Venture Capital Flows Into Blockchain Gaming
The Punters Pick #18 - Blockchain gaming continues to attract significant investment as user adoption grows
Blockchain-based gaming, especially “Play-to-Earn” ecosystems, are becoming increasingly popular and various platforms are capitalizing on this trend. This ecosystem is changing online gaming for the better and is bringing lucrative gaming opportunities to internet users worldwide.
In the latest version of The Punters Pick, we look at the rise of VC investment in blockchain gaming platforms. We explore how NFTs are fuelling the rise of these platforms, and examine a major concern that investors might have.
CryptoPunt development update
CryptoPunt is lining up to be a leader in the blockchain gaming space and we are moving closer to the release of our next-generation gaming platform. This past week, we hit a significant milestone in our mobile development and took further steps towards our eventual release.
📱 Mobile development:
We completed work on mobile responsiveness testing.
Successfully connected the MetaMask wallet
Over the next week, we will prioritize mobile responsiveness testing for our Jackpot game.
🖥️ Other updates:
We completed our first deployment on the mainnet and refined our UI and UX to improve gameplay experience.
Over the next week, we will prioritize addressing bugs and integrate with a smart contract monitoring service on the mainnet.
We remain committed to providing our users with a secure gaming experience and are rigorously testing our platform ahead of that. As we move towards our Alpha release, we’re excited about future developments and remain committed to providing gamers with a sublime experience.
The rise of “play-to-earn”
Blockchain technology has made earning money through gaming activity a possibility for internet users worldwide. This has led to the growth of the “Play-to-Earn” ecosystem which offers lucrative earning opportunities to netizens across the globe. Gamers can earn rewards either as coins earned during gameplay or purchase assets within a game that appreciate in value over time, via NFTs. This has led to record growth in blockchain-based gaming platforms.
The evolution of Play-to-Earn can have major financial repercussions for the industry. As ConsenSys’ Chris Gonsalves opined recently, more in-game earnings opportunities for players can lead to robust auction houses and secondary markets. As a result, a 1% increase in player numbers could inject an additional $6.5 billion into the industry.
It should come as no surprise that investors have taken note. According to VentureBeat, blockchain-based gaming companies raised $476 million in the first half of 2021. The majority of funds were invested into Forte ($185 million), Animoca Brands ($89 million), and Mythical Games ($75 million).
Investors moving into blockchain gaming mirror the wider trend of money pouring into blockchain-based projects. While the amount of money invested into blockchain games is dwarfed by the amount of money pouring into mobile gaming, the amount of funds is nonetheless impressive and blockchain gaming continues to warrant a greater share of the overall funds that are flowing into the gaming industry.
Evolving blockchain gaming platforms
One gaming platform that has seen a recent influx of VCs is the blockchain-based play-to-earn game Heroes and Empires. Heroes and Empires raised $1.5 million during a strategic round of fundraising led by a long list of VCs that included Megala Ventures, Raptor Capital, Dao Maker, UG Ventures, Interchain Ventures, Magnus Capital, X21 Digital, and Basics Capital.
Also involved in another recent round of fundraising is Layer 2 protocol blockchain protocol Immutable. Layer-2 blockchains function as development enablers, resting above other existing blockchains. Immutable, the creator of the popular NFT-based game, Gods Unchained, enables game developers to build blockchain games based on Ethereum.
The project recently raised $60 million to fund further development. Immutable aims to build tools such as credit card payment gateways, anti-money laundering protocols, and KYC compliance tools to help game developers build NFT games.
Gaming platforms like CryptoPunt are among the emerging ecosystems that are making blockchain gaming more accessible. CryptoPunt enables permissionless access to a suite of popular decentralized gaming options. Users simply connect their Web3 wallet and start gaming.
About CryptoPunt
CryptoPunt is a next-generation gaming and gambling Dapp. Underpinned by the Ethereum blockchain, CryptoPunt is positioning itself to be the leading blockchain-based gaming application. Users can start gaming in less than one minute with no KYC or registration process. CryptoPunt will offer a broad suite of games, including an option that has a virtual world and an in-game economy.
Stay tuned, and learn more!