Random Games, a new studio reinventing the videogame business through a combination of community empowerment and blockchain, has raised a $7.6 million seed round of funding.
It is creating the Unioverse, a community-owned franchise that it says flips the script on the relationship between developer, gamer and fan.
The Unioverse will kick off with a series of videogames, but unlike any other franchises, the assets used to make those games will be made available to other developers and the community, royalty-free.
The company says its AAA-quality characters, artwork, models and music can be downloaded and used by anyone to make their own games, comic books, movies, lunchboxes, T-shirts – whatever they can imagine. Plus, creators can sell whatever they make and keep the money.
The round was co-led by Resolute Ventures and Asymmetric, with participation from IGNIA, 2 Punks Capital, ID345, Polygon and notable game developer David Jones.
“Imagine if Marvel released character art and 3D models and told fans to go make – and profit from – their fan films and comics,” said Tony Harman, co-founder of Random Games.
“That’s how big this idea is. We have a team of world-class writers, artists and developers building the Unioverse and we are basically giving it away.”
Random Games is co-founded by a pair of gaming industry veterans that bring a wealth of creativity and experience with global entertainment franchises. Harman previously ran development and acquisition for Nintendo of America, launching iconic hits such as Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct; and has run multiple independent game studios responsible for developing such genre-defining franchises such as Grand Theft Auto and Crackdown.
Wyeth Ridgway, was founder and CEO of Leviathan Games, which over the past two decades has worked with dozens of beloved franchises including Terminator, Star Trek, South Park and Pirates of the Caribbean.
The Unioverse will use NFTs as part of its path to reinventing the games business. Players will purchase an NFT character avatar, which is used to access and play Unioverse games. Because these avatars are NFTs, players can keep or sell them as they wish, and avatars will be interoperable across games in the Unioverse.
Christian gaming NFTs sell out in 10 minutes
Christian gaming platform TruPlay saw its 6,650 Genesis NFTs sell out within 10 minutes.
The first major NFT release by a Christian technology company aims to embed a faith message into the virtual worlds inhabited by children.
The NFTs represent seven heroic animal characters who live in ‘RhymVerse’, a gaming world where God is real and the Bible is true.
The company says these animal children use their giftings to restore truth and goodness amid various evils.
“In the technology world, everyone is rushing to launch the next great thing,” said founder and CEO Brent Dusing. “However, in the technology space, we don’t see much thought given to the well-being of our most precious resource – the next generation, our children.
“There’s an opportunity right now to change lives for the next generation.”
Secondary sales of the NFTs on the day of the release yielded more than $200,000 in volume within the first 24 hours on the OpenSea marketplace. In the first 24 hours, TruPlay’s Ethereum-based NFT project was in the Top 10 on OpenSea globally.
TruPlay receives 10% from each sale of its NFTs which it is committed to putting back into product and awareness.
“TruPlay provides fun, excellent experiences for children that contain God’s Truth,” said Dusing. “We aim to provide high-quality faith formation experiences for children, making it easier for parents to guard the minds and hearts of their children with content that is both enjoyable and enriching.
“We directly touch users’ minds and hearts by embedding Biblical truths into exciting and creative storylines.”
Cryptocurrency shorts
Tres, which has built the first financial data lake for Web3 companies, has raised $7.6 million in a seed round featuring boldstart ventures, F2, Mantis in partnership with The Chainsmokers, New Form, Kenetic, Blockdaemon Ventures and Alchemy; as well as angels Michael Shaulov, CEO, Fireblocks; Michael Gronager, CEO, Chainalysis; Jesus Rodriguez, CEO, IntotheBlock; Itay Malinger, CEO, Curv; and Konstantin Richter, CEO, Blockdaemon.
Crypto exchange Binance has secured a licence from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority to offer a range of crypto-related services.
$160m in digital assets have been stolen from the DeFi operations of cryptocurrency market maker Wintermute. It says users’ funds are not at risk.
Binance and FTX have reportedly each bid around $50m for the assets of insolvent crypto lender Voyager Digital.
W3E will host a Web3 eSports tournament on November 17th as a part of Istanbul Blockchain Week.
Today is International NFT Day – as coined by Dapper Labs chief technology officer Dete Shirley in 2017.
National Lampoon is to launch a Poison Pill NFT in late October – an all-access pass for fans, creators and early adopters to content created by its new Web3 studio.
OpenSea has launched a new initiative to make it easier for creators to create and distribute NFTs on its marketplace. Creators will be able to launch their collections on their own customisable and dedicated drop pages.
Crypto prices
The overall market cap of the 21,000 coins is at $926 billion at the time of writing (7am UK), a 1.1% decrease in the last 24 hours.
For round-ups of recent cryptocurrency news developments, click here.
For valuations of the top 100 coins by market cap in US dollars, plus 24-hour price change, see below.