The private venture firm, a16z, has been dipping its toes in the NFT waters for quite some time. This July, they backed OpenSea, an NFT marketplace, at the valuation of $1.5 billion. They also took part in the raise for the Dapper Labs, maker of the NBA TopShot, in which the company was valued at an astonishing $7.6 billion. A month ago they pledged to invest in the play-to-earn crypto game Axie Infinity, valued at $3 billion.
a16z Backing Mythical Games
Now they have set their sights on another player in the NFT market. This time, the company is ready to get behind the project even sooner than usual. They’re backing Mythical games with a $150 million Series C investment at an evaluation of $1.25 billion. Just a few months ago, Mythical Games closed a $75 million Series B. What’s interesting is that Mythical Games have only one title. Furthermore, that one title still hasn’t seen its full release.
The NFT-based game Blankos Bloc Party developed by Mythical Games has been in the early-access phase for the past couple of months. Still, according to the company, the player base is already in the tens of thousands. The CEO of Mythical Games, John Linden, recently stated that the company wasn’t planning t raise for another couple of months. However, after being approached by a16z, they changed the plans. A16z was determined to get in early and encouraged Mythical Games executives to start raising the funds.
Unique Crypto-Based Game
Most of the crypto or NFT-based games that now exist are developed by people from the crypto industry. This results in games built around complex crypto-economics but with rather rudimentary gameplay. The people from mythical Games are trying to build something different. Their team of experienced gaming industry veterans is making the gameplay their priority. Only after the exciting and unique gameplay, comes the blockchain NFT-based platform. The end result is the game is rather similar to Fall Guys but with a unique revenue model. It combines a Battle Pass-style subscription and in-game currency which can be used to purchase NFTs.
The platform already has hundreds of thousands NFTs of user avatars. Plus, you can use the in-game currency to buy the goods that you can later sell for real cash. This is the aspect of game mechanics that rewards users just for spending their time on the platform. If they choose to do so, users can participate even without engaging in the crypto part of the game. Lindon says that the developers are keen on getting deeper into crypto mechanics. However, they are aware that this is a thin line, as getting too deep may alienate some of the users.
A16z hopes that the developers will be able to seamlessly implement the crypto element in the game. Mythical Games are already cooperating with a number of smaller studios to integrate some of their infrastructure. This includes compliance tech, marketplace services, and token management. The main goal is to provide gamers with the unique crypto-economics experience but without the confusion that usually comes with it. The company and the new game will, however, have to face some obstacles. The most difficult is probably the fact that Steam has banned NFT-based games from their store.
