Roblox Meets Web3: How Portals Is Revolutionizing Blockchain Gaming

On September 16, the Solana ecosystem welcomed a project that drew significant attention.

The creator platform Portals, often described as the "Web3 version of Roblox," completed the token generation event (TGE) for its native token $PORTALS. The token launched on major exchanges including Bybit, Gate, and KuCoin.

Previously, on August 8, the project's presale had already made headlines by selling out in just 11 seconds and raising 3,700 SOL instantly.

According to market data, $PORTALS currently holds a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of around $150 million, representing a 1.5x increase from its $100 million presale valuation. This performance indicates that despite typical airdrop sell-offs and market volatility following a TGE, early participants remain profitable.

This trajectory mirrors another standout project, Virtuals Protocol. As an AI agent issuance platform on the Base chain, Virtuals captured market attention through its innovative token issuance mechanism, reaching a market cap exceeding $2 billion within just a few months. The ecosystem of AI agent tokens within Virtuals also created substantial wealth effects that attracted widespread interest.

Portals' ambitions extend far beyond typical crypto projects.

The platform focuses not only on AI agents and token issuance, but also on building a comprehensive ecosystem for game creation and distribution. This approach deeply integrates Virtuals' token issuance model with Roblox's user-generated content (UGC) framework.

For those wondering which narratives still carry weight in the current crypto market, two stand out: the consistently strong AI sector and the emerging Creator Capital Market (CCM).

Pump.fun's livestream tokens demonstrated market demand for zero-barrier creation tools, but also revealed a critical weakness: value vanishes once the streamer goes offline.

Portals has chosen a different approach by using AI-powered no-code tools to enable anyone to create persistent game worlds and tradable assets.

The Solana ecosystem itself sits at a pivotal moment. According to DeFiLlama, Solana's total value locked (TVL) has surpassed $8 billion, with over 5 million daily active addresses. However, compared to its thriving DeFi sector, the entertainment and creator economy segment remains relatively underdeveloped.

Despite hosting more than 40 gaming projects on-chain, Solana still lacks foundational infrastructure that allows ordinary users to easily build and distribute game assets.

What makes this development more significant is the fundamental shift occurring in the creator economy paradigm.

From short videos to livestreaming, from NFTs to AI agents, every wave of technological innovation in the crypto world has lowered creation barriers and expanded monetization channels for creators. Yet gaming, arguably the most immersive and economically powerful form of content, has long remained inaccessible to ordinary creators due to steep technical requirements. This changed with the rise of AI and no-code tools.

Portals emerges at this critical moment: AI technology has matured, Solana's performance is robust, the creator economy is thriving, and Virtuals has already proven the model's viability. With these elements converging, could a new giant in the creator economy be emerging?

Project Background and Market Recognition

To understand Portals, examining its team and investors provides essential context.

According to official information, the Portals founding team consists of serial entrepreneurs whose previous three ventures each generated over $1 million in revenue within their first year.

Team members bring extensive gaming industry experience, having worked on major titles including League of Legends, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Saints Row. Their professional backgrounds span leading companies such as Riot Games, Blizzard, and Disney. Additionally, the team gained operational experience managing a community of 40,000 Twitch streamers during a previous project.

On the capital side, Portals closed a $5 million seed round in February 2022. Lead investor Greylock maintains a portfolio that includes platform-scale products such as Roblox, Coinbase, and Discord. Other backers include Multicoin Capital, Solana Ventures, Foundation Capital, Mantis VC, and Justin Kan, co-founder of Twitch.

This investor lineup stands out for its coverage across three critical domains: gaming (Greylock's investment in Roblox), Web3 infrastructure (Multicoin's deep involvement with Solana), and the creator economy (Justin Kan's founding of Twitch).

The early ecosystem building results also deserve attention. Unlike many Web3 projects that follow a "token first, product later" approach, Portals chose to build its ecosystem before conducting its token generation event.

As early as November 2021, Portals launched its Genesis NFT collection. This collection functioned as more than just a profile picture (PFP) project. It served as a founding membership pass for the entire Portals ecosystem. Holders received early platform access, game testing opportunities, and eligibility for future token airdrops.

The collection divides into four rarity tiers: Explorers, Collectors, Striders, and Operators. Each tier grants different benefits and levels of exclusivity.

After nearly three years of development, this NFT series has become the second-largest gaming NFT project by market cap within the Solana ecosystem. Market confidence became even more apparent on the eve of the token generation event, when a single buyer spent over $1 million to acquire rare NFTs. This demonstrated strong belief in Portals' long-term value.

