Crypto game studio Uncharted to shutdown along with Fishing Frenzy

Fishing Frenzy has distributed $62,845 in USDC to community members and refunded another $7,021 in player purchases as its developer, Uncharted, moves ahead with plans to shut down the Web3 game later this month.

Summary

• Fishing Frenzy has distributed $62,845 in USDC to players and stakers based on Karma scores ahead of its June 25 shutdown.
• Uncharted has refunded $7,021 in eligible in game purchases as part of its wind down process.
• The studio said it is closing after failing to find a sustainable business model for its crypto gaming strategy.

According to an announcement from Uncharted, the payouts were calculated using Karma scores, a system that factors in token staking, NFT staking, and other forms of community participation. The team said eligible purchases made after the launch of Chapter 3 on May 14 were also refunded automatically, excluding spending related to diving activities.

The update comes days after Uncharted revealed that both the studio and Fishing Frenzy would cease operations after failing to establish what it described as a viable product-market-business fit for crypto gaming.

Uncharted begins final community payouts before shutdown

In its latest update, the company said USDC distributions had already been completed, with funds sent to community members based on Karma scores recorded in a snapshot taken on June 15.

Alongside the payouts, the team asked users who had provided liquidity to the FISH/USDC pool to contact staff through Discord support channels for assistance withdrawing their positions.

Earlier notices outlined a broader compensation plan tied to the shutdown. Under that framework, all USDC held in the FISH/USDC liquidity pool would be redistributed to players and stakers according to Karma scores rather than token balances.

The studio also confirmed that FISH can no longer be traded or transferred. Instead, the token remains usable only inside the game until servers go offline. Uncharted said the restriction was introduced to prevent a rush of selling that could leave a small number of participants with a disproportionate share of remaining liquidity.

As part of the wind-down process, the company has open-sourced its Karma score dataset, allowing other teams to use the information for future reward programs or community initiatives.

Crypto gaming thesis falls short

In its shutdown announcement, Uncharted said a year of testing different products, audiences, and directions failed to provide enough confidence that the business could continue operating sustainably.

“We were ultimately unable to prove our thesis on crypto gaming and could not find product-market-business fit,” the team wrote.

Fishing Frenzy’s servers are scheduled to shut down on June 25 at 2 a.m. UTC. Until then, existing game features will remain accessible, although USDC packages have already been removed from the platform.

Additional rewards are still expected to reach players. Uncharted said that Proof of Distribution rewards will be distributed directly by Sky Mavis using the same Karma-based allocation method. The company also stated that it would provide Karma score data to partner projects and request that they honor previously planned token distributions for top users.

The closure adds to a growing list of crypto projects that have wound down operations this year despite maintaining active products. Earlier this month, Botanix Labs announced the shutdown of its Bitcoin Layer 2 network, citing insufficient economic demand to sustain the platform. In May, Solana-based yield protocol Carrot said losses tied to the Drift Protocol exploit left it unable to continue operating.