UK-based web3 game outfit Nexus Interactive has announced it’s raised $2 million in seed funding from a long list of investors including Animoca Brands, Jump Crypto, Maven Capital, GameFi Ventures, Sky Vision Capital, Avocado Guild, Good Games Guild and RR2 Capital.

As for Nexus, the company was founded 3 years ago and consists of in-house game dev studio Nexus Play, publisher and accelerator Nexus Build, as well as its AI-based UGC initiative Nexus Share.

Previously known as Aradena Battlegrounds, Nexus’ flagship TCG Everdawn Champions is preparing for launch in September 2024, and is part of a wider “medieval strategy gaming universe”. Nexus says it has two other games in development – Snap Royale and Kingdoms of Conquest – while in terms of publishing, it’s also looking to release games developed by thirdparty partner studios.

Additionally, Nexus’ ecosystem token NXI is set to launch later in 2024.

“Legacy gaming institutions make it difficult for developers to bring games to market with successful launch campaigns and monetisation models. Nexus Interactive offers studios and developers the perfect solution to this. We’ve gone through this journey ourselves in the last 3 years building out our own web3 game development studio, and can offer immense value to other builders and creators looking to launch in web3,” said Nexus founder Liam Bacon.

Animoca Brands chairman and co-founder Yat Siu added, “We’re excited to support Nexus Interactive as it builds a scalable ecosystem for users, builders and creators. We believe these efforts will help to enhance network effects throughout our broader network and we look forward to the impact that the ecosystem of Nexus Interactive will have on the web3 gaming space.”

Find out more at Nexus’ website.

Ahead of its first node pre-sale on 15th August, Revolving Games has announced a partnership with Animoca Brands. The latter will offer support in the shape of knowledge and resources to help Revolving Games expand its forthcoming web3 games ecosystem Rcade.

“Collaborating with Animoca Brands allows us to tap into the experience of a major web3 pioneer. Early adoption can offer a buffer in a rapidly changing industry, allowing us to learn and execute as the market matures and becomes more data driven,” commented Revolving Games co-founder and co-CEO Saad Zaeem.

In collaboration with Rcade Foundation, Revolving Games is building web3 gaming infrastructure Rcade chain, which it will leverage for its four internal games set to launch in the next 36 months. Among the first to release in early access is Revolving Games’ flagship mobile game Phoenix Flight, which is based on its inaugural Skyborne IP. The ecosystem will also be open to thirdparty partners, with Revolving Games hoping to attract double digit numbers of titles in the coming years.

In addition, the Rcade ecosystem contains a Node Network and RCADE token powering its games’ economies.

Animoca Brands co-founder and chairman Yat Siu said, “While the majority of web3 games remain largely excluded from mainstream distribution channels, the team behind Revolving Games has a proven track record in designing, developing, and launching games that have captivated mass audiences.”

Launched in 2020, first as a mobile free-to-play game company, Revolving Games raised $25 million to support the development of BattleStar Galactica in partnership with Gala Games and NBCUniversal – a game that has likely since been canned – and its flagship title social RPG Skyborne Legacy. 

Discover more about Revolving Games and the upcoming node sale via its X account and website.

LayerZero Labs and Animoca Brands have announced a partnership to simplify blockchain integration in games.

LayerZero Labs and its interoperability protocol LayerZero connects over 80 blockchains, aiming to make NFT ownership and cross-chain interactions more seamless, and allowing players to focus on gameplay as opposed to the underlying technology. 

As part of the deal, Animoca Brands’ will leverage LayerZero across its portfolio games and subsidiaries as a default choice of interoperability solution. Notably, Animoca’s own interoperable network project Mocaverse has already adopted LayerZero Labs’s Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard. 

The companies will also invest resources to organize joint community events such as hackathons, content creation and other initiatives, to promote more awareness of interoperability and LayerZero’s technologies. 

“We are thrilled to partner with Animoca Brands as the preferred interoperability provider of their portfolio projects. This collaboration will create seamless omnichain interactions and enhance the digital experiences for our respective communities,” commented LayerZero Labs CEO Bryan Pellegrino.

“We are extremely excited about this unique partnership. We envision an omnichain future for digital content and gaming. At a time when the games industry faces new and old challenges, it’s more important than ever to signal our dedication to and support for mission-aligned builders like Bryan and the LayerZero team, who are developing battle-tested infrastructure for the future of the internet,” added Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu.

Alongside Animoca Brands’ interoperable network project Mocaverse launching its MOCA token on 11th July, Animoca chairman Yat Siu has compiled a deep-dive into the purpose such tokens fulfil in the realm of web3.

So while Moca NFT holders weigh the pros and cons of whether to sell now or stake their MOCA for a greater future reward, Siu’s intellectual discussion on Mocaverse as a long-term investment project could be seen as an encouragement to do the latter.

He argues that digital tokens – such as MOCA – create a “novel way to own a piece of the network effect”. More specifically in the case of Mocaverse, he says it’s creating “an interoperable infrastructure stack” that will enhance networks effects, in part through its Moca ID reputation system that allows everyone to see how much value a user contributes to the overall network.

How Mocaverse’s MOCA token launch will sit in a sector that’s been beaten down by around 50% in terms of price over the past couple of months remains to be seen, however.

Still, in terms of its performance to-date, the price is up 225% from its pre-sale price of $0.04 to $0.13 at time of writing (12 pm BST).

And with a current market cap of 144 million, the token already ranks within the top 300 cryptos.

At present 14% of the token’s total supply of 8.9 billion is live, with community allocations granted in two ways that are not mutually exclusive.

The first was via ownership of the 8,888 Mocaverse NFTs that were originally minted for free in March 2023. The other is in terms of how many Realm Points Moca ID account owners have earned by completing social farming and partner missions over the past months.

