Inventory of the big players who have entered the threshold of tens of millions in financing.
Author: Karen, Foresight News
The trend sparked by the Play-to-Earn blockchain game Axie Infinity and the Move-to-Earn game STEPN is no longer as loud, but the fantasies it left behind continue.
Web3 games are considered to be the most capable of creating out-of-circle applications on the road to large-scale adoption of Web3, bringing true ownership and economic incentives to players, and bringing new possibilities to the gaming industry.
Foresight News conducted a comprehensive inventory of Web3 games with financing exceeding 10 million US dollars, summarizing about 30 game studios and more than 70 Web3 games, covering categories such as MMO/RPG, card games, metaverse construction, and competitive games.
According to Foresight News, about 60% of Web3 games with financing exceeding 10 million US dollars conducted financing in 2022. In addition, there are no shortage of game studios with financing exceeding hundreds of millions of dollars, including Mythical Games, Dapper Labs, Mythical Games, Animoca Brands, and top game developers and publishers like Nexon entering the Web3 arena, launching a 100 million US dollar Web3 fund.
It is important to emphasize that large financing does not necessarily mean a high probability of success for games. The Web3 game industry as a whole faces many challenges and uncertainties, such as technological maturity, sustainability of business models, and game quality.
Many projects have stagnated this year, and some game projects have resolutely decided to abandon Web3. For example, the football game GOALS, which completed a 15 million US dollar seed round of financing, later abandoned the concept of Crypto/NFTs; Irreverent Labs' NFT cockfighting game MechaFightClub has been indefinitely suspended after a year; and the chess game Immortal Game, which raised 15.5 million US dollars, also decided to stop the development of Play-to-Earn and NFT collectible-related features on the platform this year.
Of course, developing high-quality games is not an overnight process, but requires continuous investment, trial and error, and optimization. We need to give Web3 games more space and time for development.
Web3 Game Studios
Dapper Labs
Dapper Labs was founded in 2018. According to Crunchbase data, Dapper Labs raised a total of 612.5 million US dollars in 7 rounds of financing, with investment institutions including a16z, Union Square Ventures, Samsung Ventures, and Coatue.
The once popular CryptoKitties (which allows the purchase, breeding, sale, and collection of virtual cats) was initially a project initiated by the software development company Axiom Zen, and later separated from Axiom Zen by Dapper Labs.
Dapper Labs is also the company behind NBA Top Shot (an NFT market that records exciting moments in the NBA), NFL All Day (which allows users to purchase and collect digital football highlights from the NFL), UFC Strike (which allows the collection of warriors and iconic moments from the Ultimate Fighting Championship UFC), and the Flow blockchain.
Public information shows that since November of last year, Dapper Labs has begun to streamline its business, undergoing three waves of large-scale layoffs. However, Dapper Labs is also constantly expanding, and in November 2023, it announced the upcoming launch of Disney Pinnacle in collaboration with Disney, which will bring together Disney characters, Pixar idols, and heroes and villains from the Star Wars galaxy as collectible and tradable digital badges.
https://www.dapperlabs.com/
Mythical Games
Mythical Games is headquartered in Los Angeles and was founded in 2018, with team members from senior positions at Activision Blizzard and Yahoo. In November 2018, Mythical Games completed a 16 million US dollar Series A financing round, led by Galaxy Digital's EOS VC Fund (at the time, Mythical Games was preparing to release new products on EOS).
In September 2021, Mythical Games completed a 75 million US dollar growth equity investment, led by WestCap, with investors and influencers Gary Vaynerchuk's VaynerFund and 01 Advisors, as well as existing investors Galaxy Digital, Alumni Ventures, Javelin Venture Partners, and Stuck Capital participating. In the same year, in November, Mythical Games completed a 150 million US dollar Series C financing round, led by a16z, with a valuation reaching 1.25 billion US dollars.
In June 2023, Mythical Games completed a 37 million US dollar Series C extension financing round, led by Scytale Digital, with participation from ARK Invest, a16z, and Animoca Brands.
Mythical Games is not only favored by investors with a financing amount close to 3 billion US dollars, but also continues to expand through acquisitions, having acquired the metaverse streaming platform Polystream, the NFT marketplace DMarket, the UK video game studio Shortround Games, and the CV/ML supplier Arcuity, among others.
Mythical Games has also launched the football competitive game NFL Rivals, the multiplayer game world Blankos Block Party, the Mythical Platform, and the Mythical Marketplace. After acquiring DMarket in January of this year, Mythical Games launched the new marketplace Mythical Marketplace 2.0 (NFL Rivals market), which is built on Mythical's Layer1 EVM blockchain and supported by the native ecosystem token MYTH.
Currently, NFL Rivals allows the collection of digital cards of top players in football matches and climbing the rankings. As of the time of writing, NFL Rivals has been downloaded over 1 million times on Google Play and ranks seventh in the sports free games category on the Apple Store. NFL Rivals has high fluency, quality, and gameplay realism.
Moreover, the Mythical Platform is a comprehensive service system for developers and publishers to integrate blockchain-based Play-to-Earn economies into their games.
https://mythicalgames.com/
Animoca Brands
Animoca Brands is driving digital property through NFTs and games, with a product portfolio including "The Sandbox," "PHANTOM GALAXIE," "Life Beyond," and "Crazy Defense Heroes," among other original games. Its subsidiaries include The Sandbox, Blowfish Studios, Quidd, GAMEE, nWay, Pixowl, Forj, Lympo, Animoca Brands Japan, Grease Monkey Games, Eden Games, Darewise Entertainment, Notre Game, education content platform TinyTap, music metaverse game platform company PIXELYNX, WePlay Media, and Gryfyn, as well as the Web3 streaming platform Azarus.
According to Crunchbase data, Animoca Brands has raised a total of 856 million US dollars. Animoca Brands is also one of the most active investors in the Web3 gaming space. According to its official website, it has made over 400 investments directly in the Web3 space or through Animoca Ventures, including Yuga Labs, Polygon, Consensys, Fireblocks, OpenSea, Dapper Labs, Yield Guild Games, Alien Worlds, and more.
