Crypto investment firm Haun Ventures has recently taken the lead in a $10 million seed round for Web3 gaming studio Argus. Alongside Haun Ventures, other venture firms such as Robot Ventures, Anagram, Dispersion Capital, Web3 developer backend Alchemy, and several individual investors, including former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan, participated in the investment round.
In light of their successful fundraising, Argus has made an exciting announcement: the launch of the World Engine. This blockchain-gaming software developer kit (SDK) aims to empower developers to create their own unique Web3 gaming ecosystems. By providing the foundational blockchain infrastructure for emerging Web3 games, the company hopes to encourage and support the growth of innovative game developers’ visions.
Argus CEO, Scott Sunarto, compares the current state of crypto gaming to the early stages of computer gaming in the 1980s and ’90s. He believes that for crypto gaming to truly excel, developers must have the ability to push boundaries and create unprecedented content – just as early computer game developers did with their own game engines. With the World Engine and an in-house content game studio, Argus aims to provide the tools and resources needed for groundbreaking Web3 gaming.
The newly-acquired funds are expected to be used to scale the team, expand the studio, and build out Argus’ tooling infrastructure. Breck Stodghill, the Haun Ventures investor who spearheaded the round, sees Sunarto as a “missionary” working to stimulate growth in the broader Web3 gaming space. Stodghill believes that by merging the unifying power of gaming with the advanced technology of crypto, the industry can resolve existing infrastructure issues and lay the groundwork for a new wave of innovative games.
This resurgence in interest for Web3 gaming follows a bear market that dampened investment across the entire industry. Recently, funding rounds for blockchain-based games have been making a comeback. In March, crypto investment firm a16z led a $40 million investment round for gaming studio CCP Games to venture into the Web3 sphere. Additionally, in February, a16z directed a $25 million Series A for Web3 gamified-social protocol Here Not There.
Despite the challenges still faced by the industry, the latest commitments and investments signal a promising future for Web3 gaming. The development of tools like the World Engine and continued support from venture firms will only serve to further propel the industry’s growth and encourage more innovative developer visions in the world of blockchain-based gaming.
Source: Coindesk
