Interactive media production company Neon Media has raised $10.5 million to develop Shrapnel, the first-ever Triple-A blockchain game that is set to revolutionize the face of the NFT gaming space.
With Shrapnel, Neon hopes to introduce NFTs into a Triple-A title that will allow players to trade in-game collectibles through NFT integration.
Shrapnel is aiming to become the world’s first blockchain-enabled moddable AAA first-person shooter game. At the time of this writing, the specific details of Shrapnel blockchain utility are still very sparse as they’ve yet to release a whitepaper on their website but, according to a report from VentureBeat, CEO Mark Long stated that the idea is to allow players the ability to own their digital goods.
“Players never really own what they buy,” Long stated. “It’s all locked inside the company. But there are surveys from Newzoo that indicate that players would really love to own what they’re buying.”
This could mean that your character and your items, weapons, and cosmetics that you carry will be NFTs that you own independent from the game.
Neon Media is confident in this new venture as they are composed of an award-winning media group that spun out of HBO Interactive, having worked on Westworld IP and its interactive platforms such as Westworld VR: A Delos Experience.
Their team is also composed of several BAFTA and Emmy-award-winning designers and developers who have worked with companies such as Xbox and Electronic Arts. They have worked on titles such as Call of Duty, Halo, Star Wars, Sunset Overdrive and others.
The Shrapnel team has also announced they are choosing Avalanche as their network of choice to build upon and create a new gaming experience.
Why Avalanche for Shrapnel?
For Neon Media’s Studio Chief Don Norbury, Shrapnel is being built from the ground up working very closely with the community and for them choosing Avalanche to build and develop their game upon is a no-brainer. Avalanche is touted as the fastest smart contract platform in the blockchain industry today and this is important to ensure that Shrapnel delivers on high-quality performance to their fast-paced and adrenaline-pumping first-person shooter.
Avalanche is also claimed to be able to handle quick loading speeds and the smooth player experience that is expected of AAA premium titles, as well as the low-latency, seamless and glitch-free gameplay which players have come to enjoy in high-quality games on the market.
Another interesting feature with Avalanche is that it also consists of subnets, which are custom, application-specific chains that will allow developers to adjust and customize the user experience of the game. This is done as each gaming session and in-game trading activities in their own subnet which allows players to focus on their gaming.
As a blockchain-enabled game, the adoption of Avalanche into Shrapnel will allow users to transfer any in-game assets they may have from Shrapnel’s marketplace to the Avalanche C-chain, making trades easier with other players and members of the community.
According to the Director of Gaming at Ava Labs Ed Chang, the entry of Shrapnel into the blockchain/NFT marketspace is symbolic of the growing maturity of blockchain games toward AAA titles and the adoption of Avalanche further solidifies this.
The raise of $10.5 million in seed investment for Neon comes from leading VC firms such as Dragonfly, Three Arrows, Griffin Gaming Partners, Polychain Capital, and Forte.
United Gamers Analysis and Perspective
AAA games at the cream of the crop as far as videogames go. They are the gaming industry’s equivalent to the film huge Hollywood blockbusters. They often have the biggest production value and production quality, developed by a crack team of the best of the best of the industry to deliver epic, sweeping and engaging experiences.
The arrival of the first ever AAA game to the blockchain could prove to boost the value and the legitimacy of the burgeoning NFT/ Play-to-earn gaming sector that’s been plagued with derivative clones of existing games, dime-a-dozen card games and autobattlers.
We’ll find out next year once more details arrive if Shrapnel hits its mark… or shatters on impact.
United Gamers writers offer their unique Analysis and Perspective to help readers understand the context of the facts. These opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publication or its principals