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.“ 

Following a restructure of its tokenomics, Netmarble’s web3 gaming arm Marblex has launched its first game integrated with ecosystem token MBXL.

A co-development from Marblex and indie game developer Nugem, Pocket Girls: Idle RPG combines casual gaming with idle RPG elements. The fifth in line of Netmarble’s web3 titles to launch, like its precursors Pocket Girls is a free-to-play mobile-based game available globally via Google Play. 

Previous mobile titles from Nugem Studio include Isekai Fighting Girls and Kkanbu Battle.

Designed for beginners, Pocket Girls revolves around Maymay, a character who is on a mission to find her scattered friends, in order to beat Triple A, “the strongest player in the world” who “bullies the weak to show off his power”.

Players can collect heroes and level up their martial arts skills, while fighting through dungeons and completing quests in order to acquire in-game rewards such as gold and diamonds.

In terms of web3 features, users logging in to their Marblex wallet and buy a World Fighting Championship Key can participate in the game’s leaderboard rankings. Rank points are based on how long players last in battles.

The MBXL token is tradable at a 1:1 ratio with gMBXL, which is a bridge token in the Marblex ecosystem, directly linked to the games serviced by Marblex.

Discover more about Pocket Girls: Idle RPG and its MBXL token in the Marblex whitepaper, and download the game via Google Play.