Key Highlights
- Sorare lays off 35 staff and sees its Co-Founder CTO step back as part of a major restructuring to chase profitability.
- Revenue falls from €59M to €43M while losses exceed €220M, despite user growth rising 33% to 378,000 cardholders.
- Shift to Solana aims to cut costs as the wider Web3 gaming industry faces layoffs, slowdowns, and regulatory uncertainty.
Sorare, the French startup that once symbolized Europe’s big bet on non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and fantasy sports, is going through what might be its hardest moment yet. According to an internal announcement first reported by Raphaël Bloch from The Big Whale, the company is laying off around 35 employees out of a team of roughly 100.
It’s a major reset for a business that, just three years ago, was being hailed as one of the most valuable Web3 companies in the world.
Leadership changes add to the shake-up
The restructuring isn’t just about layoffs. Sorare’s Co-Founder and CTO, Adrien Montfort, is also stepping back from day-to-day operations, which is a significant shift considering how central he has been to the product since the beginning.
CEO Nicolas Julia told The Big Whale that the company is trying to “accelerate our path to profitability” and reorganize in a way that “simplifies the structure and shortens decision-making.”
He said the move is “hard to go through, but necessary,” which pretty much sums up where the company stands right now.
Julia also shared via X that Sorare is centralizing all of its teams at the Paris headquarters and tightening the organizational structure.
The goal, he explained, is to allow a more focused, core team to work closely together, “ship faster and with more consistency,” stay closer to the community, and operate more efficiently as the company scales.
He expressed gratitude to everyone who has contributed to Sorare’s journey so far, saying their work will continue to form the foundation for future growth.
On the founders’ side, Julia confirmed he will continue to lead Sorare as CEO. Montfort, while stepping back as CTO, will remain deeply involved as a Board member, bringing his expertise to guide the company’s long-term vision.
How Sorare rose to fame during the NFT boom
Sorare built its name by mixing fantasy sports with blockchain tech. Users buy and trade digital cards—basically NFTs—representing real athletes. Those cards can then be used in fantasy tournaments where the athletes’ real-world performance affects how well the user does.
At the height of the NFT craze, this idea exploded. Sorare secured licences from major football leagues, the NBA, MLB, and plenty of others. It became a global talking point in crypto and sports circles.
And in 2021, when NFT mania was everywhere, Sorare raised a staggering $680 million at a valuation of $4.3 billion, which was almost unheard of for a European startup.
The market shift and mounting financial pressure
But the buzz didn’t last. The NFT market cooled, crypto enthusiasm dipped, and the Web3 gaming space as a whole struggled to prove it could turn hype into consistent revenue.
Sorare’s financials show the reality clearly: revenue dropped from €59 million in 2023 to €43 million in 2024, and losses ballooned to more than €220 million last year. The losses remain high today.
The company also slipped out of the French Tech 120 list for 2025, which isn’t a great sign for a company that was once treated as a national tech champion. Additionally, Sorare has almost shut down its US operations after downsizing its New York team early last year.
User growth continues, but doesn’t fix the model
Interestingly, Sorare isn’t losing users. In fact, the opposite is happening. The platform now has 378,000 cardholders, which is a 33% jump from last year. But the problem is that user growth isn’t translating into stable revenue.
Most of Sorare’s income still depends on card sales, and card sales fluctuate heavily depending on sports seasons, player hype, and market sentiment. It’s not predictable enough to build a long-term business on—not in its current form.
A tough moment for all Web3 gaming
This is also happening at a time when Web3 gaming in general is struggling. Companies that were once talked about alongside Sorare are facing their own cuts and pivots. The Sandbox, for example, reduced its workforce by half. Another firm, Unagi, had to rethink its direction entirely.
On top of this, France’s Jonum regulatory framework for blockchain-based games is still in limbo, which makes things more complicated for companies operating in this space.
The bigger, more uncomfortable truth is that no one in Web3 gaming has yet figured out how to scale the “NFT collectibles + fantasy game” model into a sustainable, billion-dollar machine.
Sorare has already tried tightening things up. One of the biggest internal changes was its decision to migrate to the Solana blockchain, mainly to cut infrastructure costs. The shift could save the company up to $10 million, which explains why it was pushed forward so aggressively.
The road ahead
Despite everything, Nicolas Julia says he believes Sorare can return to growth in 2025 and even hit profitability “by the end of 2026.” That’s an optimistic target, but the next couple of years will probably determine whether Sorare becomes a long-term player in digital sports entertainment or ends up being remembered as a product of the NFT boom era.
For now, though, Sorare is in a make-or-break phase. The layoffs, the leadership changes, the tighter budgets—they’re all part of a bigger fight to prove the company still has a future beyond the hype that originally made it famous.
Julia closed his message to the community by thanking users for their trust, feedback, and passion, and emphasizing the company’s commitment to building a “global, enduring sports game powered by real ownership.”
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