Pantera Capital's cryptoinvesting company invested $ 10 million in Worldwide Webb, a massive online role-playing game ( MMORPG ) web3 for its A series round.
The previously launched project began to raise funding in the second quarter of last year and closed the deal by the end of December, said founder and CEO Thomas Webb, in an interview with The Block.
Partially inspired by virtual worlds such as Runescape and World of Warcraft, players can participate in quests, raids and interact with the virtual economy in a browser game. Users can also buy virtual land and gaming apartments online.
« What, in my opinion, is especially important in Worldwide Webb is that you can just immerse yourself in the game with your wallet — you don’t need to download anything », — Webb said.
In the next few weeks, the project will also release an upcoming game called Blockbusterz, in which users who own NFT from various collections such as CryptoPunks, BAYC or Doodles, will be able to fight each other in combat tournaments — Webb personally vouches for the victory of CryptoPunks.
Brand Connection
Webb has established itself as a multimedia artist who creates works of art that rely on the API of social networks and other data sources in real time. As an artist, he worked with the creator of Hello Kitty Sanrio, the fashionable Valentino brand and the manufacturer of luxury Mercedes Benz cars.
Webb hopes to use the connections he has established to create individual gaming experiences on Worldwide Webb that offer an alternative to the simple NFT branded, which has varying degrees of success.
« People not only buy a brand using NFT, but in fact they participate in a company game that is an experience in Worldwide Webb on which they can earn [ company ] NFT », — he explained. « It is not so much about trying to create something for people, but about creating and rewarding loyalty ».
In addition to attracting brands to Worldwide Webb, funding will also focus on expanding the team and integrating other networks besides Ethereum. Webb said he was also in the early stages of creating his own standard for ERC-1155 and 721 token standards, which he hoped would help resolve the issue of, who is eligible for NFT secondary sales royalties.
Investors play games
According to The Block Research, Ajuna support followed the flow of project financing in the NFT subsector and — the most popular subsector in terms of percentage of total funding since August 2021. Last month, the Oh Baby Games crypto-game platform attracted an initial round of $ 6 million, out of secrecy. In the same month, Neopets Meta, a web version of the popular game with virtual pets, also raised a round of $ 4 million.
However, in January, the number of transactions in the subsector decreased from 40% of the total number of transactions in December to 26%, but, as John Dantoni of The Block Research notes, it’s still premature to assume that he has lost his attractiveness to cryptoin investors, citing previous lulls.