Mobile-first party game platform raises $9M from BITKRAFT

GAMING CHRONICLES 91

Raiden

and

Memento | Oscar

Oct 30, 2024

Gaming Chronicles focuses on curating the latest web3 gaming news, every week.

You will find the latest news, educational content, and game reviews.

Arbitrum, a gaming ecosystem with titles such as King of Destiny, Seraph, Pirate Nation, and Mighty Action Heroes, brings this newsletter.

This week, we want to highlight the football manager game Footium, which recently kicked off S1. They’ve recently introduced the Amateur League, a way for them to improve the experience of newcomers. If you like football management games, you should check it out.

TLDR :

PartyIcons $9M raise
Wanderers joins ~~Ronin~~ Treasure
Uprising pivots to publishing games

🗞️ NEWS

PARTY ICONS $9M RAISE

Last week Party Icons (PI) announced they closed a $9M private round led by BITKRAFT, making their total funding $20M
- Other gaming-related rounds BITKRAFT led/participated in this year include Darkbright Studios (Smolbound), Cartridge, Cambria, Sonic, Avalon, Carbonated, and BLOCKLORDS
PI is a mobile-first party game platform, with 3 playable game modes: Party Heist, Party Brawl, and Carnival Clash
- Plus there’s a game mode specifically for NFT holders: GOD Mode
The team aims to implement the “Party-as-a-Service model”, redefining LiveOps, game economies, and the player experience
- This happens by providing top contributors in the ecosystem with tools and data (i.e. emphasis on UGC)
Jonathan Huang, an investor at BITKRAFT, elaborated on the firm’s thesis in his thread:
- Using Web3 to unlock new core gameplay (new modalities and genres of play)
  - Party Heist (the core game mode) is similar to Hunger Games. Herein, NFT holders can act as Sponsors, and bet on the success of players
- Separating and addressing Web2 + Web3 users
  - In Party Heist Web2 players can play, without needing to touch any of the Web3 (speculation) elements
- Creating platform-like network effects through the core and supporting game modes
  - Core gameplay attracts players, and supporting party games improve longevity/retention
  - An open digital economy and marketplace supporting the loot extraction
  - Social and competitive experience designed to create short-form content as top-of-funnel distribution
TL;DR: BITKRAFT is bullish, core gameplay first UGC second, multiple genres in one, and appealing for Web2 and Web3.
- + They’re launching the PARTY token in 2025

WANDERERS JOINS TREASURE

After creating the impression Wanderers is joining the Ronin ecosystem, they bamboozle us with the news that they’re joining Treasure
- They have been agnostic since the start, so they migrated from ETH mainnet
Wanderers is not only a game, but a multimedia IP spanning comics, short films, music, NFT collections, and more (similar to Forgotten Runiverse)
- The game is an action roguelite that uses unique deckbuilding mechanics in a sci-fi theme (think sci-fi Hades x different progression)
The project started as an NFT project in 2021 (5,500 ETH in volume) and started developing the game around October 2022
- Seeing OG NFT projects expand their IP through gaming is something we have seen a couple of times this year as well e.g. Claynosaurz, Deadfellaz, and CryptoKitties
One of the founders (Nick Greenawalt) is an experienced animator and content creator, which shines through on his Twitter profile
- I expect Nick to play an important role in bringing more attention to The Wanderers

UPRISING PIVOTS TO PUBLISHING ONLY

Uprising gets the message: “We believe that web3 doesn’t need more blockchains right now — it needs more great games.”
- This means they are scrapping the original plans of becoming an L2 on Oasis, and will be partnering with existing or new blockchains to bring more games to market faster
The focus of Uprising is to work with mid to hardcore games for both PC and console
- Around 2 months ago they announced the first game they were publishing in Web3 is Maelstrom, a naval battle royale game
  - Well-rated on Steam (83% positive rating), but it didn’t retain its player base over time
- Other games they will be publishing will be announced soon
The publishing strategy involves Uprising bringing these games to blockchains and integrating Web3 elements (tokens and NFTs), whilst the game’s Web2 version on Steam remains
- They’re onboarding games with a fun core game loop but can still be polished regarding progression systems, LiveOps, monetization, etc.
- Plus they will own a stake in all the games they publish