US developer SunSpear Games has announced its PC-based Immortal: Gates of Pyre will launch on Immutable.

As for SunSpear, the studio initially unveiled Immortal: Gates of Pyre in 2021, and has since raised funds through Kickstarter. Partnering with Immutable also means it will receive IMX tokens, granted by the Digital Worlds Foundation’s (aka IMX Ecosystem Foundation) $200 million investment fund, to accelerate the game’s development. The foundation is also offering support in the form of gas fees for onchain transactions, which will be paid through the foundation.

Described as a fantasy RTS in which players can collect various items by completing certain milestones, web3 features in Immortal: Gates of Pyre include skins and mods for the Immortal characters, in addition to displayable traits reflecting a player’s status. 

“Developing our first RTS game has been a dream of ours. As a company founded by revered StarCraft modders, we are committed to offering players a choice on what and how they interact with our game,” said SunSpear Games CEO and co-chairman Kevin Wagner.

“We’re thrilled to work with Immutable and their host of resources and tools to enhance the gameplay experience for players.”

“This partnership not only allows us to bring groundbreaking games to the community but also unlocks new opportunities in web3 gaming. We couldn’t be more excited about what the future holds for this collaboration and the value it will bring to the player community,” commented Immutable co-founder and president Robbie Ferguson.

With a current count of 138 games officially listed on its network, Immutable added 61 new titles during the first half of 2024. The increase correlates with the increasing number of new accounts and wallets created since Immutable’s zkEVM mainnet went live earlier this year, mainly driven by the launch of games and airdrop campaigns on the network.

In the middle of August, all-time total accounts created on Immutable were 6 million. Half-way into September, it has hit 7 million. In regards to wallet addresses, the current total is 8 million.

For more details visit the SunSpear Games website. You can also wishlist the game on Steam.

As it prepares to move into open beta, Immutable-based sci-fi shooter MetalCore has been making some significant behind-the-scenes changes.

The main one is the transition from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5, which as well as boosting graphical fidelity, will also optimize performance, making the game more accessible to lower spec hardware.

Aside from tech tweaks, the big news is MetalCore’s switch from a series of closed beta tests to a rolling open beta program. Season 1, which is called MetalPunk Rhapsody, will go live on Thursday 12th September.

Each season will last four weeks and highlight a different example of the game’s three factions, with season 1 focussing on the MetalPunks, hence the name. This will be supported with themed content, skins and storylines. Future seasons will cover the Gear Breakers and Holy Corp.

More generally, for Season 1 developer Studio369 has also improved the onboarding flow for new players and has – of course – added new PVP bounties and missions, including 10 player PVE raids.

Other additions include the introduction of unit rarities for mechs and vehicles, which are reflected in randomized strengths, stats and attributes. Finally, progress in each season will be recorded and rewarded in a new rewards system, offering time-limited prizes.

“With Season 1: MetalPunk Rhapsody, we’re opening the game to all players,” said Matt Candler, Studio369’s CEO.

“We’ve listened to our community and delivered the features they’ve been asking for, from UE5 visuals to Barony Wars. There’s never been a better time to join the action on Kerberos.”

MetalCore is available now via the Epic Games Store, with Season 1: MetalPunk Rhapsody going live on Thursday 12th September.

Building up towards its Q3 2024 launch, Immortal Rising 2 has mustered over 400,000 pre-registrations within a week. 

Developed by South Korea-based Bad Beans and published by Planetarium Labs – a company which has already gained momentum with web3 RPG series Nine Chronicles – the idle AFK action RPG Immortal Rising 2 is also getting a marketing boost thanks to deploying on Immutable’s zkEVM chain.

As part of the pre-reg campaign, users signing up early via app stores can also claim 3,000 Equipment Summons.

To a larger extent however, engagement is driven by various quests, allowing users to earn ORBs for completing missions such as following social channels and inviting friends. ORB is a resource that can later be converted to Immortal tokens, IMT, which is slated for launch during Q4 2024. 

Serving as a governance token, IMT will enable holders to participate in the game’s design. It also grants eligibility to earning rewards through staking. More than that however, the tokens will also be used for in-game transactions. 

Additionally, ORB “may grant early or exclusive access to events, special releases, and limited-time offers.” Following game launch, it can also be obtained through various in-game quests.

In terms of the game itself, Immortal Rising 2 is a web3 mobile-based dark fantasy idle RPG, and a sequel to the highly popular web2 RPG Immortal Rising. Unveiled at the Web3 Game Unplugged event in 2023, it’s backed by Animoca Brands, among others.

Stay up-to-date via the official Immortal Rising 2 website and X channnel.

