Code-free way for game devs to go crypto

Hello hello! Welcome to all our new friends! And to our current friends – thanks for coming back for this week.

This week we are covering…

💣 Fractal’s code-free way for game devs to ‘go crypto’

❌ Pushback against Myst creator’s new game built with AI help

💰 A cool $10M & $12M funding, plus new launch for web3 gaming this week

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Fractal’s code-free way for game devs to ‘go crypto’ [Link]

Gaming-focused web3 startup and NFT marketplace Fractal, from streaming platform Twitch co-founder Justin Kan, has launched Fractal Studio (FStudio), a 3-part product aimed at enabling video developers to more seamlessly add crypto integrations into their game titles in a code-free manner.

Now 18 months in existence, Fractal helps developers build, acquire, and monetize their projects. How? By turning in-game assets into NFTs via FStudio, allowing credit card payments for in-game crypto purchases, and creating their own in-game NFT stores.

Kan likens Fractal to an arcade that creates a space where all games come together and players can have a blast trying them all out.

What this means: It’s a show of how Fractal is dipping its toes into developer software, after evolving from a game-focused NFT marketplace into being a web3 game platform and launcher at the same time.

Pushback against Myst creator’s new game built with AI help [Link]

As AI continues to advance, its integration into the entertainment industry, including video game development, continues to spark debates and raise concerns among gamers and industry professionals.

Cyan Worlds' use of AI-based tools in their new game, Firmament, has sparked controversy and anger across segments as it was revealed in the game's credits the inclusion of AI-generated or augmented content, such as journals, stories, and voice acting.

An inside look into the issue:

• The studio confirms that AI tech improved the game's aspects such as voiceovers, with the artist's approval.

• Some gamers are unhappy, citing lack of world-building and "plagiarized homogeneity." Members of the Screen Actors Guild have authorized a strike for the lack of recognition for voice actors in the game and the potential future use of AI to recreate their voices using older content.

Why this matters: Game developers, like other areas of tech, have started tapping into the potential of AI for creative purposes. Blizzard Entertainment, known for games like Overwatch and Diablo, reportedly uses AI to assist in non-player character design, with its president Mike Ybarra believing “AI is not meant to replace human artists, but rather to add to the creative process.”

A cool $10M & $12M funding, plus new launch for web3 gaming this week

It’s a lucrative week for web3 game funding and partnerships, with the following making headlines:

• HyperPlay, launched in Nov 2022 by self-custody web3 wallet MetaMask and DAO Game7, raises $12M for its web3 game launcher and cross-chain aggregator of multiple game stores. With Griffin Gaming Partners and Bitkraft Ventures co-leading the round, HyperPlay’s mission is interoperability as the default for web3 games via a wallet overlay on top of games.

• Web3 gaming studio Argus nabs $10M in a seed round led by crypto investment firm Haun Ventures, alongside venture firms Robot Ventures, Anagram, Dispersion Capital, web3 developer backend Alchemy, and other investors including former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan. Argus also announces the World Engine, a blockchain-gaming software developer kit (SDK) allowing builders to create their own web3 gaming ecosystems.

• Crypto firm Ava Labs is launching Avalanche Arcad3, a collaborative program enabling traditional game developers to explore blockchain integrations. Japanese metaverse and entertainment companies Gree and Gumi have also joined Arcad3 as two of its earliest partners.

Why this bodes well for web3 gaming: The successful fundraising rounds signify web3-native brands’ resolve to address developer and user pain points in the space, as well as the quest for seamless interoperability across the ecosystem, amid a longstanding crypto winter and dwindling attention to the metaverse amid the AI boom.

DeepMind’s game-playing AIs for game code and infrastructure [Link]

DeepMind's Alpha series of AIs is going beyond game-playing and demonstrating unexpected capabilities in various other tasks, including:

• AlphaGo: Trained using human gameplay, it achieved a world-first victory over the Go world champion.

• AlphaZero: Exposed to Google Borg's data, it developed methods to predict and manage resource allocation, reducing underused hardware by up to 19% and thus improving operational efficiency.

• AlphaDev: A variant of AlphaZero, it implemented enhanced sorting algorithms for Google's library and a superior hashing function (for 9-16 byte ranges), reducing computational load by 30%.