In addition to Animoca Brands, Foresight Ventures, Binance Labs, a16z, and other venture capital firms are also very active in the Web3 gaming space.
https://www.animocabrands.com/
Fenix Games
In November 2022, Web3 game publisher Fenix Games announced that it had raised 150 million US dollars, with investors including Phoenix Group and Dubai-based venture capital firm Cypher Capital, with plans to acquire, invest in, and publish blockchain games.
Fenix Games stated that its executive team members come from Activision/Blizzard, Citigroup, and Credit Suisse, with CEO Chris Ko previously serving as Senior Vice President of Strategy and Investment at Mythical Games and also working at Electronic Arts (EA).
Compared to many other Web3 game publishers or studios mentioned in this article, Fenix Games has not released many updates after its financing. However, Immutable announced in June of this year that it would collaborate with Fenix Games to support and launch Web3 games, but no further progress has been disclosed.
https://www.fenixgames.com/
CCP Games
CCP Games focuses on virtual worlds and was founded in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1997. It launched the large-scale multiplayer online game "EVE Online" in 2003 and was acquired by South Korean developer Pearl Abyss in 2018.
In March 2023, game publisher CCP Games completed a 40 million US dollar financing round, led by a16z, with participation from Makers Fund, Bitkraft, Kingsway Capital, Nexon, Hashed, and others. The funds raised will be used to create a new AAA-level blockchain game set in the Eve Online universe. CCP Games' total cumulative financing amount is over 106 million US dollars.
https://www.ccpgames.com/
Nexon
Nexon is a leading game developer and publisher in South Korea. In December 2023, it launched a 100 million US dollar Web3 fund to support its MapleStory Universe blockchain game ecosystem and related IP. Nexon also announced plans to integrate MapleStory Universe with Polygon Supernets by March 2024.
https://www.nexon.com/main/en
Sky Mavis
Founded in 2018, Sky Mavis is the distributor of Axie Infinity, which once surpassed the daily revenue of Honor of Kings. It aims to create economic freedom for game players by developing games owned and governed by the gaming community. In addition to Axie Infinity, Sky Mavis' products include Ronin Network and the NFT marketplace Mavis Market.
In May 2021, Sky Mavis raised 7.5 million US dollars for Axie Infinity, with support from Mark Cuban. In October of the same year, Sky Mavis completed a 152 million US dollar Series B financing round led by a16z, with participation from Accel and Paradigm.
In March 2022, the Ronin Network verification nodes were compromised, resulting in the loss of over 600 million US dollars in cryptocurrency. Subsequently, Sky Mavis announced a 150 million US dollar financing round, led by Binance, with participation from Animoca Brands, a16z, Dialectic, Paradigm, and Accel. The funds from this round were used to compensate users affected by the Ronin attack and to restore funds to the Ronin Bridge. However, Binance later stated that it would no longer lead the 150 million US dollar financing for Sky Mavis. In July of this year, according to Tech in Asia, Sky Mavis only raised 11 million US dollars out of the announced 150 million US dollars financing last year.
https://skymavis.com/
Xterio
In August 2022, Web3 game developer Xterio completed a 40 million US dollar financing round with a valuation of 3 billion US dollars through SAFT sales. FunPlus, Makers Fund, FTX Ventures, and XPLA led the round, with participation from Animoca Brands, HashKey, Foresight Ventures, and others.
In July 2023, Binance Labs invested 15 million US dollars in blockchain game publisher Xterio. As part of a long-term strategic partnership, Binance Labs will support the development of Xterio, and the Xterio token will be released on the BNB Chain ecosystem.
In October 2023, Xterio launched the game-centric marketplace "Xterio Marketplace."
https://xter.io/
Proof of Play
In September 2023, Proof of Play completed a 33 million US dollar seed financing round, with a16z and Greenoaks co-leading the round, and participation from Mercury, Firebase, Zynga, Alchemy, as well as individual investors including AngelList co-founder Naval Ravikant, former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan, Twitch co-founder Justin Kan, and YGG CEO Gabby Dizon.
Proof of Play CEO Amitt Mahajan, in addition to creating FarmVille, also held executive positions at Zynga and later founded Toro (later acquired by Google). FarmVille had over 300 million players and was the top-ranked game on Facebook. After FarmVille shut down completely in 2020, Amitt Mahajan believed that blockchain games are the true permanent games, as players' game results will be permanently stored on the blockchain when they level up their characters, create worlds, or collect loot.
Proof of Play positions itself as a game studio and technology company aiming to create fun, accessible blockchain games and develop innovative technologies to make it easier for everyone to develop blockchain games.
Proof of Play's first game, "Pirate Nation," is a fully blockchain-based role-playing game (RPG) where players can recruit their own pirate crew, battle wondrous creatures, and compete for leaderboard supremacy against other players. Currently, access to the beta version requires a code, and the current demo testing is relatively simple. Combining screenshots posted by players on Twitter, Pirate Nation has decent graphics and sound effects, but its playability is not very high.
https://www.proofofplay.com/
**Argus Labs**
Argus Labs is a Web3 game studio that completed a $10 million seed financing round led by Haun Ventures in June 2023, with participation from Robot Ventures, Anagram, Dispersion Capital, Web3 development company Alchemy, and former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan. Argus Labs also announced the "World Engine," a Layer2 blockchain designed specifically for blockchain games, but it has not been launched yet.
The World Engine can help game developers build and customize their own open and interoperable game worlds. With World Engine's Layer2 sharding architecture, each game can have its own horizontally scalable blockchain. The sharding design is a major innovation of the World Engine, allowing game developers to distribute their game load across different shards, inspired by the server architecture of computationally intensive large-scale multiplayer online (MMO) games.
Argus Labs founder and CEO Scott Sunarto contributed approximately 12 weeks of time to Dark Forest by 0xPARC in 2020. Argus Labs' game "Dark Frontier" is currently in beta testing.