Nothing, however, illustrates the market’s enthusiasm more clearly than the August 8 presale: 7 million tokens (just 0.7% of total supply) sold out in 11 seconds, raising 3,700 SOL and corresponding to a $90 million fully diluted valuation. Such speed is rare even in bull market conditions.

From Creation to Distribution: A Game-Building Universe Inside the Browser

Portals' product vision can be summarized in one phrase: Make creating games as easy as posting a video, and make game assets as free to issue as tokens.

The Portals team recognizes how essential intuitive, low-barrier tools are for creators. With this understanding, its technical architecture enables truly seamless game creation.

No Downloads, Instant Access

Visiting the Portals website reveals a clear contrast with traditional game engines that typically require multi-gigabyte downloads. Portals operates entirely within the browser. This allows creators to start building immediately without installing any software, and enables players to enter any game with a single click.

According to platform data, this "zero-friction" experience increases conversion rates by several multiples compared to conventional download-based games.

Consider this scenario: a streamer showcases a self-made game during a broadcast, and viewers can instantly join by clicking a link. No downloads, no interruptions, no need to leave the livestream. This immediacy represents the key to how Portals can achieve rapid adoption.

Drag-and-Drop Creation: Anyone Can Be a Game Designer

Portals Studio includes more than 20 pre-built components that cover the core elements of game development: character systems (NPCs, player avatars, enemies), interaction mechanisms (triggers, portals, devices), game logic (quests, leaderboards, reward systems), and environmental features (terrain, buildings, decorations). Users can access all of these through simple drag-and-drop actions and parameter adjustments.

Creators can also import their own 3D models and assets to achieve more personalized styling. Additionally, Portals supports real-time multiplayer collaboration, allowing friends to co-create games together, similar to collaborative document editing in Google Docs.

Hands-On Experience: From Idea to Launch in Just Hours

The platform's popular game The Doll Maker serves as an excellent example. In practice, it delivers a well-crafted puzzle adventure with strong atmospheric elements. From lighting effects to sound design and interactive gameplay, the overall experience proves impressive. Anyone can play it instantly by clicking directly on the project's website.

According to background notes, the creator built the game using Portals Studio and completed the entire process from concept to launch in just a single weekend. The game features carefully designed puzzles, ambient sound effects, and multiple scene transitions. It achieves the polish and immersion typically associated with independent studio productions.

Beyond The Doll Maker, the Game Jam has produced a wide variety of titles, including parkour, shooters, and role-playing games. This demonstrates the versatility and practicality of Portals' creation tools. All of these games are available to play directly on the Portals platform, with no downloads required.

In addition to providing powerful game-building tools and asset issuance infrastructure, Portals has designed features for content distribution. The platform enables creators to use AI-powered tools to automatically promote their games across social platforms, driving viral-style dissemination.

Asset Issuance: From Games to Economic Systems

In the Portals ecosystem, every game has the potential to become its own independent economy. While this may sound ambitious, Portals makes it remarkably simple through streamlined tools.

Creators can issue tokens for their games as easily as launching a coin on Pump.fun, but with one key difference: these tokens are backed by real in-game scenarios and utility.

The case of CHRONO best illustrates Portals' economic model.

As the first game token on the platform, its origin stands out: instead of following the traditional presale route, it was directly airdropped to active members of the Solana community.

This model becomes more intriguing through the design of the in-game economic loop. In the first game that supported $CHRONO, players could earn tokens by completing missions, but simultaneously needed to spend tokens to unlock new levels or purchase items.

Data shows that while the game distributed 36 million tokens, it also recycled 39.6 million tokens through various mechanisms, achieving natural deflation. This "play-and-consume" model ensures tokens function as integrated parts of the gameplay experience rather than just speculative instruments.

Today, CHRONO extends beyond a single game. Community developers are building 5–10 new titles that all adopt CHRONO as a shared currency. Imagine earning tokens in Game A, spending them on equipment in Game B, and then staking them for rewards in Game C. This represents the cross-game economic network Portals envisions.

The tokenization of games does raise concerns. Price volatility could disrupt game balance, and speculation might distort the ecosystem. However, Portals' approach appears to favor market-driven solutions: creators can choose whether to issue tokens, and players can choose whether to participate.

The platform provides the tools but does not impose a specific path.

