In the “early access” section of the Epic Games Store, a new crypto-based game in the style of Call of Duty called Shrapnel has been listed. 

Epic Games and the launch of the new crypto game in Call of Duty style, called Shrapnel

A new Call of Duty-style game has just been added to the list of new games coming to the Epic Games store. It’s called Shrapnel, and it’s a crypto blockchain-based game, classified in the Epic Games Store under the “early access gameplay” section.

In this section, usually, the first releases of high-profile games end up. Epic Games, the infamous developer of Fortnite, offers these companies the opportunity to release a version that allows them to create a community around the title. After that, the same game, like Sharpnel, will be able to continue developing and modifying the gaming experience.

Shrapnel will therefore compete with other crypto games like “Illuvium” and “Star Atlas”, also available on the online game store, which currently has over 230 million PC players.

Epic Games and Sharpel: the new crypto game in Call of Duty style could soon become mainstream

Due to the substantial user base of Epic Games, being able to launch on this store could become a milestone for new crypto games to quickly become mainstream. 

In general, the new crypto game in Call of Duty style, Sharpnel, seems to be set in a dystopian world. Neon Machine, the studio behind the project, has defined it as a “AAA first-person extraction shooter”. 

Not only that, on Sharpnel, players will be able to customize every aspect of the game, from characters and weapons to maps. At the moment, it seems that the new crypto game is involving its community in every phase of development until the launch of its free-to-play game in 2025. 

In this regard, Mark Long, CEO of Shrapnel, stated the following:

“Our execution of early access gameplay puts players directly in the driver’s seat, helping us steer towards a AAA quality blockbuster first-person shooter game”

Last October, the Shrapnel team raised over $20 million in a Series A funding, with Polychain Capital leading the round. Shrapnel already has its own native token SHRAP which has a market cap of nearly $50 million. 

The first NFT game on Epic Games

It was September 2022, when Epic Games added its first NFT game to its store, Blankos Block Party by Mythical Games.

The NFT game was launched in 2020 and would have accumulated over a million players in those two years. Blankos Block Party is a multiplayer game focused on unique digital collectible toys, the Blankos NFTs, which can be purchased, upgraded, and sold within the game. 

Illuvium was added to Epic Games only last November 2023, while Star Atlas in December 2022. In June 2023, another Ethereum-based crypto game, Gods Unchained, was added to Epic Games.

Epic Games has participated in a $30 million funding for a metaverse-related project. 

Epic Games invests $30 million in the metaverse

Epic Games, Inc. is a company founded in 1991 that has come up with hugely successful games over the years, most notably Fortnite and Unreal, as well as Gears of War, Shadow Complex and the Infinity Blade series. 

The biggest success was in 1998 when they published Unreal. The technology and graphics engine used to make this game (Unreal Engine) were later licensed to many other developers, so much so that it was used in the development of a large number of video games. 

In 2017, it released the very famous Fortnite, which still represents the company’s largest source of profits. 

It is therefore a true video game giant that over time has also acquired many other companies so that it has become a true benchmark in the industry. 

To date, it has a turnover of more than $5 billion, and has more than 2,000 employees. 

One of the projects it is involved in is called Hadean, and it is the infrastructure of a metaverse. 

Epic Games is from the United States, while Hadean was founded in 2015 in London and is building its own technology for a virtual metaverse infrastructure. 

Right now Hadean is specifically looking for more computing power needed to expand metaverse-related initiatives, which is why it decided to launch a Series A funding round.

Epic Games took part in this funding, through which $30 million was raised. Groups such as 2050 Capital, Alumni Ventures, Aster Capital, Entrepreneur First, and InQTel also participated. The round was led by European investment firm Molten Ventures.

In addition to Epic Games, the other major backers of the project were 2050 Capital and Alumni Ventures.

Hadean aims to grow thanks to new funding secured

The Series A funding round, along with the investment from Epic Games, will help Hadean develop scalable, interoperable and secure capabilities for their enterprise metaverse. 

Hadean is an open platform for distributed cloud computing, such that it can be considered a true infrastructure that powers the metaverse in order for it to become a reality.

The company is a startup backed by venture capital, and aiming to reinvent distributed, spatial and scalable computing for Web 3.0 and the metaverse. To date, it already has partnerships with major brands such as Microsoft, Minecraft, Epic Games, Sony, Gamescoin, Pilxelynx, Francis Crick, CAE, BAE and Thales. 

Hadean co-founder and CEO Craig Beddis revealed that their mission is to connect physical worlds with virtual worlds to help make better decisions to improve the quality of life in the physical world. 

In particular, he points out that today’s virtual worlds are a limited experience, often small-scale, isolated and insecure. This poses major technical challenges that are what society is facing right now. 

