Web3 gaming funding: grants for game studios in 2026

Updated Oct 31, 20267 min readBy the web3grant editors

Web3 gaming funding from grants is thin in 2026. Only 6 of the 99 programs in web3grant's directory list gaming as a category, and one of them, Arbitrum's D.A.O. Grant Program, is closed with no next season. The open routes are Ronin's monthly onchain rewards, Starknet Seed Grants, Kaia's IOK Fund, the Gear Foundation on Vara and Aleo for private games.

Key takeaways

As of October 31, 2026, gaming is the smallest category in web3grant's directory: 6 of 99 programs, against 36 for DeFi and 71 for infrastructure.
Five of the six accept applications today; the Arbitrum D.A.O. Grant Program closed its Season 3 on March 17, 2026, and no Season 4 has been proposed.
Published ceilings are modest: up to $20,000 from Kaia's IOK Fund, $25,000 from Starknet Seed Grants, $30,000 from the Gear Foundation and $100,000 from Aleo.
Ronin Proof of Distribution is not a grant you apply for: games on Ronin share a pool of 410,958 RON every 30 days based on onchain activity.
Decentraland's Regenesis grants, Ultra, Game3 and MultiversX Growth Games had no clear open round when we checked in early October 2026.

How much grant funding is there for Web3 games?

Not much, measured against what games cost. Six programs in the directory carry the gaming category, the fewest of any category, and none publishes a ceiling above $100,000. A few more programs name games in their focus areas without making gaming a category, and they are listed further down.

One likely reason: most Web3 grants pay for open-source tools and infrastructure that other builders reuse, and a game is usually a closed commercial product. Chains fund games when they expect the game to bring users and transactions to the chain, and three of the five open gaming programs below pay for launch, go-to-market or onchain activity rather than for building the game itself.

For the full list with live status, see Web3 gaming grants.

Which programs fund Web3 games?

The six gaming programs differ mostly in the stage they fund: Kaia wants a launched or nearly launched game, Starknet an MVP that has not gone to market, Gear and Aleo fund milestones at any stage, Ronin pays only for activity after launch, and Arbitrum's program is closed.

Program	Chain	Stage	Grant size	Paid in
Ronin Proof of Distribution	Ronin	Live, with activity	Share of monthly pool	RON
Starknet Seed Grants	Starknet	MVP, not yet launched	Up to $25K	STRK
IOK Fund	Kaia	Launched or launching in 1 to 2 months	Up to $20K	KAIA
Gear Foundation Grants	Vara	Any, with milestones	$10K to $30K	Not published
Aleo Developer Grants	Aleo	Any, open-source elements	Up to $100K	Not published
D.A.O. Grant Program	Arbitrum	Closed	Up to $50K	USDC

Their current status:

Ronin Proof of Distribution

On Ronin, games do not apply for a grant: they earn Proof of Distribution (PoD) rewards. You register your game and the contracts you control on the Builders Portal, and each 30-day season the pool of 410,958 RON (about $26,800 at late-September 2026 prices) is shared by Builder Score. The score weighs NFT volume, DEX volume, gas spend, paying users and new paying users, plus a RON Conviction multiplier added on September 10, 2026. The Ronin team reviews each season for botting and wash trading before paying. In Season 1, Axie Infinity earned over 97,000 RON. The Proof of Distribution docs explain the score.

Starknet Seed Grants

The Starknet Foundation pays up to $25,000 in STRK to early-stage teams with an MVP or proof of concept that have not gone to market. You need ties to the Starknet community, such as a past hackathon or builder program, and a plan for the next three months. A committee replies in about four weeks, including on rejections, and KYC or KYB comes before payout. Teams already live with users are pointed to Starknet's Growth Grants instead, which range from $25,000 to $1M in STRK.

Kaia IOK Fund

The IOK Fund pays up to about $20,000 in KAIA for go-to-market work: user acquisition, reward campaigns, infrastructure costs and event sponsorship. Your dApp must be live on Kaia or launching within one to two months, and you set the onchain KPIs you will report against. The Kaia Foundation describes the fund as always open, and it is one of the faster programs in the directory, at about two weeks to a decision.

Gear Foundation Grants

The Gear Foundation, the non-profit behind the Vara Network, says gaming gets the most attention in its published RFPs, with open requests for mobile games, onchain games and Telegram games. Most accepted grants are $10,000 to $30,000, paid on milestones you propose, and you usually hear back within 4 to 6 weeks.

Aleo Developer Grants

Aleo funds zero-knowledge apps on its private layer 1, and "games with provable fairness and private state" is one of its four focus areas. Grants go up to $100,000 on milestones, and every project must include open-source elements built on Aleo. Only developer work is funded.

