Blockchain-oriented games developer Mythical Games has received another big bag of money to work on their upcoming user-generated content party game Blankos Block Party. The studio now has a total of 35 million dollars in funding. This month they raised $19 million, after getting $16 million in 2018. However, their upcoming blockchain-powered game Blankos Block Party is still quite a big mystery.
The investment money isn't only spend on the development of the online game. For example, alongside Blankos Block Party the studio is creating a technical platform to build more games on. Other studios could license the tech, and as a result the studio creates an extra revenue stream.
Of course 35 million dollars sounds like an awful lot of money. But game development is pricey. Modern AAA titles cost a lot of money to make. For example Shadow of the Tomb Raider reportedly cost approximately 120 million dollars to create and market. As another example The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt had an 85 million dollars price tag.
A change of heart
In March Mythical Games released a trailer for Blankos Block Party. They did this at the SXSW Gaming Festival. Ever since no new footage has been revealed. BlockchainGamer suggested that the game has undergone some change. Now it won't be a series of mini-games, but a user-generated gaming platform with an additional gaming experience. They compare Blankos Block Party with Playstation's LittleBitPlanet, and titles like Minecraft and the upcoming blockchain game The Sandbox.
What is Blankos Block Party?
Blankos Block Party is an online game in which gamers create their own content. The game uses the EOS.io blockchain. The Mythical platform is the foundation. It's basically a software development kit, to easily create online game worlds with in-game economies. Mythical calls their system for in-game assets: dGoods. Players will be able to own, sell, and trade game assets on the platform. The studio uses Microsoft's Azure Blockchain technology, which means Ethereum could be supported in some way as well. Mythical will release the game in 2020.
Background on Mythical Games
Mythical Games is based in Seattle in the United States. Currently the company has thirty people working in its office, including people with backgrounds at companies like Oculus, Telltale, Zynga and Activision Blizzard. The company also has a board member who was the global COO of Sanrio and Hello Kitty, suggesting that Blankos Block Party might move in the same direction to appeal a worldwide market.
Positive sentiment towards blockchain games
Investors have been keen on blockchain games for quite some time. Two months ago Australian game studio Immutable got a 15 million dollar investment to expand its online trading card game Gods Unchained. While earlier this month the team of Axie Infinity got a $1.5 million investment.
Investors clearly believe in the future of blockchain games. Quite frankly, they are not alone. The number of people using decentralized applications has been growing steadily. According to data from State of the Dapps the number of transactions from blockchain games has almost doubled compared with last year.
Currently there are around 650 blockchain games on the market. Even though most of these games are gambling tools or idle clickers. Game developers are slowly starting to utilize blockchain technology, while blockchain developers are getting better at creating games.
Posted from my blog: https://www.nederob.nl/2019/11/30/mythical-games-gets-another-bag-of-money-for-blankos-block-party/