*Note: Dark Forest is a decentralized real-time strategy game built on zero-knowledge proof technology zkSNARKS, inspired by the sci-fi author Liu Cixin's seminal work "The Three-Body Problem."*
https://argus.gg/
Reference: "[$10 million seed financing, what is the background and innovation of Argus Labs?](https://foresightnews.pro/article/detail/35416)"
**Mayhem Studios**
Mayhem Studios is a Web3 game studio under the Indian mobile esports platform Mobile Premier League (MPL). MPL has raised over $370 million in total. MPL previously launched the game NFT marketplace Good Game Exchange (GGE).
In April 2023, Mayhem Studios completed a $20 million financing round led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Steadview Capital, Truecaller, and others. Mayhem Studios' first mobile game "Underworld Gang Wars" is a battle royale game set against the backdrop of Indian gangs.
https://twitter.com/mayhem_studios
**Immutable Games**
Immutable Games is the Web game development and publishing arm of Immutable, and has released the tactical card game Gods Unchained (GODS) and the RPG game Guild of Guardians (GOG).
https://www.immutable.com/play
**Faraway**
Faraway completed a $21 million Series A financing round in November 2021, led by FTX and Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from a16z, Solana, Jump Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Pantera Capital. Faraway developed the open-economy shooting game "Mini Royale: Nations" and collaborated with Novel Labs to develop the Ethereum NFT game "Serum City" set in the Yuga Labs metaverse.
https://faraway.com/
**Ultiverse**
Ultiverse is leveraging VR and NFTs to create an AI-driven game world. Ultiverse has raised a total of $18.5 million, with investors including Binance Labs and Defiance Capital.
Ultiverse's projects include the decentralized virtual metaverse platform "Terminus" built on the Unreal Engine 5 on the BNB Chain, the Play-To-Earn game "Endless Loop," the 3D virtual avatar NFT series "Moonlight," and the universe "Meta Merge" combining AIGC, NFT, DeFi, and gaming.
In December 2023, Ultiverse launched the AI-driven open metaverse protocol "Bodhi" and listed rpggo.ai as the first strategic partner of the Bodhi protocol.
https://www.ultiverse.io/
**Matr1x**
Matr1x plans to build the Matr1x brand through high-quality game products from its own and partner studios, game IP development and collaboration, global esports tournaments, online communities and DAOs, game item NFT marketplaces, as well as blockchain infrastructure such as DEX, wallets, and DID.
In November 2023, Matr1x completed a $10 million Series A-2 financing round, led by Folius Ventures and co-led by SevenX, with participation from ABCDE Capital, Jambo, Initiate Capital, and Find Satoshi Lab. Subsequently, OKX Ventures also invested in Matr1x.
MATR1X FIRE is the first shooting game released by Matr1x on Polygon. According to the official website, Matr1x is set to release two games, Matr1x War and Matr1x Evolution.
https://matr1x.io/
**Intella X**
Intella X
Intella X is a gaming platform launched in collaboration with Polygon and South Korean game publisher Neowiz Corporation, bringing some of Neowiz's popular game IPs to Web3. Intella X will distribute a share of all generated revenue to contributors in the ecosystem, allowing users to contribute and earn profits on Intella X.
In January 2023, Intella X announced the completion of a $12 million financing round, with investments from Polygon, Animoca Brands, Magic Eden, Planetarium, Big Brain Holdings, Crit Ventures, JoyCity, Pearl Abyss, XL Games, Wemix, and Global Coin Research.
https://intellax.io/
Roboto Games
In November 2022, game studio Roboto Games completed a $15 million Series A financing round, led by a16z, with participation from Ancient8, Animoca Brands, Gumi Cryptos Capital, Harrison Metal Capital, Makers Fund, Merit Circle, Transcend, and some angel investors.
Roboto Games believes that adding the option of digital asset ownership in games will provide players with more choices. The longer lifespan of game code and data will also bring more value to asset owners than we have seen in the past. Roboto Games' game "Foragers and Fighters" features character collection and optional digital asset ownership, as well as support for the burgeoning user-generated content (UGC) ecosystem.
https://www.robotogames.com/
Thirdverse
Thirdverse is a Web3 and virtual reality game studio that completed a $15 million financing round in November 2022, led by MZ Web3 Fund, with other investors including 8DAO, B Dash Ventures, Double Jump.tokyo, Fenbushi Capital, Flick Shot, Holdem Capital, Kusabi, OKCoin Japan, Yield Guild Games, and OKX Ventures. In November 2023, Thirdverse successfully completed an $8 million financing round through third-party allocation of new shares, bringing the total financing amount to $38 million.
In 2022, Thirdverse also established a subsidiary, SWORD PTE. LTD., dedicated to Web3 games.
https://www.thirdverse.io/
Catheon Gaming (CATHEON)
In October 2022, Catheon Gaming, the developer of the Solana-based play-to-earn game SolChicks, completed a $55 million financing round in November 2021 through the sale of chicks tokens. However, ZachXBT disclosed that Catheon Gaming did not disclose the $20 million treasury fund loss from the May UST implosion to the community. Catheon Gaming not only serves as a game publisher but also launched a game store center.
https://catheongaming.com/
Revolving Games
In September 2022, game publisher Revolving Games completed a $13.2 million financing round, led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Animoca Brands, Polygon, Dapper Labs, and Rockstar Games founder Dan Houser. Revolving Games' total financing amount reached $25 million.
Revolving Games is currently developing games including the strategy MMO game "Battlestar Galactica" produced in collaboration with Gala Games and NBCUniversal, and the RPG game "Skyborne Legacy" developed on Polygon.
https://revolvinggames.com/
Gunzilla Games
Game studio Gunzilla Games announced the completion of a total of $46 million in financing in August 2022, with Republic Capital leading the round, and other participants including Griffin Gaming Partners, Animoca Brands, Jump Crypto, and angel investors and advisors including Justin Kan, co-founder of Twitch.
