gaming

Improbable sells gaming venture for $97M, shares 2024 metaverse predictions

The metaverse developer Improbable sold its gaming venture, The Multiplayer Group, as a part of its venture strategy for 2024.

Metaverse technology company Improbable announced in an end-of-the-year statement on Dec. 18 that it had sold its gaming venture, The Multiplayer Group (MPG), to Keywords Studios for £76.5 million ($97.1 million).

Herman Narula, co-founder and CEO of Improbable, called Keywords “a like-minded business partner” and said he was delighted to see MPG embark on a new chapter. Keywords works with large names in the gaming industry, such as Activision Blizzard, Bethesda, Zenimax, Epic Games and 2K.

Narula said this deal is a part of its venture strategy for 2024. Improbable originally acquired MPG in 2019 for around £30 million.

Aurory’s USDC pool drained on Arbitrum’s DEX Camelot

According to initial reports and on-chain data, the attack targeted Aurory’s SyncSpace bridge, draining nearly 80% of the AURY-USDC pool’s liquidity.

Solana-based gaming ecosystem Aurory was reportedly breached on Dec. 17, resulting in a drop of nearly 80% in liquidity of the AURY-USDC pool on the decentralized exchange (DEX) Carmelot.

According to unconfirmed reports on X (formerly Twitter), the exploit targeted Aurory’s SyncSpace bridge on Arbitrum’s native DEX Camelot around 13:00 UTC, reducing the liquidity of the AURY-USDC pool to roughly $312,000 from $1.5 million.

Cointelegraph reached out to Aurory’s team, but has yet to receive a response.

Immutable’s zkEVM to eliminate Web3 gaming gas fees

Immutable’s blockchain protocol will allow the game studio to cut out gas fees for users, which are widely cited as a significant barrier to Web3 gaming adoption.

Web3 gaming firm Immutable is set to completely cut out gas fee payments for gamers when its proprietary zero-knowledge proof-based (ZK-proofs) scaling platform goes live in early 2024.

Immutable zkEVM provides the technology for blockchain-based game developers to remove transaction fees from end users, which is touted to create a “frictionless onboarding” experience for gamers.

Web3 games built on blockchain protocols typically require gamers to pay the gas fees paid to network validators for processing transactions. Before the advent of layer-2 scaling protocols, Ethereum-based decentralized applications (DApps) and services relied solely on validators and miners pre-Merge to process smart contract operations and their associated transactions.

How the crypto bull run can impact Web3 gaming beyond play-to-earn

Web3 gaming has remained unfazed by the bear season. But how does the expected bull run impact interest in blockchain-based games?

On-chain data tracker DappRadar recently reported that another $600 million was poured into Web3 gaming projects in Q3 2023, making the total investments surpass $2.3 billion in the year so far.

Another report from the blockchain gaming community, Game7, indicates a stabilization in Web3 gaming despite the market correction.

The interest in Web3 gaming — a general term used to describe the ecosystem housing blockchain-based video games — is clear and remains unfazed by the so-called “crypto winter.”

Animoca Brands to focus on creator economy, interoperability in 2024

CEO Robby Yung outlines the company’s focus on gaming and adjacent sectors to drive Web3 adoption, leveraging NFTs and interoperability.

Animoca Brands’s CEO Robby Yung has affirmed the company’s commitment to supporting the creator economy and advancing Web3 mass adoption through its 2024 initiatives.

Speaking at the 12th Global Blockchain Congress in Dubai to Cointelegraph, Yung highlighted gaming as a primary driver for Web3 adoption, while also exploring education and other sectors to empower creators with efficient infrastructure and network effects.

He emphasized the role of publisher nonfungible tokens (NFTs) in enabling content creators to monetize their work in a decentralized, equitable, and lucrative environment, and cited the example of Animoca’s ed-tech subsidiary TinyTap, which integrates co-publishing rights for educational content. This approach, Yung believes, will allow educators to distribute content directly to students, enhancing peer-to-peer relationships.

Blockchain gaming market in North America is projected to reach $600B by 2030 — Report

The current market is growing at a 21.8% CAGR, according to a report from Fortune researchers.

The global blockchain gaming market will grow to an estimated $614 billion over the next seven years, according to an analysis from Fortune Business Insights released on Dec. 11. The market currently accounts for an estimated $154 billion in spending.

The report analyzed global sales data for blockchain game products from 2017 to 2021. It found that sales were increasing by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.8%, implying that by 2030, the market will have reached $600 billion. This equates to an absolute growth rate over the six-year period of nearly 299%.

Fortune’s researchers divided the world into five regions: North America, South America, Middle East/Africa, Europe and Asia Pacific. North America posted the largest share of blockchain game item purchases for any region in 2022, accounting for over $30 billion, or approximately 24% of the total. The researchers stated that they expect this North American dominance to continue.

Immutable expands Web3 gaming payment options with Transak integration

Immutable deploys Transak’s functionality into its zkEVM gaming development infrastructure, powering in-game cryptocurrency and fiat payment methods.

Web3 gaming firm Immutable is set to integrate Transak as the sole payment service provider for its Immutable zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM). The service is set to directly power fiat and Web3-based payments in gaming environments.

Transak’s service will be integrated into Immutable Checkout and Immutable Passport. The former acts as Immutable’s all-in-one transaction infrastructure for games and provides a configurable interface for game developers to integrate various payment options.

