Sebastian Sinclair

<div id="highlights-block_6254c9ca036e5" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Epic Games has secured a whopping $2 billion in additional funding from Sony and KIRKBI to further its metaverse ambitions</li>
 <li>While some see the Fortnite developer&#8217;s position to port their games to Web3 as a challenge, others view the move as a positive</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The developer of one of the world&#8217;s most popular games, Fortnite, has scooped up $2 billion in additional funding in a bid to accelerate its metaverse ambitions.



Epic Games said Monday it had received $1 billion each from existing investors Sony Group Corporation and KIRKBI, the family-owned investment company behind The LEGO Group.



Following regulatory approval of the deal, Epic&#8217;s post-money equity valuation stands at $31.5 billion.



The fresh funding will be used to build out Epic&#8217;s vision for the metaverse and support its continued growth, according to a <a href="https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/sony-and-kirkbi-invest-in-epic-games-to-build-the-future-of-digital-entertainment" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a>. Epic said it is attempting to create novel &#8220;social entertainment&#8221; by exploring the connection between the digital and physical worlds.



“As a creative entertainment company, we are thrilled to invest in Epic to deepen our relationship in the metaverse field, a space where creators and users share their time,” Kenichiro Yoshida, president and CEO of Sony Group Corporation, said.



Sony&#8217;s participation in the round extends upon its <a href="https://www.roadtovr.com/sony-epic-games-investment-implications/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$250 million cash infusion</a> for Epic in 2020 and a further <a href="https://www.roadtovr.com/epic-games-unreal-engine-1b-investment/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$200 million</a> a year later. Epic&#8217;s accrued capital is slated for the developer&#8217;s project to build “real-time 3D social experiences leading to a convergence of gaming, film, and music,” its CEO Tim Sweeney reportedly said at the time.



While the funds have been flowing, questions are mounting over how the developer will best attempt to monetize their efforts in a world seemingly designed for decentralization and individual ownership of digital assets.



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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">This does not mean LEGO in Fortnite, but Epic Games is working with them to create a &quot;Digital Experience&quot; and with references of the metaverse, it doesn&#39;t rule out anything to do with Fortnite 👀&mdash; T5G (@Top5Gamingx) <a href="https://twitter.com/Top5Gamingx/status/1512038899304087555?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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&#8220;What they&#8217;ve been building with Fortnite, is what they&#8217;re kind of calling a metaverse, but I&#8217;d say it&#8217;s a closed ecosystem, where they rely on external investments and deals with large intellectual property rights, instead of a more open web3 metaverse,&#8221; Lost Relics and Codebit Labs Director Cliff Cawley said.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">&#8220;It seems that some companies are merely using the term metaverse as another marketing term to ensure their balance sheets remain profitable for themselves,&#8221; Cawley added.</blockquote>



Fortnite is a hugely popular free-to-play battle royal game where 100 players are dropped on an island and duke it out by crafting, shooting and looting their way to a top spot. 



While the model is free-to-play, Epic generates substantial profit through microtransactions via its in-game store. Players can purchase skins, emotes and sprays in exchange for the company&#8217;s in-game currency called V-Bucks, which are purchased using fiat.



Epic uses V-Bucks to turn a large portion of its profit. In 2018, the company generated $5.5 billion in gross revenue from its Fortnite title and $3.7 billion the following year, according to <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/20696836/epic-apple-trial-epic-games-exhibit.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">leaked documents</a> from last year&#8217;s Apple v. Epic Games trial.



&#8220;It would be next to impossible for Epic to smoothly transition Fortnite into a Web3 Game,&#8221; Simon Kertonegoro, CEO and founder of MyMetaverse, said. &#8220;Its game mechanics and monetization are already set up to run in a Web2 way.&#8221;



Web3 refers to the idea of a decentralized internet where ownership of data is possessed locally by the individual. Metaverses, meanwhile, refer to the experience individuals will have based on an intersection of technologies including virtual reality, blockchain and Web3 infrastructure. 



Both concepts are in their early infancy, but development and major funding have continued to push the bounds and explore new revenue streams that share collectively in the success of a particular title.



While revenue models will need to be hashed out, some blockchain gaming developers believe Epic&#8217;s foray into the metaverse will help position the budding industry front and center.



&#8220;We should definitely anticipate more innovation happening in the space as new economic models are introduced,&#8221; Brian Akaka, chief marketing officer at Laguna Games, the developer behind the upcoming non-fungible token (NFT) title <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-unicorns-nets-26m-in-token-sales-led-by-tcg-backed-vc/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Crypto Unicorns</a>, told Blockworks.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">&#8220;It is important for game developers to incorporate new mechanics as a natural part of gameplay, rather than treating it as an add-on.&#8221;</blockquote>



Kertonegoro believes Epic is poised to take advantage of an entirely new title centred around the concept of monetizing in-game assets that give players the option to share in the profits of Epic&#8217;s sales.



&#8220;I believe Tim Sweeney and Epic Games, in general, are smart enough to know that, in the end, the solution that&#8217;s best for players will always win,&#8221; he said.



Epic continues to distribute only a single class of common stock outstanding and remains controlled by its CEO and founder.



