NEON Machine, the mid-sized gaming company behind upcoming blockchain-based extraction shooter shrapnelOn Wednesday it announced the completion of a $20 million financing round led by Polychain Capital.
CEO Mark Long said that this round of financing also received investment from Griffin Gaming Partners, Brevan Howard Digital, Franklin Templeton, IOSG Ventures and Tess Ventures, almost all of which was used to develop games. wealth.The company also Raised $10.5 million Late 2021.
Long said that a paid early access version of the game will be launched in December, and a free public beta is expected to be launched in August.
This team is Spun out from HBO Interactive in 2020which has doubled its membership to nearly 70 members over the past year, and it has made significant efforts to build blockchain-based features to help differentiate the game from others in its category, For example Escape from Tarkov.
The first-person shooter takes players into an uninhabitable area of Earth known as the Sacrifice Zone, where nations and corporations have assembled teams to recover a mysterious material. The object of the game is to collect loot and escape by evacuating without getting killed.
Long explained that while not all features will be available immediately, players will be able to invest cryptocurrency to participate in the development and promotion of unique maps that players can create through a limited version of Epic Games’ Unreal Editor. Blockchain also enables players to create tournaments where prize pools are automatically distributed through smart contracts.
The infrastructure also supports transactions shrapnel A marketplace where players can mint in-game items that can be exchanged for crypto or fiat currencies. Using GameBridge, the company’s proprietary Web3 API, players can also deconstruct items, such as removing a scope from a gun and selling it individually.
Despite widespread opposition to blockchain integration among gamers, Especially when it comes to NFTsLong said the company isn’t downplaying its Web3 identity.
“Our blockchain integration is all about the creator economy and not about player monetization,” he said.
He added that the technology is ideal for gaming, especially considering Millions of dollars are spent on in-game items every year. Long noted that without blockchain, gamers would be spending these millions of dollars on items that belong to the game’s creators rather than themselves.
“I think this just proves the need for the digital security and protection that blockchain will provide,” Long said.
full capabilities shrapnel The marketplace will launch abroad, but in the United States, players will have to go through a “know your customer” process before selling items for fiat currency. U.S. players can still use the in-game items they earn, but without KYC checks, they cannot fully participate in the blockchain-based economy.
“This can create a lot of friction,” Long said. “Gamers aren’t going to put up with something like this, but if you have a big financial incentive — like something worth $20 to $60 — I think they’ll think it’s OK.”
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