Gunzilla Games developed the battle royale game "Off The Grid" and is also the developer of the player-first 3A game blockchain GUNZ.
https://gunzillagames.com/
Metatheory
Metatheory is a technology-driven entertainment company founded by Kevin Lin, co-founder of Twitch, dedicated to building Web3 games, interactive content, social experiences, and other community-driven adventure activities. In April 2022, Metatheory completed a $24 million Series A financing round, led by a16z, with participation from Pantera Capital, FTX Ventures, Breyer Capital, Merit Circle, and others.
https://metatheory.gg/
Clockwork Labs
Clockwork Labs is a studio focused on blockchain games and the developer of the town-building game BitCraft, focusing on building large-scale multiplayer games that encourage social interaction and cooperation among players. BitCraft combines elements of survival games, sandbox games, role-playing games, city-building games, and strategy games.
In June 2022, Clockwork Labs completed a $22 million Series A financing round, led by a16z.
https://clockworklabs.io/
Mighty Bear Games
In July 2022, game studio Mighty Bear Games completed a $10 million financing round through token sales, with investments from Mirana, Sfermion, Spartan, Dune Ventures, Sanctor Capital, Folius Ventures, Polygon, and others. A year later in July 2023, Mighty Bear Games partnered with TreasureDAO to launch the play-to-earn blockchain game "Mighty Action Heroes" on Arbitrum.
https://mightybeargames.com/
MetaKing Studios
In May 2022, game studio MetaKing Studios completed a $15 million seed round of financing, with participation from Makers Fund, Bitkraft Ventures, Delphi Digital, Animoca Brands, Shima Capital, WW Ventures, Spartan Group, and Huobi Ventures. Blocklords, launched by MetaKing Studios, is a large-scale multiplayer online (MMO) game set in the medieval era.
https://www.metakingstudios.com/
**Joyride Games**
Web3 game development platform Joyride Games completed a $14 million financing round in March 2022, with investments from Coinbase Ventures, Animoca Brands, Solana Ventures, Dapper Labs, BITKRAFT Ventures, SuperLayer, Modern Times Group, Mirana Ventures, and others.
https://www.onjoyride.com/
**Lava Labs**
Founded in 2019, Lava Labs completed a $10 million Series A financing round in March 2022, led by Swiss investment firm Dialectic, with other investors including Merit Circle, Dragonfly, DeFiance Capital, and Animoca Brands. Lava Labs is the publisher of the game A Far Away Realm, which combines arcade and shooting game elements.
https://www.lavalabs.gg
**double jump.tokyo**
In April 2022, double jump.tokyo completed a 3 billion yen (approximately $24 million) financing round, with Jump Crypto, Amber Group, and Jafco leading the round, and participation from Dentsu, Wemade, and Distributed Capital, among others.
https://www.doublejump.tokyo/en
**Cometh**
In May 2022, Web3 game studio Cometh completed a $10 million seed round of financing, with White Star Capital, gaming giant Ubisoft, and Stake Capital leading the investment. At the same time, Cometh launched its second blockchain-based video game, Cometh Battle.
https://twitter.com/Cometh
**Ex Populus**
Ex Populus completed a total of $11.5 million in financing in 2021, with investors including Animoca Brands and Akatsuki Inc. The games being developed by Ex Populus, including the card game Final Form and the action shooter game LAMOverse, will be released on XAI.
https://expopulus.com/
**Gamefam**
Gamefam is a metaverse game developer and publisher aimed at creating interconnected experiences with gaming communities and brands. In March 2022, Gamefam completed a $25 million financing round, led by Konvoy and Play Ventures.
https://gamefam.com/
### Blockchains / Networks
In Web3 games, **Immutable, Polygon, Oasys, Ethereum, Flow, Arbitrum, BNB Chain** are the most commonly used networks and blockchains for game development. These networks and blockchains provide different options for Web3 game developers to meet various needs.
**Immutable** was founded in 2018 and has NFT trading card game Gods Unchained under its umbrella, as well as the NFT scaling solution ImmutableX (using the StarkWare solution) designed specifically for Web3 games. In March 2022, Immutable raised $200 million at a valuation of $2.5 billion, with Temasek leading the round, and participation from Mirae Asset, ParaFi Capital, Declaration Partners, and Tencent Holdings, among others. The Immutable team claims to have committed to building over 200 Web3 games on the platform.
**Oasys** is a game-specific blockchain launched jointly by Japanese game company Bandai Namco Entertainment and SEGA, compatible with EVM and using proof of stake. Oasys completed a $20 million financing round in July 2022, led by Republic Capital, and later completed strategic financing with participation from Galaxy Interactive, Nexon, Jets Capital, and ChainGuardians at the end of 2022.
### Web3 Game Guilds
Yield Guild Games (YGG), Merit Circle (MC), GuildFi (GF), YGG sub-DAO "W3GG" (formerly YGG SEA), Avocado Guild (AVG), Ready Player DAO, BreederDAO, and other once popular gold-making guilds are now at a turning point, facing a series of opportunities and challenges.
### Card Games
**Mahjong Meta**
In August 2023, Web3 Japanese mahjong game platform Mahjong Meta completed a $12 million financing round, led by Dragonfly, with participation from Folius Ventures, Meteorite Labs, Find Satoshi Labs, Parallel Ventures, and others.
In Mahjong Meta, players can participate in various competitions such as elimination matches, championships, challenging others, and entertainment venues with real players. They can also deploy their pet "Tama" with custom AI strategies to automatically engage in mahjong battles. However, due to a lack of players, the author was unable to find a match even after waiting for 1 minute. In addition, the game currently has slow buffering and requires optimization.
The governance token MJM has a total supply of 1 billion, and players can earn MJM rewards in addition to betting during the game. Over 50% of the total supply of tokens will be allocated to the player's game reward pool.
https://mjmeta.io/
**Parallel (PRIME)**
Parallel is an NFT sci-fi card game that obtained a $50 million investment at a valuation of $500 million from Paradigm in October 2021. Previous investors include YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, Focus Labs, OSS Capital, and Yunt Capital. Parallel will also launch another AI game, Colony.
