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Gala Games

2.8/10

Ambitious gaming platform derailed by co-founder lawsuits, token exploits, and too few actual games.

Updated: February 16, 2026AI Model: claude-4-opusVersion 1

Overview

Gala Games launched in 2019 with the vision of building a decentralized gaming ecosystem where players own their in-game assets and earn rewards through a node network. Founded by Eric Schiermeyer (co-founder of Zynga) and Wright Thurston, the project promised to bring AAA-quality games to blockchain with a player-owned economy. The platform expanded into Gala Music and Gala Film, positioning itself as a broader web3 entertainment company.

The reality has been turbulent. In late 2022, the co-founders became embroiled in a bitter legal dispute. Gala Games sued Wright Thurston, alleging he misappropriated $130 million worth of company assets, including GALA tokens and NFTs. Thurston counter-sued, accusing Schiermeyer of wasteful spending and mismanagement. The lawsuits exposed a chaotic internal culture, including allegations of unauthorized token minting and personal use of company funds. In May 2024, a separate exploit saw $200 million worth of GALA tokens minted and sold by a compromised wallet, causing a token price crash.

Despite these issues, Gala Games continues to operate and has released several games in various stages of development. However, the project's credibility has been severely damaged, and the gap between its grand ambitions and actual delivered products remains wide.

Gameplay

Game Quality

Gala Games has announced or partially released numerous titles across genres: Town Star (farming simulation), Spider Tanks (PvP arena), Champions Arena (RPG), Mirandus (fantasy RPG), and several others. Town Star, the most developed title, was a competent but unremarkable farming game that struggled to retain players after the initial earning incentives faded. Spider Tanks offers passable arcade-style gameplay. Most other titles remain in early access, beta, or have been quietly shelved. None approach the quality of comparable web2 games.

Player Retention

Player retention is poor across the portfolio. Town Star saw significant engagement during reward periods but hemorrhaged players when emissions were reduced or paused. Spider Tanks maintains a small player base. The platform's total DAU across all games is estimated at low thousands. The fundamental issue is that players attracted by earning potential leave when rewards decline, and the games themselves are not compelling enough to retain players on entertainment merit alone.

Content Depth

Gala's breadth-over-depth strategy has resulted in many games announced and few fully developed. The company has repeatedly pivoted game designs, paused and restarted projects, and overpromised on timelines. Mirandus, initially marketed as a flagship MMO, has seen glacial development progress. The node reward system — which was supposed to incentivize ecosystem participation — has been restructured multiple times, frustrating node operators who paid thousands of dollars for licenses.

Technology

Blockchain Integration

Gala Games uses NFTs for in-game assets across its titles and operates on its own GalaChain (a proprietary Layer 1 built on Hyperledger Fabric). GALA tokens exist on Ethereum and can be bridged to GalaChain. The node network was designed to support decentralized game hosting, with node operators earning GALA rewards. In practice, the "decentralization" has been nominal — games still run on centralized infrastructure with nodes providing minimal actual utility beyond reward distribution.

Infrastructure

GalaChain's choice of Hyperledger Fabric as a base layer is unusual in the gaming blockchain space and limits interoperability with the broader EVM ecosystem. The transition from Ethereum-based operations to GalaChain has been slow and introduced bridging complexity. Node infrastructure has been a persistent point of contention — operators who purchased Founder's Nodes for $10,000-$100,000+ have seen diminishing returns and changing reward structures. The technology architecture has been criticized as overly centralized despite decentralization claims.

User Experience

The Gala Games platform requires users to create accounts, connect wallets, and navigate between the main website, the game store, and individual game clients. The experience is fragmented and confusing for new users. Node operation requires technical setup and ongoing maintenance. Game installation and updates have been buggy, with frequent reports of launcher issues. The overall UX falls below both web2 gaming platforms and competing web3 ecosystems.

Economy

In-Game Economy

Each Gala game has its own internal economy, with GALA as the overarching token connecting them. Town Star used in-game resources and NFT crafting. Spider Tanks uses victory rewards. The economies have been unstable, with frequent rebalancing that frustrates players who optimized for previous rules. The node reward economy — where operators earn GALA for running nodes — has been the most significant economic mechanism, but rewards have diminished substantially as token value and emission rates declined.

Sustainability

The economic model faces fundamental sustainability questions. Node rewards are funded by GALA emissions (inflation), not by game revenue or player spending. When GALA price drops, node operator returns drop proportionally, creating a negative spiral. The platform generates minimal revenue from actual game activity — most economic activity is speculative trading of GALA and game NFTs. Without substantial game revenue, the emission-funded reward model is unsustainable long-term.

