Blockchain game publisher Immutable has launched a $100 million fund to invest in blockchain games, called the “Inevitable Games Fund” — IGF for short.

Venture capital firm King River Capital and Polygon Labs also contributed to the launch of the “ecosystem-agnostic fund,” according to a statement shared with Cointelegraph.

King River will lead the investment process, with Immutable and Polygon as advisors.

The fund’s first close raised $30 million, with contributions to IGF from VC firm Alpha Wave Ventures, Web3 gaming guild Merit Circle, TechCrunch co-founder Michael Arrington, former Algorand CEO Steve Kokinos, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal and Immutable founders James and Robbie Ferguson.

The IGF kicked off with investments in seven blockchain game titles all native to ImmutableX or Polygon, including the Pokémon-reminiscent Pixelmon, fantasy role-player Guild of Guardians and shooter games Metalcore and My Pet Hooligan.

Pixelmon initially raised $70 million and its following February 2022 art reveal was received so badly that many accused the project of being a rug pull.

It’s since tried to make a comeback and replaced its artwork and leadership team later in 2022. Last month, it also scored an $8 million seed round from investors including Animoca Brands and Immutable founder Robbie Ferguson also contributed.

Ferguson told Cointelegraph he sees “a hit [blockchain] game that breaks into the mainstream” or a leader in the gaming space migrating to blockchain with an onboarding experience “on par with mainstream gaming” as ways Web3 games will make a return in this market cycle.

King River co-founder Zeb Rice said in the statement that video games are “ripe for a huge technology shift” and believes such a shift “has only just begun to Web3 technology,” with the fund set to benefit.

Last year, Web3 games and metaverse projects saw $2.9 billion invested across 163 deals — a respective 62% and 19% decrease compared to 2022, according to a January DappRadar gaming report.

The 2023 funding slump didn’t affect gamers, as blockchain games had the most UAW in the decentralized application (DApp) space in 2023.

Polygon was the leading blockchain for gaming last month, with an average of over 400,000 daily unique active wallets (UAW), per a March 14 DappRadar report.

Polygon was the third largest blockchain for gaming in 2023 with 1 million unique active wallets over the year, with DappRadar noting it was “bolstered by strategic partnerships,” including its one with Immutable.

Source : Cointelegraph / Mar 20, 2024