Immutable’s mobile RPG Guild of Guardians has found what it’s calling an “anchor partner” in the form of Philippines gaming guild YGG Pilipinas.

With over 95,000 active community members, YGG Pilipinas has already included the game in its Season 6 guild advancement program in which players who complete the six available quests gain YGG token rewards, as well as soulbound achievement badges.

Beyond this season, YGG Pilipinas will continue to work to onboard new players to the game, which launched on 15th May 2024 and has been downloaded more than 650,000 times via the app stores. The Philippines has ranked top in terms of interest in blockchain gaming for three years running according to a CoinGecko survey.

“Immutable has consistently supported YGG across multiple initiatives, most recently the YGG Pilipinas Roadtrip and Season 6 of GAP,” said YGG Pilipinas Country Head’s Mench Dizon.

“Additionally, onboarding one of our community leads as a game ambassador reflects the trust we’ve established over the years. So far, we’ve brought in over 2,600 new players to Guild of Guardians and formed more than 20 active guilds. YGG Pilipinas will continue supporting Immutable’s games and make them accessible to the Philippines, the epicenter of web3 gaming adoption.” 

Despite a bleak second quarter in terms of game tokens performance and web3 games investments, the number of new blockchain games keeps increasing. 

During Q2 2024, 157 new titles were tracked by Big Blockchain Game List, ranging from Mythical Games’ Pudgy Penguins tie-in and Planet Mojo’s GoGo Mojo endless runner, to fully onchain PVP game Cambria: Duel Arena and IP expansion Baby Shark Universe.

Combined with the 119 new titles tracked in Q1, the first half of the year saw 276 new games. 

As for which ecosystems most games are deploying on, the quickest growing category contains multichain games, meaning games deploying on more than one blockchain. This group accounted for 18% of all new games in Q2, compared to 27% in Q1. 

More broadly, the industry has seen a change in trends compared to 2023. Notably, back then, BNB saw most growth, followed by Polygon – and later these two swapping the top spot in terms of the number of new games added to them.

In 2024 however, Immutable’s new Immutable zkEVM ecosystem is proving to be the top choice, with 16% of the new games added in Q2, and 14% in Q1. In large part this is thanks to its co-operative deal with Polygon. 

Immutable is now the most popular gaming blockchain in terms of the amount of publicly announced titles, with 61 games added since the start of 2024, and 25 of those games in Q2 2024.

This trend is likely going to be further cemented during Q3. Immutable regularly states it’s got more than 330 games within its expanding ecosystem, although those have not been officially announced. Most recently, Planetarium’s Immortal Rising 2 has announced it’s deploying to Immutable zkEVM.

Other noticeable changes within ecosystems concerns TON, which saw a 14% decrease of games due to cancelled development or liveops.

However, alongside games dropping off, TON also saw a remarkable growth of new titles added, with 201 games currently listed on its platform. Mainly simple mini-games distributed via Telegram, this category is highly liquid and attracts a huge number of bots. Although it shouldn’t be ignored, the number of these games might not be as significant in comparison to blockchain gaming networks such as Ronin, Immutable, and Arbitrum.

Next after TON, BNB was the blockchain losing most games during the quarter, with a 12% drop. Wemix also experienced a substantial drop off (9%) of games in Q2 2024, however this has been explained to be part of the platform’s new strategic shift towards adding fewer but high-quality games in exchange for high-volume.

How do you measure the success of a gaming blockchain? While there are various metrics to look at, one in particular is the number of total lifetime wallets signed up to the network.

To that end, at the start of June we looked at data tracking the number of total user wallets for the top gaming blockchains. As expected, Ronin came out the clear leader with its more than 20 million wallets, mainly thanks to its historic Axie Infinity activities.

But how did that number change during the month?

Total wallets on Ronin were up 5%, surpassing 21 million. The most popular game currently live on the network, social RPG Pixels, has accumulated 5 million in lifetime wallets, although its active users decreased significantly in June due to the game’s Chapter 2 update. The main reason behind the fall off in DAUW is the developer’s intentional measures against bot activity, which clearly seems to be working. Interestingly, it also indicates how widespread bots are within web3 games.

Instead Immutable was the biggest gainer, with total user wallets up around 30% during the month, breaking 4 million. This was mainly driven by new games such as Hunters On-Chain and Guild of Guardians and their ongoing play-to-airdrop events. New playtests and forthcoming game launches as well as Immutable’s own The Main Quest campaign also contributed to the influx of new users. 

Significantly, Immutable’s active user wallets also shot up, from 180,000 at the start of June to over 300,000 towards the end, 26th June more exactly.