NFT Market

Gala Games has sold various NFTs: node licenses, in-game items, land plots (for Mirandus and Town Star), and entertainment assets. Many of these NFTs have lost 90%+ of their value. The Mirandus land sale generated millions for a game that is still not fully playable years later. Node license resale prices have collapsed. The NFT marketplace on Gala's platform sees minimal volume, and secondary market liquidity is poor.

Adoption

Player Count

Gala claims millions of registered accounts, but active player counts tell a different story. Across all Gala games, daily active users are estimated at 3,000-8,000. No single Gala game has broken into mainstream gaming consciousness. The platform's user growth has stalled, and the co-founder disputes and security incidents have deterred new users from joining.

Revenue

Gala's revenue model includes NFT sales, node license sales, marketplace fees, and GALA token sales. The company has generated significant revenue from node and NFT sales (estimated $100M+ cumulatively), but this is one-time revenue from asset sales rather than recurring operational revenue. Game-derived revenue (in-app purchases, subscriptions) is negligible. Financial details are opaque, as Gala is privately held and does not publish audited financials.

Community

The Gala community has been deeply fractured by the co-founder lawsuits and token exploit. Discord and social media communities are populated by a mix of loyal supporters, frustrated investors, and vocal critics. Node operators, who invested significant capital, are a particularly active and often disgruntled constituency. The community lacks the cohesion and enthusiasm seen in healthier blockchain gaming projects.

Tokenomics

Token Overview

GALA has a maximum supply of 50 billion tokens. The token underwent a split/migration in 2023 that increased the supply and confused holders. Distribution is weighted toward ecosystem rewards (node operators, game rewards) with significant allocations to the team and company. The token contract has been subject to controversy — the 2024 exploit involved unauthorized minting of 5 billion GALA tokens ($200M+), which were partially burned after an emergency response. The entire episode raised serious questions about contract security and access controls.

Play-to-Earn Model

Players earn GALA and game-specific tokens through gameplay and node operation. Node operators earn daily GALA distributions based on their node type and network participation. Game earnings vary by title — Town Star distributed rewards to players meeting daily targets, while Spider Tanks rewards winners of PvP matches. Emission rates have been repeatedly reduced, and the overall earning potential has declined dramatically alongside the token's price.

Value Capture

GALA is used for in-game purchases, marketplace transactions, node operation, and governance. The token is meant to capture value from the entire Gala entertainment ecosystem (games, music, film). However, with minimal actual economic activity in games and entertainment, value capture is theoretical rather than practical. The token's price has been driven primarily by speculative demand and overall crypto market sentiment, not by fundamental ecosystem value creation.

Risk Factors

  • Ongoing legal disputes: The Schiermeyer-Thurston lawsuits create leadership uncertainty and potential financial liabilities that could destabilize the project.
  • Security vulnerabilities: The $200M token exploit demonstrated critical flaws in smart contract access controls and raised questions about the team's security competence.
  • Undelivered promises: Multiple flagship games (especially Mirandus) remain years behind schedule, eroding trust in the team's ability to execute.
  • Token economics instability: Repeated supply changes, migrations, and exploits make GALA's tokenomics unpredictable and unreliable.
  • Centralization risks: Despite "decentralization" branding, GalaChain and game operations are heavily centralized, creating single points of failure.
  • Regulatory exposure: Node sales may face securities classification risks, and the overall token model could attract regulatory scrutiny.

Conclusion

Gala Games represents the risks of ambitious web3 entertainment projects led by big personalities and bigger promises. The vision — a decentralized gaming ecosystem with player ownership and node-operated infrastructure — was compelling on paper. The execution has been deeply flawed, marred by co-founder disputes, security failures, and a chronic inability to ship polished games.

The co-founder lawsuits are particularly damaging because they expose internal dysfunction at the highest levels. When founders publicly accuse each other of fraud and mismanagement, it is difficult for investors, developers, or players to maintain confidence. The $200M token exploit further compounded trust issues, suggesting that even basic security practices were not followed.

For researchers, Gala Games illustrates the importance of governance, security, and execution in blockchain projects. A compelling pitch deck and well-known founders are not substitutes for delivered products and sound financial management. Until Gala ships genuinely compelling games and resolves its internal conflicts, the project remains a high-risk proposition with far more promise than proof.

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