ParagonsDAO
ParagonsDAO, a chain game community aimed at boosting the Parallel card game ecosystem, also completed a $25 million financing round in December 2021, with investments from Paradigm, Framework Ventures, Folius Ventures, CMS Holding, and others.
https://parallel.life/
Skyweaver
Skyweaver is an NFT trading card game. In October 2022, Skyweaver's issuer Horizon completed a $40 million Series A financing round, with Brevan Howard Digital and Morgan Creek Digital leading the investment.
https://www.skyweaver.net/
Wildcard
Wildcard combines multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), real-time strategy, and collectible card game, supported by Polygon. Wildcard is launched by the Web3 subsidiary The Wildcard Alliance of independent game studio Playful Studios. In June 2022, The Wildcard Alliance received a $46 million financing round led by Paradigm, with participation from Griffin Gaming Partners and Sabrina Hahn.
https://www.wildcardgame.com/
Cross the Ages
Cross the Ages is an NFT card game set in a dystopian world conflict, completed a $12 million seed round of financing in March 2022, with investors including Animoca Brands, Ubisoft, Polygon, and Sebastian Borget, co-founder and COO of The Sandbox.
MMO/RPG
Illuvium (ILV)
Illuvium is a fully decentralized RPG and collection game built on the Immutable X L2 network. Illuvium is about to launch its public test version, which includes three interoperable games: Zero (city-building game), Overworld (monster world), Arena (arena), and Beyond (collectible card game).
Illuvium completed a $5 million seed round of financing from Framework Ventures in March 2021, and raised $72 million through land sales in June 2022. A year later, in June 2023, Illuvium received a $10 million financing from Framework Ventures.
https://illuvium.io/
Big Time (BIGTIME)
Big Time, founded in April 2021, is a large-scale multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). In "Big Time," players take on the role of a time traveler summoned to the edge of the universe to participate in the greatest adventure in human history.
In mid-2021, Big Time completed a $21 million financing round, with investors including FBG Capital, YBB Foundation, North Island Ventures, and DFG.
https://bigtime.gg/
Otherside
Otherside, launched by Yuga Labs, is a gamified, interoperable metaverse currently in development. The game combines MMORPG and Web3-supported virtual world mechanisms.
https://otherside.xyz/
Avalon
In February 2023, Avalon Corp completed a $13 million financing round, with Bitkraft Ventures, Hashed, Delphi Digital, and Mechanism Capital leading the investment, and participation from Coinbase Ventures, Yield Guild Games, Merit Circle, Avocado Guild, and Morning Star Ventures.
The game developers at Avalon have previously worked at companies such as EA, Microsoft, Blizzard, and Sony. Avalon, the flagship product of this startup game studio, is built on Unreal Engine 5 and will include some MMO and metaverse elements. Avalon aims to enable game players, creators, and anyone to build their own worlds.
https://playavalon.com/
Worldwide Webb
Worldwide Webb is an interoperable pixel art MMORPG metaverse game. In February 2023, Worldwide Webb completed a $10 million Series A financing round, with Pantera Capital as its sole investor.
https://twitter.com/Worldwide_WEB3
Project Legends
Azra Games completed $15 million and $10 million financing rounds in May 2022 and February 2023, both led by a16z. Other investors include NFX, Coinbase Ventures, Play Ventures, and Franklin Templeton. Azra Games is set to launch the RPG game Project Legends.
https://twitter.com/legions_legends
Nifty Island
Nifty Island aims to create a community-owned and driven metaverse where digital assets can be integrated. After joining, each user will receive a unique island, a customizable avatar to participate in the game, showcase, collect, trade NFTs, and receive rewards for participating in the game and contributing content to the game world. Nifty Island completed a $20 million financing round in the second and third quarters of 2021.
Nifty Island is set to launch its native token ISLAND. The token will not be distributed through minting or presale, but will be provided to users through Play-to-Airdrop activities to enhance user participation and interaction. The token distribution event and public test version will start on January 17, 2024.
https://niftyisland.com/
Dimensionals
The issuer Mino Games completed a $15 million financing round in February 2023, with Standard Crypto leading the investment, and participation from Boost VC, Collab Currency, Earl Gray Capital, and Konvoy Ventures. Mino Games previously received a $2 million seed round of financing led by a16z.
Mino Games was founded in 2011, and its first role-playing game MinoMonsters (Pokemon-style game) exceeded 10 million downloads in its first year. MinoMonsters closed in 2016 after 5 years of operation. Mino Games later launched games such as Cat Game, Cat Life, Dog Game, and is set to launch its first crypto game, Dimensionals.
Nine Chronicles (NCG)
Nine Chronicles is a role-playing game that received investment from Binance Labs in early 2022. Developed by Planetarium Labs, Nine Chronicles completed a $32 million Series A financing round in July 2022, with Animoca Brands leading the investment and participation from Samsung Next, Krust Universe, Kakao, and WeMade.
https://nine-chronicles.com/
Champions Ascension
Champions Ascension is a large-scale multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Plai Labs.
PLAI Labs is building a new generation social gaming platform at the intersection of artificial intelligence, Web3, and gaming. In early 2023, PLAI Labs completed a $32 million seed round of financing, with a16z Games and a16z crypto leading the investment.
https://champions.io/
Sipher
Sipher's SIPHER Odyssey is a multiplayer looter shooter ARPG game with rogue-lite elements, set to be released in January 2024. Sipher completed a $44 million financing round through a token public offering at the end of 2021, and previously completed a $6.8 million financing round a few months earlier, with lead investments from Arrington Capital, Hashed, and Konvoy Ventures.
https://playsipher.com/
Delysium (AGI)
Delysium is an open-world MMO game driven by artificial intelligence and fully owned by players. In October 2022, Delysium completed a $10 million strategic financing round, with Anthos Capital leading the investment, and participation from Immutable, GSR, Blockchain Coinvestors, Leonis Capital, Antalpha Ventures, Perion, and Formless Capital. Delysium supports players in creating various personalized physical and narrative assets with native AI virtual characters.
Delysium is currently in the early access phase, and the full game (including PVP and PVE components) will be released in 2025.
https://www.delysium.com/
Apeiron
Apeiron is an action role-playing game that completed a $10 million seed round of financing in April 2022, with Hashed leading the investment.
https://apeironnft.com/
Civitas
Civitas completed a $20 million financing round in April 2022, with Delphi Digital and Three Arrows Capital leading the investment, and participation from Framework Ventures, BITKRAFT, DeFiance Capital, Sfermion, and strategic partner game development studios CCP Games, Yield Guild Games, Merit Circle, and YGG SEA.