Apple's new dev toolkit bringing Windows games to Mac [Link]

Apple has unveiled the Game Porting Toolkit at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), with the following key benefits:

• Eliminate months of upfront work for developers

• Allow them to assess the compatibility and performance of their existing PC games on macOS within a few days, significantly expediting the process

• Simplify the conversion of game shaders and graphics code to leverage the performance advantages of Apple silicon, reducing overall development time

The toolkit's emulator supports DirectX12, enabling developers to add graphics effects to PC games formerly not available on Macs.

Why this launch is buzzworthy: Generating enthusiasm among developers and the gaming community, the toolkit heralds back to the time when it was difficult and time-consuming for developers to port Windows games to Mac due to multiple difficult steps. Now it helps better understand how to optimize games on macOS to attain new efficiencies.

🏃‍♂️Quick Hits

• The metaverse “is all about leveraging technologies, many of which were already in existence, to allow brands to create immersive experiences”: Super League Gaming CEO Ann Hand in a new podcast. (Link)

• Star Wars: Outlaws, coming in 2024, is a new open-world game from Ubisoft. (Link)

• Decentraland kicks off June by pulling its powerful SDK 7 out of its beta phase and completely revamping its homepage. (Link)

• A game journo wonders: what is metaverse gaming, will it actually be a thing, and will it have less talking penises than Second Life? (Link)

• South Korean game companies are on an all-out offensive to recruit AI talent. (Link)

• What diversity? Summer Game Fest gets all the hype, yet doesn’t feature a single woman onstage. (Link)

• Fortnite trailers gets “wild” in its new trailer, and features Optimus Prime. (Link)

• Mino Games unveils Dimensionals, a new gaming franchise featuring the 1st character-driven RPG to use AI for unscripted character interactions and real-time, shareable mods. (Link)

• Discover Life Beyond, a science fiction adventure set in a spatial metaverse where players build a civilization on the remote planet Dolos. (Link)

• Branching into more genres in search of new audiences, Laguna Games rolls out Unicorn Party, a series of casual games based on its Crypto Unicorn web3 games. (Link)

• The upcoming simulator Ships At Sea offers new and expanded features, brand-new gameplay mechanics, and a multiplayer mode. (Link)

• P2E NFT-based game Tanjea - Race to Riches launches on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. (Link)

• Misc Games announces its upcoming simulator, Ships At Sea, as the sequel to its Fishing: Barents Sea and Fishing: North Atlantic releases. (Link)

• Multiplayer, real-time war strategy game Viking Rise gets new AR filters and a metaverse art exhibition on Decentraland. (Link)

• Gala Games launches the 2nd playtest of the interactive game Eternal Paradox. (Link)

• BinaryX prepares to launch what it touts the 1st ever VR game heavily featuring VR and artificial intelligence game content (AIGC). (Link)

• Here’s how AI is helping deaf gamers communicate. (Link)

• Super League Gaming works with the American Heart Association to introduce new Heart Hero characters into Roblox. (Link)

• Netflix announces 2 new games: the strategy battle game LEGO Legacy: Heroes Unboxed and puzzle adventure game Paper Trail. (Link)

• Sony plans to leverage AI in its quest for cloud gaming, but CEO Kenichiro Yoshida has concerns. (Link)

• Orange Comet is turning Dinosaurs vs. Aliens into an immersive and cinematic web3 game. (Link)

• Game developer Illuvium partners with GameStop to debut a 20K NFT collection. (Link)

• UVL Studio’s flagship project Axis Mundi launches 72-hour NFT open mint as it rolls out the 1st part of its Bandersnatch-esque NFT narrative game. (Link)

• Left Fielder Media collaborate with Neon to bring characters to life in Shrapnel. (Link)

• Top 10 trends in metaverse gaming initiated by pro gamers. (Link)

• Web3 Gaming Week will be in full gear at Google's Developer Space in SG from June 12-17. (Link)

💸 Funding & Partnerships

• GameStop announces strategic partnership with Illuvium and sets limited D1sks NFT sale. (Link)

• TELUS Esports Series partners with Samsung for the biggest mobile gaming tournament in Canada. (Link)

• GameStop and Telos forge partnership for web3 gaming advancement. (Link)

All content on this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not aim to serve as or replace expert investment advice.

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If you are a startup building in the metaverse / web3 ecosystem and are raising capital, please reach out to Sfermion. Sfermion is an investment firm focused on accelerating the emergence of the metaverse.

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