The goal is to make it easy for developers to create experiences within the metaverse so they can achieve mass adoption and success. That is why they are working on metaverse-as-a-service (MaaS), so as to make this infrastructure affordable for everyone. 

The $30 million raised will be used to accelerate development so that tools that can be used in the new and emerging metaverse market will be available to developers as soon as possible.

Epic’s VP of Unreal Engine Ecosystem, Marc Petit, said: 

“Hadean’s computing power will provide the infrastructure that’s needed as we work to create a scalable metaverse. The company’s technology complements Epic’s Unreal Engine by enabling massive amounts of concurrent users and unlocking new tools for creators and developers. We are pleased to contribute to Hadean’s growth and look forward to continuing to work together to lay the foundation for the metaverse.”

Molten Venture Partner David Cummings added: 

“Molten has been a part of Hadean’s journey since early 2019. Since then, we have seen the Hadean team deliver ambitious technical milestones, build an impressive customer base across a number of sectors and continue to attract dynamic talent. It is a pleasure to continue providing our support to Hadean as it grows yet further.”

The future of the metaverse

The metaverse is certainly a very interesting development in the video game industry because it enables a truly immersive gaming experience. However, it has potential that extends outside of this specific area as well. So, while it is precisely in the video game sector that it can grow and develop first and most, it can then later also extend out of this world and land in other sectors as well. 

We are still in the early days of this technology, so it will take time before it can fully harness its potential and achieve true success, but there are already many initiatives in the field that are trying to get serious about offering gamers in particular something never seen before. 

 

Related posts
More from author

NFT News: the latest news in the world of Non-Fungible Tokens concerns Epic Games, the famous creator of Fortnite, which has added its first NFT game Blankos Block Party to its store. 

Not only that, one user apparently paid as much as 36.8 ETH in gas just to mint the first NFT on Ethereum in its Proof-of-Stake (POS) version. 

NFT News: Epic Games adds Blankos Block Party to its store

Apparently, Epic Games has also added its first NFT game, Blankos Block Party by Mythical Games, to its store.  

JUST IN: #Fortnite creators Epic Games lists the first NFT-based game on their store, Blankos Block Party.

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) September 15, 2022

“JUST IN: Fortnite creators Epic Games lists the first NFT-based game on their store, Blankos Block Party.”

The celebrated developer of Fortnite has added a blockchain-based, NFT-powered game to its marketplace. 

It is Blankos Block Party, launched in 2020 by Mythical Games, which seems to have already amassed over a million players to date. The multiplayer game focuses on unique collectible digital vinyl toys called Blankos, NFTs that can be purchased and upgraded and sold within the game.

The new NFT-based game thus takes the top spot in Epic Games’ store and will be available from 28 September. Not only that, the game does not require users to necessarily purchase NFTs in order to play the game. Rather, it is possible to purchase and play without using NFTs. At the moment, the game is still in the “early access” stage. 

Epic Games and the “Coming Soon” blockchain game from GRIT

With the launch of Blankos Block Party, Epic Games has delayed what had instead been foretold by Web3 game company Gala Games last June. 

In fact, Gala Games had claimed to involve more than 194 million users of the Epic Games Store in its GRIT game, which however is still in the “Coming Soon” section of the marketplace. 

And while this suggests that the GRIT game has slipped through the cracks as the top NFT-powered blockchain game on the Epic Games Store, it appears that its wait is setting an example to other NFT games that will soon be available. 

Paying 36.8 ETH in fees to get the first NFT mint on Ethereum PoS

In this NFT-mania, each novelty could be unique. Perhaps this is what was on the mind of the user who decided to pay as much as 36.8 ETH in fees just to buy the first NFT minted on Ethereum’s new blockchain, the Proof-of-Stake one. 

A user paid 36.8 ETH in gas fees to mint the first PoS NFT on Ethereum pic.twitter.com/jagrqgFwUc

— Blockworks (@Blockworks_) September 15, 2022

“A user paid 36.8 ETH in gas fees to mint the first PoS NFT on Ethereum.”

Indeed, as we reported, the Merge on Ethereum’s blockchain successfully occurred on 15 September, transforming it from a Proof-of-Work (PoW)-based blockchain to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS)-based blockchain, now relying no longer on mining, but on staking. 

The user in question apparently wanted to frame this change by purchasing the first PoS NFT, paying as much as 36.8 ETH in fees alone, the equivalent of more than $53,800. 

NFTs dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II

After the official news a few days ago, the demand for NFTs on the late Queen Elizabeth II exploded within minutes. 

In fact, it appears that the OpenSea marketplace has registered thousands of new works, such as original photographs and artwork. 

Among the many, one original project is that of “QueenE DAO,” created to celebrate the longevity of the Queen while she was still alive. From the project’s inception, the goal was to publish one portrait of Elizabeth II per day until her death, producing 73 total works. 