Game developer Directive Games, founded in 2014, is led by industry veterans from CCP Games, LucasArts, Weta Digital, Ubisoft, and Tencent, and plans to build Civitas as a community-driven collaborative city-building game. Civitas previously planned to release a test version in the first quarter of 2023 and officially launch later in 2023, but has not been released yet.
https://playcivitas.io/
SIDUS HEROES (SIDUS)
SIDUS HEROES is a metaverse MMORPG game that completed a $20 million financing round in December 2021, with investors including Animoca Brands, Polygon, and OKEx Blockdream Ventures. SIDUS HEROES offers users various game scenarios: interstellar exploration, combat, and settlement.
https://sidusheroes.com/
Affyn (FYN)
Affyn completed a $20 million financing round in February 2022. Affyn combines the fun elements of the game with blockchain technology (such as the utility of NFTs) using geolocation technology and AR mechanisms. As for the game, the Affyn website currently only has a teaser video for the NEXUS World game.
https://www.affyn.com/
Galaxy Blitz
Galaxy Blitz is a space-themed large-scale online strategy game that completed a financing round of over $10 million in January 2022, with investors including Conflux Foundation.
In October 2023, Galaxy Blitz announced that it had received a grant from Oasys to migrate its game from BNB Chain and zkSync.
https://galaxyblitz.world/
Angelic
In March 2022, the dark sci-fi themed RPG chain game Angelic completed a $10 million financing round, with lead investments from Pantera Capital, Animoca Brands, Solana Ventures, and Everyrealm, and participation from OKX Blockdream Ventures, Mechanism Capital, Morningstar Ventures, and Huobi Ventures. Metaverse Game Studios is the game issuer behind Angelic.
https://www.angelicthegame.com
World Eternal Online
World Eternal Online is a game that combines MMO, RPG, and MOBA, allowing players to explore the world, battle monsters, and team up with friends for epic adventures.
In November 2021, the issuer Core Loop of World Eternal Online completed a $12 million financing round, led by a16z, with participation from Galaxy Digital, Initial Capital, Dune Ventures, 1up Ventures, and Sisu Game Ventures.
https://www.worldeternalonline.com/
Star Atlas (ATLAS)
Star Atlas is a large-scale strategic game about space exploration, territorial conquest, and political rule within the Solana ecosystem. According to Crunchbase, Star Atlas has a total funding amount of $10.8 million.
https://staratlas.com/
Metaverse Construction
The Sandbox (SAND)
Improbable
Improbable is a metaverse technology company that aims to develop groundbreaking metaverse technology using gaming expertise, blockchain, and artificial intelligence. In December 2023, Improbable sold its multiplayer game services company, The Multiplayer Group (MPG), which it acquired in 2019, to Keywords Studios for £76.5 million ($97.1 million).
In April 2022, Improbable announced that M² completed a $150 million independent financing round, with a16z and SoftBank Vision Fund leading the investment. M² has a post-investment valuation of $1 billion and is an interoperable metaverse ecosystem that connects large-scale virtual experiences through a shared digital asset economy, bringing together creators, businesses, and user communities to create a more interconnected world than the real world.
https://www.improbable.io/
LandVault
LandVault is a metaverse construction company that merged with game company Admix in 2022. Since 2018, LandVault has raised nearly $40 million, with investors including The Sandbox, SoftBank, and Kingsway Capital, among others.
In April 2023, LandVault announced a partnership with Super League to create a virtual universe gaming platform in the Middle East, aiming to help introduce consumer brands, international sports franchises, entertainment groups, and government agencies into the virtual world.
https://landvault.io/
Decentraland (MANA)
Decentraland is a decentralized metaverse project where users can build, manage, and own virtual worlds. According to Crunchbase, Decentraland has a total funding amount of $25.5 million, with investors including Animoca Brands, Fabric Ventures, Digital Currency Group, and others.
https://decentraland.org/
StarryNift
StarryNift is a co-creative metaverse platform that brings immersive 3D virtual experiences to gaming, creation, and social interaction. In May 2022, StarryNift completed a $10 million financing round, with lead investment from Susquehanna International Group (SIG) and participation from Binance Labs, BSC Fund, Alameda Research, GBV Capital, and others. StarryNift also launched the 3D metaverse StarryVerse and Launchpad.
In December 2023, StarryNift announced its token economics, committing to allocate up to 10% of tokens for initial airdrops to "NFT holders," "active users," and "ecosystem supporters."
https://starrynift.art/
REALM
REALM is a play-to-earn metaverse game where players can explore and create virtual worlds and games. In July 2022, REALM announced a $10 million investment commitment from LDA Capital.
https://realm.art/
Game Stores / Aggregators / Game Launcher
DeGame
DeGame is a Web3 game aggregation platform that launched a new version this month, expanding beyond Web3 games to include DeFi, NFT, and SocialFi.
At the end of 2021, DeGame raised $3.7 million in a seed round of financing led by Hack VC, A&T Capital, Kenetic Capital, and Protocol Labs. In May 2023, DeGame completed a second round of $6.5 million financing, with lead investments from Folius Ventures, Kenetic Capital, A&T Capital, and participation from NGC Ventures, Hack VC, Hashkey Capital, and Avalanche, among others.
https://degame.com/
HyperPlay
In June 2023, Web3 game launcher and store HyperPlay completed a $12 million financing round, with lead investments from Griffin Gaming Partners and Bitkraft Ventures, and participation from MetaMask's parent company ConsenSys, Ethereal Ventures, Delphi, Game7, Mirana Ventures, and Monoceros Ventures.
HyperPlay, launched in November 2022, was developed jointly by Web3 game DAO Game7 and former MetaMask operations lead JacobC.eth. HyperPlay supports all EVM-compatible chains on the user side, allowing players to bring their wallets, tokens, and NFTs into every native or browser game. It also aggregates Epic Store and GOG, providing developers with the greatest freedom to choose the store that best suits them, allowing players to install games from Epic Store, GOG, or HyperPlay store.
