Hong Kong-based gaming company Animoca Brands recently announced that it has raised $2.5 million to develop one of the world’s first decentralized gaming platforms.
The round and token sale were led by Hashed, the largest crypto assets fund and accelerator in South Korea. Hashed was joined by Helix Accelerator, Mind Fund, Klaytn, Atomico Ventures partner Alexis Bonte, and others.
Animoca Brands will be using the funds to build a blockchain-fueled version of its popular gaming franchise, The Sandbox. The franchise boasts one of the world’s largest user-generated content platforms and ecosystems, enjoying over 40 million downloads and more than 1 million active monthly users.
Its blockchain version will be based on the Ethereum platform and will give players actual ownership of their digital creations through non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Yat Siu, co-founder and chairman of Animoca Brands, believes non-fungible tokens to be content’s wave of the future, and the NFTs in the game will be used to buy, sell, and create everything from rewards to new worlds.
Klaytn, a blockchain project led by South Korean messaging giant Kakao, will be distributing, promoting, and marketing The Sandbox on its ecosystem, including making it available on Kakao itself.
Yat Siu, co-founder and chairman of Animoca Brands, said: “We are honoured that domain-expert companies such as Hashed and Klaytn, among others, have chosen to join us in this journey of helping bring blockchain to the masses through gaming. This is a major milestone for the company, validating our blockchain strategy and the NFT-centred blockchain and brand partnerships on which we have been working recently, such as Formula 1.”
Jason Han, Klaytn’s project head, had this to say:
“We are very excited at the opportunity to bring The Sandbox to the Korean gaming market; this game is one of the first of its kind, allowing for user-generated non-fungible tokens to be traded in-game.”
Photo: Animoca Brands