Related posts
More from author

Web3 games company Gala Games has launched GRIT, its blockchain game on the Epic Games Store, becoming available to the shop’s more than 194 million users. 

Gala Games and the launch of the blockchain game GRIT on the Epic Games Store

Gala Games reportedly stated that GRIT is only the first of its blockchain games to be released on the Epic Games Store, with a mission to bring Web3 games to the masses. 

Epic Games Store, on the other hand, has already published the game’s live page, available to its more than 194 million users. 

It’s official!

GRIT will be the first Gala game on the @EpicGames store #IntoTheGalaverse #Galaverse pic.twitter.com/yR8YtgemMp

— Gala Games (@GoGalaGames) June 6, 2022

“It’s official! GRIT will be the first Gala game on the @EpicGames store”.

Speaking about this, John Osvald, President of Gala Games said:

“Epic is a pioneer and visionary in the video game industry. Gala Games’ titles being available on the Epic Game Store brings legitimacy to this new genre of gaming. Easy access to Web3 games is a turning point for those players who have not yet seen how digital ownership can enrich the gaming experience”.

GRIT, is a game that uses blockchain and NFTs to authenticate unique digital objects and allow players to resell those objects. The game is a battle royale set in the Wild West created by Team Grit. 

Gala Games: mainstream Web3 blockchain games and the GALA token

The new launch on the Epic Games Store is just a first step for Gala Games in pursuing its goal of making blockchain Web3 games mainstream by focusing on high-quality content.

Overall, Gala Games has been successful on the financial front with a small audience on its Townstar and Spider Tanks (beta) games, with more than 1.3 million players, but the goal is to convert millions more players to blockchain games.

Not only that, the Gala Games ecosystem also sees the Gala Games (GALA) token, created on the ERC-20 standard for the Ethereum blockchain, which is also compatible with Binance’s Smart Chain. 

Through the token, players can invest in their game assets, such as Spider Tanks, and own them. They can also resell them. Their tokens also give them the right to vote on the future direction of the game’s development.

GALA has a market capitalization of $520 million, far from the peak reached in November ($5.4 billion). 

The challenge is to make the process of buying, storing and selling NFT an easy one for traditional players. Gala uses MetaMask wallets and the OpenSea trading platform.

Crypto gaming and the metaverse

While Gala Games launches its blockchain Web3 games, other major gaming companies are collaborating with Epic Games to create the metaverse. 

They are SONY and LEGO, the two biggies that have invested in the development and enhancement of Epic Games’ revolutionary development engine: Unreal Engine 5. 

The idea is to create a metaverse through SONY’s video game know-how and the long-established ability of the Danish-based company to create parallel worlds and entertain, as well as to stimulate the minds of children everywhere. 

Related posts
More from author

NASA MarsXR Challenge is the new challenge launched by the US space agency in collaboration with Epic Games and Buendea to search for developers who want to contribute to create the Martian metaverse. 

NASA and Epic Games launch a challenge to create Martian metaverse experiences

According to reports from Herox, a crowdsourcing platform for problem-solving, NASA along with Epic Games and Buendea, have launched the NASA MarsXR Challenge, a task dedicated to developers who want to help create experiences in the Mars metaverse, using Virtual Reality (XR). 

Specifically, developers are asked to create new assets and scenarios for the new Mars XR Operations Support System (XOSS) environment, using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5. 

The information about Mars already released by NASA covers the complete Martian days, with orange shades of day and blue of night, weather conditions and 400 km2 of realistic and studied terrain on Mars. 

Not only that, the Martian Metaverse Creation Challenge includes a total prize pool of $70,000, divided among twenty individual prizes. 

Of the five categories listed for which developers can create particular scenarios to explore, each category will have four prizes. The overall winner of the category will receive $6,000.

The creation of the Mars metaverse

The timeline for the Challenge to create the Mars metaverse sees 26 July as the deadline for submissions, while the winner will be named after a two-month evaluation period, on 27 September 2022. 

At the time of writing, a number of people have signed up for the Challenge, which includes 25 teams and 266 innovators. 

Epic Games is already known for its revolutionary development engine “Unreal Engine 5”, used for must-haves like Fortnite or the latest chapter of the super critically acclaimed Kingdom Hearts IV that holds the record for gaming expansion to date. 

Unreal Engine 5: from gaming to the metaverse in space

This collaboration with NASA involves Epic Games, a famous name in gaming, which also finds itself pioneering the Mars metaverse. 

Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5 has recently been supported by strong investments, such as a billion dollars from SONY, and another billion dollars from Kiribi, the company that owns LEGO. 

And, in fact, SONY, LEGO and Epic Games announced last month a collaboration to create a new metaverse in the world of gaming. 

 

Related posts
More from author

The collaboration between three big names in gaming, Epic Games, SONY and LEGO, aims to create a new metaverse.