This openness fundamentally distinguishes Portals from traditional gaming platforms. Here, creators serve not only as content producers but also as potential designers of economic systems. This aligns with the emerging Creator Capital Market narrative, where creators can directly monetize the attention they generate.

Remarkably, all of this can be accomplished through drag-and-drop and simple clicks without writing a single line of code.

AI-Powered: Full-Chain Support from Creation to Distribution

While no-code tools reduce the technical barriers to game creation, AI integration gives creators creative advantages. Portals incorporates AI functionality across the entire process, from creation to distribution.

According to the platform, Portals offers powerful generative AI tools that can automatically transform game content into short videos for promoting games, AI agents, or token projects on social media.

This feature addresses a core pain point for creators: many can build engaging games but struggle with marketing. By automatically generating short-form video content optimized for platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts, creators can focus on building while AI handles content distribution.

Combined with Portals' instant-play, browser-based experience, this creates an efficient conversion funnel: users see a game clip on social media, click the link, and jump straight into gameplay without downloads or installations.

$PORTALS: More Than Just a Governance Token

With the TGE completed on September 16, $PORTALS officially entered market circulation. Its core functions support every layer of the platform's ecosystem.

The first function involves a direct pairing mechanism: every game token issued on Portals automatically pairs with PORTALS in a liquidity pool, effectively making PORTALS the base currency of the ecosystem.

As more game tokens launch, demand for $PORTALS liquidity will continue to rise.

The second function provides access rights. Holding PORTALS grants users eligibility for airdrops of new game tokens, similar to how VIRTUAL holders in the Virtuals ecosystem receive allocations of new AI agent tokens. Considering that multiple AI agent projects on Virtuals have already reached market caps in the tens of millions of dollars, these airdrop entitlements carry significant value.

Finally, the staking mechanism provides additional support. Ten percent of platform transaction fees fund buybacks of $PORTALS tokens, which are then distributed to stakers. This goes beyond simple "mining" by creating a model that allows token holders to share directly in the platform's growth dividends. As trading volumes expand, staking rewards scale accordingly.

What stands out most is the creator incentive program. Out of the total supply of 1 billion tokens, 370 million (37%) are allocated to community and ecosystem growth. These tokens will not be released simultaneously, but instead distributed gradually over 3–5 years through mechanisms such as creation rewards, game leaderboard prizes, and quality content incentives. This ensures that outstanding creators can earn substantial rewards through consistent contributions.

Similarities and Differences with Virtuals

Many have compared Portals to Virtuals, and the comparison proves valid. A closer examination helps clarify where the two align and where they diverge:

From this comparison, it becomes clear that while both projects adopt a "platform token + ecosystem token" model, their execution paths differ significantly:

Virtuals' strength lies in lighter content formats and faster virality. An engaging AI persona can go viral on Twitter within hours, and AI agents can interact with users around the clock, continuously generating content and conversations.。

Portals' strength lies in richer content formats and more diverse monetization models. Games inherently provide multiple economic layers. Items, skins, land, and equipment can all be tokenized, giving tokens more tangible utility. At the same time, the immersive and interactive nature of games can foster deeper user engagement.

Both projects face a common challenge: sustaining content quality and user novelty. Virtuals must continuously upgrade AI capabilities, while Portals must ensure a steady pipeline of high-quality games. Each experiments with how user-generated content (UGC) can evolve in Web3, but through different mediums.

From an investment perspective, Virtuals has already proven its model and validated market demand, whereas Portals is just at the starting line but carries even greater potential upside.

An Experiment Worth Watching

Portals represents one possible future for Web3 gaming: not merely porting traditional games onto the blockchain, but leveraging blockchain's unique properties to create new modes of game creation and economic interaction.

Whether it can truly become the "Web3 Roblox" remains to be seen, but the direction itself merits exploration. Between Pump.fun-style short-term speculation and the closed ecosystems of traditional gaming, a sustainable middle path may exist.

For creators, Portals offers a low-barrier, high-freedom platform for building. For players, it promises a steady flow of fresh content. For investors, it presents a Web3 project with real products and revenue potential.

Visions must ultimately be tested through execution. The TGE represents only the beginning. The real challenge lies in whether Portals can consistently attract top creators, deliver quality content, and sustain a positive feedback loop.

This is an experiment, and one worth giving time to see how far it can progress.

Connect with us:
Telegram: t.me/blockflownews
Twitter: x.com/BlockFlow_News