Picture this: what if Pokémon GO had launched with blockchain integration back during its massive 2016 boom? The mobile gaming phenomenon shattered records with over 500 million downloads in its first month. Now imagine if that craze had been backed by tokenomics—players earning and trading in-game assets as real digital tokens. The gaming economy would've exploded on a completely different scale. That moment represented peak mainstream adoption potential for Web3 gaming. The combination of casual gameplay, augmented reality engagement, and cryptocurrency incentives could have shifted the entire narrative around digital assets. Instead, it became a thought experiment—but one that shows just how massive the gaming and metaverse economy could be if the tech had matured sooner. Today's on-chain gaming projects are essentially playing catch-up to recapture that untapped potential.