Weekly Digest

Builders and collaborators led the charge this week as we saw Immutable X, MetaMask and Magic Eden continue pushing forward. Which builder are you counting on to dominate the space?

Also in our weekly digest:

• Mint Madness by Magic Eden is upon us with hundreds of free mints

• Unity Game Engine releases Web3 integration for developers

• A surge of big game execs leaving Web2 gaming studios to start their own Web3 gaming companies

• Floki shares Valhalla open world live gameplay on Twitch

• The Believer Company raises $55M in Series A funding

Reporting on Polygon gaming industry trends, investments, growth, and more… 👽

Co-authored by BGA & DappRadar

Web3 Gaming News 🎮

• ImmutableX strengthens collaboration with Warner Bros. with the release of Blocklete Golf for mobile Web3.

• Mutant Ape Yacht Club characters are being inducted as villains in the Dungeon & Dragons inspired Web3 game The Glimmering.

• Baobab Studios, nine times Emmy-winning studio backed by Disney, to launch an RPG game for its recently unveiled NFT collection, Momoguro.

• Magic Eden launches ‘Mint Madness,’ a grand gaming event that offers free NFT mints for over a dozen Web3 titles throughout March.

• MonkeyLeague announces the play test taking place on Thursday, March 9th, is the last one before the Private Alpha release.

• Square Enix CEO, Yosuke Matsuda, a huge advocate for NFT games is to be replaced, pending shareholder approval in June.

• Unity Gaming Engine releases Blockchain and Web3 integration options for developers so that they can focus on building experiences.

• Mirandus, the Web3 fantasy RPG from Gala Games, releases a 1 week playtest round of Tavern Games for players to enjoy where no Exemplar is needed to play the game.

• TreasureDAO unveils Darkbright Studios, a new ecosystem-native game development studio for Smolverse's inaugural title, Smolville.

• BGA hosts the largest Web3 gaming event featuring 30 reputed speakers and 7 Web3 game-related panels over 7 hours at NFT Paris.

• Pixion Games, the company behind Fableborne, announces the launch of their Creator Program to empower the Gaming Community.

• Summoners War: Chronicles, an MMORPG based on the Web2 mega-hit game ‘Summoners War: Sky Arena’IP to join the XPLA ecosystem.

• More Than Gamers founders quit, leaving their community to question what happened to the promised Web3 game and the funds.

• Blitz, TSM’s competitive gaming platform, will be leveraging Avalanche to revolutionize the gaming industry by bringing Web3 features to 30M gamers.

Web3 Gaming Trends 🚀

• Game entrepreneurs are surging as many leave reputable companies like Riot Games to start their own companies.

• BGA sets the direction by publishing a brief guide on how game developers can leverage Web3 SDKs in their projects

• Game7 and MetaMask partners to develop HyperPlay's Web3 gameplay launcher, now available in the early access phase for all major platforms.

• Neon Link, a Web3 gaming blockchain, and Neon Wallet on iOS and Google Play unveils their roadmap for 2023, with an agressive push towards their global launch.

• Does Reboot have the answer to the current-broken video game production and distribution model? Their protocol aims to create decentralized matchmaking marketplaces

• By using Polygon, game designers can rapidly integrate Ethereum assets and smart contracts into their games opens up fresh possibilities for asset transfer & cross-platform play.

Web3 Funding News 💸

• Few and Far raises $10.5M to expand platform capabilities, enhance user experience, and increase the number of Web3 developers, in a round led by Pantera Capital.

• Helika, a Web3 gaming analytics platform, raises $4M in a seed round led by Diagram Ventures to expand Analytics Product Offering for Web3.

• Rainshine Global Inc which specializes in creator-led story telling receives investment from Animoca Brands Japan targetting international expansion.

• Matchday, a soccer game ecosystem and the company behind Leo Messi’s Play Time, received $21M in seed funding led by Courtside Ventures.

• VitalXP secures additional $3M in a pre-seed funding round led by Streamlined Ventures and Marbruck Investments for its gameverse platform .

• Tangle secures $4M from Qualcomm and others as they unleash the metaverse into the workspace.

• Ex-Riot Games Execs Raises $55M for The Believer Company, series A round was led by Lightspeed Ventures and supported by Andreessen Horowitz

• Web3 gaming funding announcements hit $141.4M in February with a staggering 373% increase from December

Exploring the Metaverse 🛸

• Neal Stephenson, who coined the word Metaverse, believes goggles won't be necessary for the future Metaverse.

• Rec Room is piloting Rec Room Studio, a plug-in for Unity that gives users access to more sophisticated tools for building digital spaces inside the metaverse.

• Human-centric functional metaverses are growing as people seek out spaces that allow them to achieve their objectives, connect with others, and explore new opportunities

• Sandbox to introduce a chef Gordan Ramsay Metaverse avatar coming to The Sandbox in a push for partnerships with corporate and celebrities to encourage more independent creators.

• AMC's "Immortal Universe" unveils Mayfair Witches, a new community onboarding endeavor to augment the metaverse.

• Clay Nation, a highly successful Cardano-powered project, to be the first Cardano project to be integrated into The Sandbox.

• Aftermath Islands is taking the Game-Fi industry by storm, the metaverse game with AI integrations clocks 2M user-generated Resource Pack NFTs.

• Floki Inu, a meme coin that’s not a meme anymore, to publicly launch its Metaverse game, Valhalla by late 2023.

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“Many of the truths that we cling to depend on our point of view.”
-Yoda

See you same place same time next week!

❤❤❤

Yoda Labs team