Alongside picking up new active players, Immutable is also coming out on top in terms of the number of new games added to the network. While the company itself claims a total of +330 games, 167 are officially listed on Big Blockchain Game List, including games deploying on multiple chains in addition to Immutable. During Q2 2024, 25 new games which are deploying exclusively on Immutable were added to the Big List.

In contrast, despite having the largest amount of active players, Ronin only has 16 official ecosystem games.

No notable changes in wallet activity were tracked among Wemix’s current 1.2 million total wallets, or Mythos’ 800,000. Mythical Games CEO John Linden has recently spoken about the imminent migration of Mythos from Ethereum to Polkadot, which might bring new users to the ecosystem. 

Notably, Arbitrum-based gaming L3 Xai now boasts 1.5 million lifetime wallets. Meanwhile newcomer Sonic, which is a gaming-specific Solana-based L2 rollup recently announced it’s reached a milestone of 300,000 wallets signing up. Japanese gaming blockchain Oasys remained around 50,000 total user wallets.

Gearing up for launch, expansive blockchain ecosystem Illuvium recently dropped its pre-launch trailer. Currently based on PC, the game will launch its open beta via Epic Games Store on 25th July 2024.

However, Illuvium actually consists of three interoperable titles – Overworld, Arena, and Zero – all interlinked and enhancing each other. Set in a sci-fi world where players embark on a fantasy adventure, collect mystical creatures, and craft gear to empower their squads, Illuvium combines elements of open-world exploration, NFT collecting, and autobattler gameplay.

The PC release on the 25th July combines the Overworld and Arena experiences, with the resource collection mobile/PC Zero game due at a later date.

Founded in 2020, the Australian team has been working actively on the game for three years, during which anticipation has grown increasingly. But while expectations are high, the team has also been criticised for taking too long to roll out the game. Ahead of its upcoming release, the team has said “While we could launch sooner, we want to include the following features to make the launch considerably more impactful and secure…” 

Gauntlet mode and a new weapon system are part of the new integrations players can expect in Illuvium Arena. Among the enhanced features in Overworld are character customisation, combat system, and NPC interaction.

Built on Ethereum in terms of its NFTs, Illuvium uses Immutable’s zkEVM to integrate in-game NFTs like its Illuvials, and other web3 features. As such it will be among the first live games to utilize Immutable’s Passport system and additional web3 solutions.

As recently as March 2024, the team announced it had raised $12 million in series A funding to support its forthcoming launch, although various NFT sales in previous years have taken total funding past the $150 million mark.

Discover more and stay up-to-date via the Illuvium website and X account.

South Korean gaming outfit Netmarble has announced that its Marblex blockchain platform is being migrated over to Immutable zkEVM.

Currently running on Klaytn, all assets will be moved over, including three live web2 games with web3 integration – Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds, A3: Still Alive and Meta World: My City.

The news followed Netmarble’s enthusiastic entry into the sector where it experimented with plenty of game launches in 2022 and 2023. However, these didn’t seem to attract much sustained activity. Recent partnerships with the likes of Aptos and Saga also failed to kickstart its endeavours.

In that context, moving everything over to the Immutable zkEVM ecosystem should allow Marblex to focus on its core products. As well as games, the platform currently consists of the MBX token – which is down 97% from its all-time high – a wallet, decentralized exchange, token staking features and an NFT marketplace.

Indeed, as part of the deal, Netmarble and Immutable will invest $20 million into a specific ecosystem fund – the Ecosystem Boost Program – which will provides technical and financial support for developers. 

“At MARBLEX we are committed to building exciting web3 gaming experiences for players,” said CEO Hong Jin Pyo.

“To maximise the reach of these experiences and ensure scalability for both existing and upcoming titles, partnering with a proven leader in web3 gaming was crucial. That’s why Immutable and their industry-leading zkEVM chain was the right choice. Their technology provides the infrastructure we need to deliver the best possible gaming experiences to our players.“ 

Immutable zkEVM-based PC shooter MetalCore is launching its third closed beta from 27th June.

Following its second closed beta, which was engaged with by 50,000 players from a waitlist of 124,000, access to this playtest is gated by via the game’s Epic Games Store key. Returning players will be provided with this, while new players can obtain guaranteed access by purchasing a founders pack.

These contain non-blockchain game assets and are available in five tiers, each of which will offer a selection of infantry, mechs, weapons, and the in-game offchain currency Shards. Shards underpin MetalCore’s entire economy, gating such features allowing players to buy cosmetics and upgrade their gear.

More generally, this playtest will introduce adhoc esports competitions which will be organised as session-based PVP modes such as domination, capture the flag, and high-value target.