Regarding the issuance of tokens, HyperPlay stated in the documentation, "Not at the moment, but stay tuned."
https://www.hyperplay.xyz/
Forge
Forge launched its beta version in October 2023, allowing players to automatically earn rewards based on their game data. Additionally, the gaming platform has completed a $11 million seed round of financing, with lead investments from Makers Fund, BITKRAFT Ventures, and Animoca Brands.
Users will be able to link their various online game and social accounts, access seasonal battle passes with missions, earn XP to level up battle passes, and unlock in-game content and rewards from Forge's partner games.
https://forge.gg/
Portal
Portal is a Web3 cross-chain gaming ecosystem that completed a token pre-sale for PORTAL in December 2023, raising nearly $10 million in the first 15 minutes of the pre-sale, although the total amount raised has not been disclosed.
In addition, the Web3 gaming ecosystem Portal recommends reading: "Unveiling Portal: From Viral Marketing, Background to Platform Economy"
https://www.portalgaming.com/
Play1st
Web3 game app store Play1st is affiliated with the African social gaming publisher Carry1st. Play1st completed a $20 million Series A financing round in January 2022, led by a16z, with participation from Avenir, Google's parent company Alphabet, Riot Games, Konvoy Ventures, and TTV Capital. One year later, in January 2023, Carry1st completed a $27 million financing round, with lead investment from BITKRAFT Ventures and participation from a16z, among others.
According to TechCrunch, Carry1st is exploring the development of infrastructure to support the possibility of Play-to-Earn in Africa, launching the Web3 game app store Play1st, where players interested in Web3 games can discover games, comment on games within the community, and showcase achievements and rewards.
https://play1st.co/
Moxy (MOXY)
Moxy is a Web3 esports platform based on Flow, which completed a $10 million financing round in March 2023, with participation from Shima Capital, Polygon, MetaTope, and GSR Markets, among others. The Moxy platform already includes multiple games such as Super Squad, BattleRise, and Sociable Soccer.
Moxy esports is a game mode that requires participating players to pay an entry fee. The entry fees are used to create a prize pool, which the winners will receive at the end of the game.
https://moxy.io/
Kratos
In February 2023, Kratos completed a $20 million seed financing round with a valuation of $150 million, led by Accel and with participation from Prosus Ventures, among others. Additionally, Kratos acquired the sub-DAO IndiGG from Yield Guild Games DAO through a token exchange. Kratos' business model involves bringing game developers and players to its platform and earning revenue from both parties.
https://kratos.global/
Kryptomon
Kryptomon is a tactical turn-based role-playing game that allows players to collect, train, and battle unique elemental living beings. In May 2022, Kryptomon completed a $10 million private funding round led by NFX.
https://www.kryptomon.co/
Whydah
At the end of 2021, Whydah completed a $25 million financing round with participation from Hashkey and others. Whydah is establishing a game app center for Vietnamese game developers, driving the development of the blockchain industry in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
https://whydah.xyz/
Iskra (ISK)
Iskra is a Web3 gaming community platform that announced the completion of a $34 million financing round in April 2023, led by Krust Universe, the investment arm of Korean mobile social giant Kakao, with other participants including WeMade.
https://twitter.com/iskra_world
XPLA GAMES (CTXT)
XPLA GAMES operates a Game Launcher system, formerly known as C2X. In the first quarter of 2022, XPLA GAMES conducted a presale on FTX, and later completed a $25 million private financing round with a valuation of $500 million, led by FTX Ventures, Jump Crypto, and Animoca Brands, with participation from Hashed and Terra, among others. However, Terra and FTX experienced financial difficulties a few months later. After C2X moved to the XPLA (Tendermint-based Layer1 blockchain) mainnet, it was renamed XPLA GAMES.
https://www.xpla.games/
UniX Gaming (UNIX)
UniX Gaming completed a $28 million financing round in November 2021, with $8 million from private financing and $20 million from Copper public offering. Owned, a subsidiary of UniX Gaming, is collaborating with exploration partner DeQuest to allow the experience of over 70 blockchain games to earn XP.
https://www.unixgaming.org/
Game Space
Game Space completed a financing round with a valuation of $100 million in July 2022, raising over $10 million with participation from Huobi Ventures and Mirana Ventures, among others.
https://game.space/
Esports / Sports
Sorare
Sorare is a fantasy football game platform and marketplace with partnerships with multiple football clubs. Sorare has entered into a multi-year partnership with AC Milan Football Club and signed a four-year licensing agreement with the English Premier League in January 2023, allowing users to collect and trade digital cards representing players from all 20 teams and use them in the Sorare game. Additionally, Messi serves as an investor and brand ambassador for Sorare.
According to Crunchbase, Sorare has raised nearly $740 million in total financing, with a $680 million Series B financing round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 in September 2021.
https://sorare.com/
Matchday
Matchday aims to combine video games, sports, and Web3 to create a casual football gaming ecosystem, using official licenses from FIFA and FIFPRO to build football games.
In March 2023, Matchday completed a $21 million seed financing round, with investment from Messi's fund, among others.
https://twitter.com/matchday
Striker League
Striker League, formerly known as MonkeyLeague, is a strategic football mobile game under the UNKJD brand. In July 2022, the game's publisher UnCaged Studios (later renamed UNKJD) completed a $24 million Series A financing round, led by Griffin Gaming Partners, with participation from Maverick Ventures Israel, Drive by DraftKings, Vgames, and 6th Man Ventures.
https://twitter.com/UNKJDGames
Zed Run
Zed Run is a virtual horse racing game, with its developer Virtually Human Studio securing a $20 million Series A financing round led by TCG in July 2021, with participation from a16z and Red Beard Ventures.
Trial Xtreme
Trial Xtreme is a bike racing mobile game developed by Gameplay Galaxy. Gameplay Galaxy is set to bring Trial Xtreme into Web3.
