gaming blockchain platform Stepn are selling their assets amid the announcement of the company’s withdrawal from China.

Game developers with non-fungible Stepn tokens reported on Twitter to block users from mainland China. According to the report, this is done to comply with local regulations. All accounts will be deleted on July 15th. The company advises all players permanently residing in this region to withdraw or sell their assets. Taiwan is not subject to restrictions.

The message alarmed the players, and they began to urgently sell their assets. When the game was launched in April, the minimum price of digital NFT sneakers on the platform was 13 SOL ($1,600), now the average price has dropped to about 8 SOL, which, given the market situation, is about $320. The price of the in-game Stepn GMT token has also fallen by more than 30% in the last 24 hours.

Stepn is a popular blockchain game that supports Solana and BNB Chain and is based on the concept of Move-to-Earn (move to earn). The essence of the game is that the user buys NFT sneakers that have a certain amount of energy. The player needs to perform certain physical exercises in order to earn tokens. The developers claim that the main goal of the game is to motivate people to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Company founder Jerry Huang says that mainland Chinese users make up only 5% of the platform’s total user base. Bearing in mind that the company’s exit from this market will not have a significant impact on its financial success. According to official data, the daily activity of platform users increased from 300,000 in April to 500,000 in May.

Earlier, the gaming company Square Enix announced that it intends to expand its presence in the blockchain games market and invest in the Web3 and metaverse industries.