Another new mode will be the faction-based PVE mission, in which players for the Holy Corporation, Gearbreakers and Metalpunks compete in terms of activity. Loyalty to these factions will also be reinforced with the launch of dedicated social hubs.

Find out more at the MetalCore website or find the game on Epic Games Store.

Boomland’s Hunters On-Chain has launched its BOOM token airdrop campaign.

The month long play-to-airdrop event will see 250 million BOOM tokens distributed alongside Hunters On-Chain going live on Immutable zkEVM.

More precisely, the game is now live on Immutable zkEVM – available via browser or Google Play (iOS only via Testflight) – but the existing NFTs and tokens currently on the Polygon blockchain will be migrated later in the summer.

As for this airdrop, players have to log into the game using (or creating) an Immutable Passport, and then play the game to collect badges and gain XP. This increases a player’s standing on the leaderboard.

There’s also a faction system in which players can join up with collaborating games including Pixelmon, Blast Royale, Infinigods, WildCard, and others, to gain a 10% multiplier. The factions themselves also get placed on their own rewards leaderboard for a share of 10 million BOOM.

One of the advantages of the long gestation of Hunters On-Chain up-to-this-point is that the game – which is a web3 version of mobile web2 title Hunt Royale – is now a very polished experience, including daily quests and missions.

Being available to download from Google Play or browser, players use their email to log in, or they can use Immutable’s Passport sign-in.

New players are given a free NFT hunter on a trial basis. Obviously this is a vey lowly ranked asset but if they play for 14 days within a period of 30 days, the trial hunter is converted to a real onchain asset.

Even playing with the trial version, you can immediately earn small amounts of the utility BGEM token, which can be used to purchase chests and gain other in-game assets such as shards and artifacts. In addition to BGEM, the main BOOM token is used to level up hunters.

The airdrop is only the first element in building utility in the Boomland ecosystem, however. The company has already announced that games such as Archery Club and Car Driving School are also being rolled into the process.

Discover more about Boomland’s games via its website, and download Hunters On-Chain via Google Play.

Following the announcement of its move from Polygon to Immutable, Boomland has been busy building momentum ahead of its BOOM token launch on the blockchain during Q3 2024.

In order to create token utility, the game developer announced its forthcoming 250 million BOOM play-to-airdrop campaign in May. Underlining its active measures against bots, the team has also made clear that tokens can primarily be earned through accumulating XP in Hunters On-Chain by playing the game, as opposed to social quests widely adopted by other developers.

This could prove to be in Boomland’s favour, and is a testimony of its experience as a game developer, active before token speculation and social media farming was on the agenda. To this end, Hunters On-Chain is Boomland’s web3 version, available across both browser and mobile, of original web2 mobile game Hunt Royale.

To build more utility around BOOM, Boomland has also recently announced not one but two new titles as part of its ecosystem.

Already available as a web2 mobile game, Archery Club is the team’s multiplayer archery game which will implement web3 features through a “soft tokenisation” process. This means current web2 players will gradually be introduced to elements such as token integration and wallet creation using the BGEM utility token.

And now the team has unveiled news that its web2 mobile game Car Driving School will adopt the same approach with a gradual implementation of blockchain. The launch is planned for Q3 2024.

Like Boomland’s action RPG Hunters On-Chain, both Archery Club and Car Driving School will deploy on Immutable zkEVM.

Stay up-to-date on all Boomland games via its website and X account.

Previously on Polygon, social deduction game The Mystery Society has announced it’s migrating to web3 gaming platform Immutable and will adopt the company’s zkEVM rollup.

Led by Club Penguin veteran, ex-Disney VP of mobile games, and ex-Universal VP of games, Chris Heatherly, the Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow studio gained traction in early 2024 unveiling it had raised $3 million for its web3 games. 

In conjunction with the news, the team also released a first beta of its inaugural title The Mystery Society. Aiming to fill a gap in the web3 gaming space, it’s described as a social party game like Among Us, but with added web3 elements including NFTs and tokens.

As such, coming to Immutable makes sense. As Heatherly commented on the move, “Immutable has been a great partner so far and we’re just getting started. They will be giving The Mystery Society a big push over the coming months.”

“We also believe in zk as the right architectural approach for games to provide scalability at a speed and cost that makes web3 seamless to gamers.”

In terms of Immutable, it provides social login through its Immutable Passport wallet solution to onboard users. The Mystery Society NFT holders can now migrate their NFTs by logging in to the game as usual and choose to migrate their assets to zkEVM.

“Polygon has supported us from the beginning and because Immutable’s zk tech is powered by Polygon, we get the best of both worlds,” concluded Heatherly.