Those claiming their MOCA tokens can choose not to take their entire allocation, instead choosing to ‘Claim Extra’. This means a smaller claim now, with further claims on 11th October and then more tokens vesting weekly until 10th October 2025.

In addition, MOCA holders are also able to stake their tokens and NFTs to gain points, which will unlock additional benefits such as access to future token sales and staking pool rewards from some of the 450 partner companies in Animoca’s network.

You even get a 50% points boost for the next two weeks.

As the number of mini-games listed on the TON blockchain have gone from 120 to 160 in less than a fortnight, Telegram has released a new feature making playing games on the platform even easier.

While clunky tech has long been seen as a stumbling block towards the mass adoption of web3 applications, Telegram has introduced a simple bar at the bottom of the screen which lets players switch seamlessly between multiple gaming and messenger apps. 

Notably, the company claims that over 500 million of its users now play games within the platform.

No wonder then that Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu predicts the next mass wave of web3 users will come from gaming on platforms such as Telegram. He recently said, “I believe that over the next 12 to 18 months, we’re going to see over 100 million users join web3 because of gaming that’s happening on distribution outlets like Telegram”, in an interview with The Cryptonomist.

Siu also thanked the platform for the 3 million daily active users Animoca’s web3 gaming platform Gamee has gained via its Telegram group. 

While he emphasised that web3 adoption will mainly come from gaming and other entertainment content, the distribution layer also plays a vital role. Siu explained that’s the reason Animoca has made such a significant ecosystem investment into TON, also becoming its largest validator.

But while the simplistic nature of most mini-games on TON clearly appeals to a large audience, it also has a strong tendency to attract bot activity. If deeper games such as social RPG Pixels and TCG Splinterlands – with teams that actively design rewards systems against bots – contain a playerbase of ⅔ bots – then how high is the bot rate within TON games likely to be?

For that reason, we should take the surging player numbers of simple tap-to-earn games such as Hamster Kombat and Notcoin with a large pinch of salt. That isn’t the same as denying the power of gaming on large distribution platforms, just that it’s unlikely to appeal to every kind of game, developer or player. 

Indeed, with an increase of new initiatives such as Goat Gaming unveiling plans to build on Telegram, it wouldn’t be surprising to see TON become the largest blockchain in terms of number of games in the next few months. 

Whether it’s just a bubble or more long-lasting remains to be seen. But it’s worth pointing out that so far, the value of most tokens integrated with these tap-to-earn games are highly speculative and currently have no utility. 

Even to that, Siu would argue that similar to other meme coins, their value lies within the context of their culture, though.

Check out our previous interview with Siu, covering everything from John Locke and meme coins, to how Mocaverse helped the growth of Pixels, Animoca’s investment thesis, and much more.

Animoca Brands has announced a deal with AI infrastructure developer Futureverse which will see its tech stack integrated with Animoca’s web3 gaming ecosystem.

As part of the deal, Animoca Brands will also leverage Futureverse’s discovery platform The Readyverse to enhance the interoperability with in its Mocaverse network.

Signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the companies also aim to boost the growth of the Futureverse token ecosystem, which includes The Root Network’s ROOT token, the ASTO token, and the SYLO token. Notably, these aren’t gaming tokens per se but underpins Futureverse’s entire AI and metaverse tech stack.

Under the MoU, an equity swap will take place involving shares of each other company valued at $5 million.

More particularly, the Futureverse Platform contains AI and metaverse tools aiming to blend web2 and web3 tech to enhance user experiences. It includes services like digital passport, creation of interoperable NFTs and game assets, an engine enabling developers to compose and decompose NFTs from one another, and more.

In addition, Futureverse venture Readyverse Studios recently unveiled The Readyverse platform, which is collaborating with Warner Bros. Discovery to bring the Ready Player One franchise to the metaverse.

“Animoca Brands is the clear market leader in web3 game publishing and its expertise and reach in growing this ecosystem is unparalleled. We are excited to deepen our strategic ties with and bring our world leading AI, web3 gaming technology and A-list IP to help supercharge its portfolio,” said Futureverse co-founder Aaron McDonald. 

“With Futureverse’s sophisticated L1 blockchain, The Root Network, and its suite of AI-driven tools, we see significant potential to accelerate the growth of our ecosystem,” commented Animoca Brands executive chairman and co-founder Yat Siu.

Animoca Brands has unveiled new Bitcoin protocol OPAL.

A joint initiative from Animoca and its subsidiary Darewise Entertainment, OPAL aims to become the leading Bitcoin-based web3 ecosystem spanning across gaming, entertainment, defi, and education. It will be underpinned by OPAL’s Runes token BLIF, which is already implemented in Darewise’s MMOG Life Beyond. 

As well as Animoca and Darewise, OPAL partner companies include Xverse, Alex Labs, Magic Eden, Open Campus, Enjinstarter, Helika, Horizen Labs, Op3n, Azarus and Pixelynx. To encourage sustainable ecosystem growth, Animoca has introduced an initial Proof of Value Work (PoVW) system, which rewards members based on their contributions. As early adopters of BLIF, OPAL’s launch partners receive a token grant to ensure their active participation, in exchange to their commitment to enhancing the utility of BLIF during its first year.

Animoca Brands executive chairman and co-founder Yat Siu commented, “With the advent of Ordinals, Bitcoin made the giant leap from simply being a way to store value to becoming a store of culture for the web3 age. Building up our presence on the Bitcoin chain through the exciting work of the OPAL Protocol will help to advance our vision of an open metaverse in which all people have the opportunity to enjoy digital property rights and benefit from the power of network effects.”

Developers interested in joining the OPAL Protocol and utilize the BLIF token can apply to become a member here.