Arbitrum D.A.O. Grant Program

The ArbitrumDAO ran a gaming domain inside its D.A.O. Grant Program, paying up to $50,000 in USDC. Season 3 received 1,262 applications and approved 190 across all domains before closing on March 17, 2026. The Arbitrum Foundation says a new grant program is coming soon, but as of October 29, 2026 nothing had been announced.

Do other Web3 grant programs fund games?

Yes, a handful of programs outside the gaming category name games in their focus areas. They are worth a look when your game runs on their chain, but none of them is gaming-first:

STON.fi DEX Grants pays up to $10,000 in USDT on TON for integrating its swap SDK or widget, and lists games with tokens or DeFi features.
Tezos Foundation Grants funds gaming and SDKs for web, Unity and mobile on Tezos and Etherlink, reviewed quarterly.
Reactive Dev Fund pays in REACT from a $3M fund for event-driven dApps, including games, on Reactive Network.
Conflux Integration Grants, TRON Builders League and Prezenti Grants on Celo each list gaming among wider consumer focus areas. Prezenti's Season 3 status is unclear as of October 29, 2026.
Ink Spark says strong outliers in games can be funded, though its priorities are lending, perps, real-world assets and AI agents.

Which gaming grant programs closed or went quiet?

Several gaming-focused programs we checked in early October 2026 had no clear way to apply, so they are not in the directory:

Decentraland Regenesis Grants: Season 1 ran from April 1 to April 24, 2026, with up to $15,000 in MANA per project. The team mentioned "upcoming grant seasons" in September, but no Season 2 dates were published as of October 2, 2026.
Ultra Developer Grants: opened in July 2025 with a $1,000,000 pool, but the pages have not been updated since, and Ultra said in January 2026 that it had slowed down.
Game3 Foundation: its page offers $5,000 to $50,000 for Web3 and AI games, but no grantees or awards are published anywhere on the site.
MultiversX Growth Games: every Season 1 track shows registration or submission closed, and no Season 2 has been announced.
Somnia: a $10M developer grant program was announced in late 2024, but its grants page returns a 404 and no new round had been announced when we checked on October 2, 2026.

Email alerts tell you when a round opens that fits your project, and again three days before it closes.

How should a game studio fund a Web3 game?

Treat grants as a slice of the budget, tied to the chain, not as the funding plan. The ceilings above cover a launch campaign, an integration or a few months of a small team, not a full production.

Choose the chain for its players, then apply there. Every open gaming program funds activity on its own chain. A grant from a chain your players do not use is a cost, not a gain.
Fund a milestone, not the game. Ask for the piece a chain cares about: the onchain integration, the launch campaign, the first paying users. Kaia's IOK Fund pays for exactly that.
Plan the rest of the budget elsewhere. Publishers, investors and revenue usually carry game development. Our comparison of Web3 grants and venture capital covers how the two fit together.
Expect tokens. Five of the six gaming programs pay in a native token or do not publish the currency. Read grants paid in tokens before you budget.

For choosing between programs in general, see how to choose a Web3 grant program, and for the process, how to apply for Web3 grants.

FAQ

Is there a grant that pays for building a whole Web3 game?

No program in web3grant's directory publishes a ceiling for game grants above $100,000 as of October 2026. Aleo Developer Grants goes up to $100,000 for zero-knowledge apps including private games, the Gear Foundation usually pays $10,000 to $30,000, and Starknet Seed Grants up to $25,000. These amounts suit a prototype, an integration or a launch, so most studios combine them with publishers, investors or revenue.

How does Ronin pay game developers?

Ronin pays game developers through Proof of Distribution, a reward system rather than a grant. A game registers its contracts on the Ronin Builders Portal, and each 30-day season it receives a share of 410,958 RON based on a Builder Score from onchain activity such as NFT volume, gas spend and paying users. Ronin reviews each season for botting and wash trading before paying.

Can an unreleased game get a Web3 grant?

An unreleased Web3 game can apply to Starknet Seed Grants, which is built for teams with an MVP that have not gone to market, and to the Gear Foundation and Aleo, which fund on milestones. Kaia's IOK Fund accepts games launching within one to two months. Ronin Proof of Distribution only rewards games that already have onchain activity.

Is the Arbitrum gaming grant still open?

The Arbitrum gaming grant is not open. It was one of five domains in the ArbitrumDAO's D.A.O. Grant Program, which paid up to $50,000 in USDC and closed Season 3 on March 17, 2026. No Season 4 has been proposed. The Arbitrum Foundation says a new grant program is coming soon, but none had been announced as of October 29, 2026.

Programs in this guide

Where each one stands today, soonest deadline first.

Browse all grant programs Get deadline alerts