In September 2022, Gameplay Galaxy completed a $12.8 million seed financing round, led by Blockchain Capital, with participation from Merit Circle, Com2uS, Mysten Labs, Solana Ventures, Yield Guild Games, and Hustle Fund.
https://www.gameplaygalaxy.com/
**Ignite Tournaments**
Ignite Tournaments is an esports platform that allows organizing mobile tournaments to earn rewards, with a total financing of $10 million, with investors including Animoca Brands, Infinity Ventures Crypto, and others. Ignite Tournaments is currently in the Beta pre-registration stage.
**GreenPark Sports**
Founded in 2018, GreenPark Sports' co-founder Chad Hurley is also a co-founder of YouTube. GreenPark Sports is providing a fan-centric digital experience for the next generation of sports and esports enthusiasts in the metaverse, allowing connections, competition, and celebrations in unique social and immersive experiences. GreenPark Sports uses Immutable to provide users with gas-free transactions and allows efficient minting of all digital assets.
GreenPark Sports' flagship product is a native free mobile game where fans can participate in various fan worlds, including the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) and the NBA. In each universe, users can compete with other players in various mini-games and competitions to earn in-game currency, which can then be used to purchase in-game assets and sports merchandise.
GreenPark Sports has raised a total of $53.5 million, with investors including SignalFire, Sapphire Sport, Founders Fund, Terraform Capital, and Galaxy Interactive, among others.
https://www.greenparksports.com/
**Atmos Labs**
Atmos Labs completed an $11 million seed financing round in 2022, led by Sfermion, with participation from Animoca Brands, Collab+Currency, FBG Capital, and others. Atmos is a competition-based virtual world set in a vast sci-fi universe, aiming to accelerate the emergence of native metaverse sports.
https://atmoslabs.io/
**STG Football**
STG Football is a 4v4 arcade football game. Its developer, SuperTeam Games, completed a $10 million seed financing round in June 2022, led by Griffin Gaming Partners, with participation from Forte, among others.
https://stgfootball.com/
**Shrapnel (SHRAP)**
Shrapnel is a shooting game based on Avalanche, which completed a $7 million financing round through a token sale in April 2022, with participation from Dragonfly Capital, Three Arrows Capital, and individual investors including Keith Nunziata (Citadel Global Equities) and Jason Zhao (Kleiner Perkins).
Shrapnel's developer, NEON Machine, completed a $10.5 million financing round in November 2021, led by Griffin Gaming Partners and Polychain Capital, and a $20 million financing round in October 2023, led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Griffin Gaming Partners, Brevan Howard Digital, Franklin Templeton, IOSG Ventures, and Tess Ventures.
https://www.shrapnel.com/
**Community Gaming**
Community Gaming completed a $16 million Series A financing round in April 2022, led by SB Opportunity Fund under the SoftBank Group, with participation from Animoca Brands, Binance Labs, BITKRAFT Ventures, Griffin Gaming Partners, CoinFund, Hashed, Multicoin Capital, Shima Capital, Polygon Studios, ConsenSys Mesh, as well as angel investors Jeff Zirlin, co-founder of Axie Infinity, and Gabby Dizon, co-founder of Yield Guild Games.
https://twitter.com/CommunityGaming
**MetalCore**
MetalCore is a mecha combat game that completed a $15 million private financing round in October 2022, led by BITKRAFT Ventures and Delphi Digital, with participation from Immutable, among others.
https://www.metalcore.gg/
**Revoland (REVO)**
Revoland is a blockchain-based multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game that attracts players through the Play-to-Earn (P2E) model, allowing players to recruit friends to form teams, battle others, and earn token rewards based on their skills.
In June 2022, Revoland completed a $10.6 million seed and presale financing round, led by HashKey Capital and Polygon Ventures.
### Other
**Aavegotchi (GHST)**
Aavegotchi is an NFT-based pet game and an open-source NFT gaming protocol that provides true asset ownership for players. Aavegotchi NFTs are collectible ghosts on Polygon with dynamic traits that can be used in various gaming experiences. Players can earn rewards by gaining XP, leveling up, and increasing the rarity of their Aavegotchi. Aavegotchi is managed by AavegotchiDAO and the governance token GHST.
In March 2023, the development team behind Aavegotchi, Pixelcraft Studios, completed a $30 million token financing. Aavegotchi also plans to launch Gotchichain, a dedicated blockchain for Aavegotchi supported by Polygon Supernets.
https://www.aavegotchi.com/
**Crypto Unicorns**
Crypto Unicorns is a blockchain-based digital pet collection and farming game on Polygon. In March 2022, it completed a $26 million financing through token sales, led by TCG and investment fund Backed VC, with participation from BITKRAFT Ventures, Delphi Digital, Infinity Venture Crypto, Polygon Studios, CoinFund, and others.
Crypto Unicorns features two main tokens, Rainbow Token (RBW) and Unicorn Milk (UNIM), one primarily used as a governance token and the other as a utility token.
https://www.cryptounicorns.fun/
INK Games
In August 2022, the Web3 social gaming platform INK Games completed a $18.75 million financing, with the investors' information not disclosed. This is INK Games' second round of financing, as the platform had previously raised $9.5 million in September last year. INK Games pays royalties to users based on their connectivity and viral impact. The flagship platform game of INK Games, "Prize Kingdoms," is a fantasy board game with a built-in lottery engine.
https://www.inkgames.com/
Everyrealm
Everyrealm (formerly Republic Realm) is a technology company that creates innovative solutions for social game players, offering products covering categories such as identity, rankings, relationships, and activities. The games released by Everyrealm include the building simulation game Hometopia.
https://www.everyrealm.com/
Pixel Vault
Pixel Vault was originally a Web3 media and NFT platform, which completed a $100 million financing in February 2022, with investors including Velvet Sea Ventures and 01A.
Currently, Pixel Vault is at the intersection of NFTs, DeFi, and gaming. In August 2023, Pixel Vault acquired the blockchain game Wolf Game, gaining exclusive permanent rights to use Wolf Game in the future.
https://pixelvault.com/
Recommended Reading:
"Top 10 Events of 2023: Hong Kong, Binance, BlackRock, and More"
"Year-End Review | Top 10 Crypto Industry Hot Searches in 2023"
"Ten Must-Read Crypto Articles of 2023"
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