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Fortnite Developer Epic Games Gets $2B To Drive Metaverse Efforts

<div id="highlights-block_6245177ab9bcc" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Blockchain developer Cross The Ages said it will use the funding to further develop its eponymous platform and retain talent</li>
 <li>Funding came from major software publisher Ubisoft crypto gaming unicorn Animoca Brands, among others</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Blockchain gaming developer Cross The Ages (CTA) said Monday it had scooped up $12 million in a seed funding round that included some of the industry&#8217;s heavy hitters.



Cross The Ages&#8217; &#8220;free-to-play-and-earn&#8221; metaverse gaming platform saw funding from the likes of Ubisoft and Animoca Brands. Sebastien Borget, co-founder and chief operating officer of The Sandbox, as well as Polygon — the blockchain network that the game is based on — also participated in the round.



Funding will be used to further the game&#8217;s development, retain talent and drive its go-to-market activities, according to a statement. The game has garnered a social community exceeding 380,000.



Cross The Ages Universe is a digital collectible card game set in a dystopian clash of worlds based on seven fantasy and science fiction novels from leading authors.



The firm itself has a growing team of 140, including 70 artists who have worked on major titles such as &#8220;Game of Thrones,&#8221; &#8220;Star Wars,&#8221; &#8220;Lord of the Rings&#8221; and &#8220;Harry Potter.&#8221;



Blockchain gaming is still in its infancy, and digital card games rub up against popular franchises including Blizzard&#8217;s Hearthstone and Wizard of the Coast&#8217;s Magic the Gathering: Arena.



“Since their creation, collectible cards have been cardboard, paper or even plastic at times, yet they have always been represented as a physical medium,&#8221; CTA CEO Sami Chlagou said. &#8220;The advent of NFTs makes it possible to collect cards in a digital format, so CTA will deliver this for users, while also giving them the opportunity to hold a physical version.”



Not all gamers are convinced of the technology underpinning the free-to-play model, though. A report by <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/storybook-brawl-crypto-review-bomb/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PC Gamer</a> on Wednesday said that players of free-to-play auto battler Storybook Brawl are calling for it to be booted off Steam following FTX.US&#8217;s acquisition of that game&#8217;s developer last week.



Still, CTA said players would be able to &#8220;commodify&#8221; their digital assets in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) via the platform&#8217;s in-game economy while providing users with the option to lease, trade and sell them or convert them to physical cards.



The game is expected to launch to the public in June following testing in March and early access to select users in May, according to its <a href="https://whitepaper.crosstheages.com/roadmap" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">roadmap</a>.



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Blockchain Gaming Firm Cross The Ages Gets $12M From Ubisoft, Polygon

<div id="highlights-block_62259dca1bfe6" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Asian exchange Zipmex has partnered with polygon in an attempt to capture some of the spoils of the nascent market</li>
 <li>The partnership coincides with Thailand&#8217;s &#8220;first-ever&#8221; metaverse concert by the exchange hosted on Decentraland</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Digital asset exchange Zipmex has entered into a strategic partnership with Polygon&#8217;s gaming arm in an attempt to further the exchange&#8217;s metaverse ecosystem across the Asia-Pacific region.



The Singapore-headquartered exchange, which launched its NFT platform Zixel last month, said the partnership with Polygon Studios would help draw in new users as part of its &#8220;long-term strategy&#8221; for future growth, according to a recent press release.



As part of the deal, the firm also said Polygon would be rolling out &#8220;new virtual experiences&#8221; on the metaverse with Zixel, as well as investing in the exchange&#8217;s native token, ZMT. Zipmex&#8217;s product will leverage the Polygon blockchain that purports to be the &#8220;best in class&#8221; solution for energy efficiency and scaling.



The move comes as thousands of companies globally are seeking to expand into virtual worlds in a bid to enhance their brand presence and capture a segment of the potentially lucrative sector. Last week, US retail corporation CVS Pharmacy filed a&nbsp;trademark application&nbsp;to sell “<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/cvs-files-for-nft-related-trademarks-in-the-metaverse/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">downloadable virtual goods</a>” in the metaverse.



&#8220;We look forward to introducing new metaverse initiatives via Zixel&#8230;as well as normalizing crypto and blockchain as part of life in Southeast Asia,&#8221; said Steven Bryson-Haynes, business development head at Polygon Studios.



As part of its announcement, Zipmex’s NFT platform launch has coincided with Thailand&#8217;s &#8220;first-ever&#8221; metaverse concert hosted on Decentraland, as well as a physical metaverse exhibition, to&nbsp;celebrate the launch.



The exhibition, &#8220;Metaworld by Zixel,&#8221; runs until March 20 and allows participants to partake in a number of experiences allowing them to &#8220;explore, create and trade on Decentraland&#8221; in a bid to familiarize new users.



Zipmex is estimated to account for roughly one-quarter of the total revenue of the digital asset market in Thailand, consisting of roughly 1.7 million traders across a number of domestic exchanges, according to a report by the <a href="https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2229747/zipmex-mulling-asia-pacific-expansion" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bangkok Post</a> last year that cited the country&#8217;s Securities and Exchange Commission.



Around 3.6 million people, or 5.2% of Thailand’s total population, currently own cryptocurrency, according to data by Singapore central bank-compliant payments firm <a href="https://triple-a.io/crypto-ownership-thailand/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Triple A</a>.



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