Epic Games, SONY and LEGO are creating a metaverse

On Monday, it was reported that SONY had taken a substantial $1 billion step in the direction of the metaverse, an investment in the development and subsequent enhancement of Epic Games‘ revolutionary “Unreal Engine 5” development engine.

SONY is not the only investor. Another billion comes from Kiribi, the company that owns LEGO, among other things. The brick company will play a fundamental role in the operation, because there is obviously a common project.

The creation of a metaverse through the know-how of Sony in video games and the age-old ability of the company of Danish origin to create parallel worlds and entertain (as well as stimulate ingenuity) children from all over the world. 

Unreal Engine 5 is already a successful engine used for must-haves like Fortnite or the latest chapter of the critically acclaimed Kingdom Hearts IV, which holds the record for gaming expansion to date. 

The new development team is working on the creation of a metaverse for children in which it will be possible to interact, play any game, buy or sell courses, expansions, games themselves or gadgets, all via crypto or virtual credit cards. 

Mastercard enters the metaverse

Mastercard is entering the metaverse with the aim of creating a transversal tool that can be used in any virtual world. 

To this end, the US company has filed trademarks and patents for this possibility with the US Patent and Trademark Office. 

A total of 15 applications have been filed, covering both the payment method and the name and logo of the two intersecting circles. 

The functions that the project will develop include plans to process virtual cards, deploy entertainment and educational services in the metaverse, and create a marketplace for authenticated digital goods. 

Tim Sweeney’s plan

About the plan, Epic Games (valued at $31.5 billion) CEO Tim Sweeney said there is a need to:

“Build a digital kingdom by creating spaces where players can have fun with friends, brands can build creative and engaging experiences, and creators can build communities”.

This represents a milestone towards this new metaverse designed specifically for young children. 

Among the project’s priorities is to put the well-being of children first, protect their privacy and give parents and children the opportunity to form their own virtual experience in a safe and complete way. 

The CEO continues: 

“Lego has captured the attention of children and adults through creative play for nearly a century, and we are thrilled to collaborate in building a space in the metaverse that can be fun, entertaining and designed for children and families”.

Joining the race for the metaverse are, with different projects, the more mainstream Meta and Microsoft with its collaboration with Activision. 

Nintendo, which remains a purist in video games due to its corporate policy, is not participating. 

Metaverse is also about solidarity. It has just been announced that the latest chapter of Fortnite will donate its profits to help the Ukrainian population, victims of the last great conflict of the millennium. 

Among the charities that have contributed are Direct Relief, United Nation Children’s fund Today and the World Food Program. 

Related posts
More from author

LEGO Group partners with Epic Games to build a place in the metaverse, with new digital and immersive experiences, dedicated to children and families. 

LEGO with Epic Games enters the metaverse for children

Epic Games, the American developer and publisher of video games and software, has announced a new collaboration with the LEGO Group to build new immersive, digital experiences dedicated to children. 

The idea is to give families access to “safe tools” that offer opportunities for both creators and players. 

In this regard, Niels B Christiansen, CEO of The LEGO Group said:

“Children love to play in the digital and physical worlds and move seamlessly between the two. We believe there is huge potential for them to develop lifelong skills such as creativity, collaboration and communication through digital experiences. But we have a responsibility to make them safe, stimulating and beneficial for everyone. Just as we have protected children’s rights to safe physical play for generations, we are committed to doing the same for digital play. We look forward to working with Epic Games to shape this exciting and playful future.”

Specifically, LEGO Group and Epic Games have agreed on three principles upon which the “safety” of digital spaces will be based as follows:

• Protect children’s right to play by making safety and well-being a priority;
• Safeguarding children’s privacy by putting their interests first;
• Empowering children and adults with tools that give them control over their digital experience.

The two together combine their expertise for the well-being of children

Tim Sweeney, CEO and founder of Epic Games also commented on the announcement:

“The LEGO group has captured the imaginations of children and adults through creative play for nearly a century, and we’re thrilled to join forces to build a space in the metaverse that’s fun, entertaining and made for kids and families.”

Epic Games has direct experience in building creative tools and immersive worlds that are open and accessible to both developers and players around the world. In 2020, it acquired SuperAwesome, a company that pioneered technology designed to provide safe digital engagement with children under 16.

LEGO, on the other hand, is the leading company in defining safe digital play experiences for children. In 2016, LEGO launched the first fully live moderated social app for children.

Games and metaverse: the case of Amazon

The e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming and artificial intelligence giant, Amazon, has also immersed itself in the games and metaverse sector. 

Late last month, Amazon launched AWS Cloud Quest, a paid-for 3D online game in which players move through a virtual city helping people solve real-world technology problems and use cases through the cloud. 

This is a first experience for Amazon in the virtual world of the metaverse, which should provide new momentum for its Amazon Web Service. 

Related posts
More from author