Another week, another Web3 Weekly.

Happy belated 4th of July to those who participated. We did over here, and that’s why our latest piece on the CSGO bans came out on Wednesday. We aim to have new content for you at least every Tuesday and Thursday, with some additional content occasionally popping up during the week.

Despite our team taking a break, the Web3 gaming space continues to move forward, and we have some exciting news and updates to cover. That being said, let’s get right into it:

• Ubisoft Dives Deeper Into Web3

• Change Log

• Animoca Money

• New Interoperability Standard for the Metaverse

• Other News

Ubisoft Dives Deeper Into Web3

Ubisoft officially entered the Web3 gaming space this week with the announcement of its blockchain-based RPG Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chorincles. Though Ubisoft hasn’t shared many details, we know that the game will be released on PC and feature a free drop at launch for early users.

Champions Tactics is notably being developed on the game-centric blockchain Oasys. As a game-focused, EVM-compatible blockchain, Oasys has managed to attract a high-profile list of game developers, including Bandi Namco, SEGA, Square Enix, Red Kite, and others.

While this is the first web3 title from the AAA gaming studio, it’s not their first effort in the space. In February, Ubisoft launched a collection of Rabbids NFT avatars on Sandbox. In December 2021, Ubisoft also launched Quartz to integrate NFT-based, in-game cosmetics into their existing titles. The project started with Ghost Recon, and the response was not great.

Ubisoft received an impressive 95% dislike ratio on the YouTube announcement before it got taken down and only saw a total of $700 in secondary sales despite having a community of 141 million active players.

What makes the Quartz launch different from Champions Tactics is that the company is heading into Web3 head-on rather than integrating into traditional games. The result has been far more positive and provides Ubisoft with another opportunity to break out as a leader in Web3 games.

Change Log

• Mini Royale Season 5 launched, adding new PvE and campaign modes and other features.

• Abyss World’s Alpha Test Phase 1 is live on Polygon through July 8.

• Mojo Melee Season 1 launched alongside its beta mobile app for Anroid.

• Sweat Economy launched Sweat Hero.

• Gala Games announced the reopening of its Telegram channel.

• Rogue Nations closed beta opened for Elemint NFT holders via a partnership with Narena Games.

• Genopets added Milestone and Streak achievements, and integrated its Bitcoin Ordinal Genopets into the game.

• Skyweaver Season 22 launched with new cards, hero abilities, and season content.

• Cool Cats shared ecosystem changes and three upcoming mobile games.

• My Pet Hooligan Alpha launched on Epic Games.

• Endless Clouds announced its upcoming PvP brawler Capsule Heroes.

Animoca Money

Animoca Brands Co-Founder Yat Siu shared that the firm’s metaverse fund is awaiting the necessary license to launch. Announced in late 2022, the fund is expected to deploy upward of $2B into mid to late-stage metaverse and web3 gaming projects.

Animoca is the largest investor in web3 gaming with a portfolio totaling over 450 companies, including Axie infinity, Dapper Labs, Genopets and others. In addition to investments, Animoca and its subsidiaries have also produced a wide range of web2 and web3 games.

In the interview with Cointelegraph, Siu gets bullish on the near-term horizon for the space. With the quality of games in beta and the rise of scaling solutions, among other factors, Siu expects to see AAA-level games getting released by the end of 2024.

New Interoperability Standard for the Metaverse

The Open Metaverse Alliance for Web3 (OMA3) announced an initiative to build standards for metaverse interoperability. Dubbed the Inter-World Portaling System (IWPS), the interoperability standard will help facilitate cross-platform communications and break down information silos.

Several gaming and metaverse participants, including Animoca Brands, Dapper Labs, Decentraland, The Sandbox, and others, are behind the Swiss-based non-profit OMA3. To further their mission of creating a user-owned metaverse, the IWPS position paper has been made available for review and comment on GitHub.

Other News

• Farcara onboarded Animoca Brands as a strategic advisor for optimizing tokenomics and web3 market strategy.

• Gaming platform Ethlas launched its native ELS token.

• Telescope Labs launched an AI plugin for Web3 game analytics.

• Logan Paul’s three-step plan to refund CryptoZoo buyers hasn’t reached step one six months after the announced plan.

• Immutable Passport added Google and Apple login support.