Transak’s on-ramp, off-ramp and nonfungible token (NFT) payment service allows fiat payments through credit and debit cards, as well as Apple Pay and Google Pay. Transak marketing head Harshit Gangwar told Cointelegraph that the payment rail will power in-game transactions for digital assets:

Game studios quietly integrate blockchain without the buzzword

Blockchain technology is facing backlash from players and gaming developers, forcing some studios to avoid “buzzwords” tied with Web3.

Cointelegraph was on the ground during the second edition of the Madeira Blockchain 2023, held between Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. The event explored regional Web3 developments, as well as how the Portuguese islands are looking for startups and tech talent to grow their economy in the digital age.

During a roundtable discussion at the conference, gaming studios working on blockchain features discussed the challenges associated with integrating the technology into games, including getting acceptance from developers, players and publishers.

Redcatpig is a Web3 game development studio, but the firm has run into obstacles in integrating the technology into its pipeline. “One of the toughest challenges I faced was communicating with my internal team to help them understand that this [blockchain] technology can greatly benefit gamers and enhance games,” noted Marco Bettencourt, the company’s CEO.

NFT.NYC: Play-to-Earn is not dead, but game publishers are looking for alternatives

The Cointelegraph team was on the ground in New York to bring exclusive insights from the NFT event.

The play-to-earn (P2E) business model may not be dead, but game publishers and developers are exploring alternatives to replace it, according to a panel at the NFT.NYC 2023. The Cointelegraph team was on the ground in New York to bring exclusive insights from the NFT event.

According to the CEO of gaming platform OP Games, Chase Freo, companies that branded themselves as P2E are shifting their strategy amid the crypto prices downturn. “It’s a model that is not sustainable at all,” he noted, citing Axie Infinity’s shift in some of its flagship titles as an example.

*From left: Chase Freo, Minoru Yanai, Paul Flanagan and Paul-David Oosthuizen at the NFT.NYC 2023. Source: Cointelegraph*

Minoru Yanai from Minto, a Japanese manga and anime design company, said that game companies are now “looking at play and fun, and sometimes earn or swap,” adding that players can still earn tokens and rewards, but publishers and developers are more focused on being sustainable and flexible.

Also speaking at the panel, Paul Flanagan, head of business development at Estonian mobile game developer CM Games, claimed the core problem with P2E models is that it is a “zero-sum.“ “As we all know, most of them are Ponzi schemes, so if you are putting branding sponsorship as a source of money, that might work, but we still need to see that happening,” he said.

Alternatives flourishing in the industry include marketplaces and partnerships that allow players to return tokens to the game ecosystem instead of playing and liquidating them, the panelists noted. “More companies right now are trying to make sure that the game has a really good core loop that enables these players to put back whatever they earn into the game. That’s very challenging […]. I don’t think play-to-earn is ever going to come back, but there will be variations of how it’s going to look like in the future,” stated Freo.

Speakers on the panel also highlighted that the Web3 gaming industry is seeing more tangible products on the market following years of development. In East Asia, a better regulatory environment allows Web3 gaming companies to raise more funds and seek alternative business models and solutions to improve players’ experience.

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Former Activision Blizzard executive joins Yuga Labs as CEO

With Daniel Alegre on board, Yuga Labs is expected to ramp up its metaverse efforts. Previously, he held leadership positions at Google, Activision Blizzard and Bertelsmann.

Yuga Labs, the company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and CryptoPunks nonfungible token (NFT) collections, has a new CEO, Daniel Alegre. The executive resigned as president and chief operating officer of the gaming giant Activision Blizzard to join the NFT startup on April 1.

“Couldn’t be more excited for this next chapter,” he wrote on Twitter. Alegre was a crucial player in Activision Blizzard’s growth in recent years, overseeing popular gaming franchises like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo and Candy Crush.

Today is my last day as President and COO of Activision Blizzard. Thank you to the incredible teams who create truly epic games. Tomorrow I officially start at CEO of Yuga Labs. Couldn’t be more excited for this next chapter. pic.twitter.com/eo3RfIyz0q

— Daniel Alegre (@dalegre) March 31, 2023

The executive has been involved in the gaming, entertainment and technology industries for many years. According to his LinkedIn profile, Alegre worked for the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann for nearly six years before joining Google, where he worked for more than 16 years in various leadership positions overseeing areas such as global shopping revenue, retail ecosystem engagement, and operations in the Asia Pacific and Latin America.

Yuga Labs announced Alegre’s arrival in December 2022. In a press release at the time, the executive said, “the company’s pipeline of products, partnerships, and IP [intellectual property] represents a massive opportunity to define the metaverse.“

The opportunities will also come with challenges. A class-action lawsuit filed in December in the United States accuses BAYC creators of misleading investors about the financial benefits of Yuga securities, and using celebrity promoters to lure in more investors. Investors that bought BAYC and ApeCoin (APE) between April 23, 2021, and Dec. 8, 2022, may be entitled to compensation, claims Rosen Law Firm.

Aside from that, Yuga Labs co-founder Wylie Aronow took a leave of absence in January to prioritize his health following a congestive heart failure diagnosis. It’s unclear when he will be able to resume his responsibilities.

Alegre’s arrival has been considered a bold move in the NFT industry. Kieran Warwick, a co-founder of the blockchain role-playing game Illuvium, said that Yuga Labs’ new hire is “big for all of GameFi,” suggesting that Web3 gaming will spark the next crypto bull run.

Okay. I believe @yugalabs is going to make a good game now. This is big for all of GameFi.

Every day more news comes out about new players from traditional gaming entering the space. DeFi 2.0 is cool. But gaming will be the narrative that kicks off the next run.

— Kieran.eth ♊️ (@KieranWarwick) December 19, 2022

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