gm to all you wonderful gamers, airdrop hunters, and memecoiners.

What a week its been! All time highs have been (and gone), Saylor is still buying and we are all awaiting the treasure trove of announcements that will be coming out at GDC next week. To any sponsors - the team is still open to offers.

Anyways - here’s the slate:

• Insert Coin to Continue: The latest funding rounds in web3 gaming.

• Co-op Campaigns: Who’s teaming up in the gaming world?

• Change Log: Updates, patches, and new features from games we’ve covered.

• Release Radar: Upcoming games, playtests, and drops.

• On-Chain Activity: New on-chain game announcements and network migrations.

• Other News: The other things that happened in web3 gaming this week.

• Bonus Loot: Cool media we’ve been digesting this week.

Insert Coin To Continue

The latest funding rounds in web3 gaming.

• 9 Lives Interactive (Unknown). The team behind Nyan Heroes raised funds in a strategic investor round led by Mechanism Capital with participation from Sfermion, Delphi Ventures, Momentum 6, and others.

• Blockus ($4M). Web3 gaming platform and a16z CSX alum Blockus raised $4M in a pre-seed funding round from Orange DAO, Altos Ventures, Maple VC, and others with an offer of $20k to any game studio that chooses to activate using the platform.

• MetaCene ($10M). Meta-MMO platform MetaCene raised $10M in a Series A funding round from SevenX Ventures, Xterio Games, WEMIX, and others ahead of its Alpha Test III.

• Munchables (Unknown). The Blast-based Tamagotchi-style game Munchables raised a pre-seed round co-led by Manifold and Mechanism Capital, with participation from Selini, Hidden Street, and Duplicate Capital.

• Param Labs (Unknown). UAE-based web3 gaming infrastructure and open metaverse developer Param Labs received a strategic investment from Animoca Brands following an existing partnership announced last month.

• Studio 369 ($5M). Metalcore developer Studio 369, in partnership with Immutable and Horizen Labs Ventures, raised $5M from Bitkraft Ventures, Spartan Capital, Delphi Digital, Amber Group, and others.

• Trex20 ($1M). Bitcoin-based NFTFi and GameFi protocol trex20 raised $1M in strategic funding from Marshland Capital, Nxgen, Oddiyana Ventures, and others.

Co-Op Campaigns

Who’s teaming up in the gaming world?

• WEMIX x WONDERS. WEMIX announced the addition of three new Node Council Partners (aka WONDERS): Kroma, WEMIXFi, and MADNGINE.

• DOGAMI x Frens. DOGAMI announced the second cohort of partners for the DOGAMI World Championship, featuring The Sandbox, Aavegotchi, Benji Bananas, Undead Blocks, and others.

• Lattice x CCP Games. CCP Games is partnering with Lattice to incorporate MUD, Lattice’s onchain framework for dapps, into Project Awakening.

• Parallel x Helika. Parallel is partnering with Helika to support the growth and optimization of Colony and Parallel’s AI gaming ecosystem.

Change Log

Updates, patches, and new features from games we’ve covered.

• Crypto Unicrons DAO members voted to delay Twilight Tactics Season 2 until after the XAI migration.

• Forgetten Playlands shared an updated roadmap with a timeline of upcoming releases, mints, and new party games.

• Goon Wars added new cards, support for Coinbase Wallet, an in-game inbox and other updates.

• OnePlanet Planet Popper is replacing its MATIC rewards for Mission Points (MP) and will close MATIC withdrawals on March 29.

Release Radar

Upcoming games, playtests, and drops.

• 🎮 BR1: Infinite (Preseason 1): Ongoing

• 🎮 Gangster Arena (Mainnet): Live

• 🎮 Paradise Tycoon (Public Beta): Live

• 🎮 Night Crows (Grand Opening): Live

• 🎮 Shrapnel (STX2): March 20

• 🪙  Nyan Heroes, NYAN (P2A): Ongoing

• 🖼️ XBorg, Prometheus Chestplate (Free Mint): Live

• 🖼️ Munchables (Lockdrop Event): March 18

• 🖼️ Elixer Games, Season Pass (Open Mint): March 21

• 🖼️ Anichess, Missing Orbs (Free Mint): April 9

On-Chain Activity

New on-chain game announcements and network migrations.

• Chalk River (Immutable zkEVM). Vendetta Games, the team developing the Red Dead Redemption-style western RPG Chalk River, committed to building on Immutable zkEVM.

• E4C: Fallen Arena/Final Salvtion (Sui). The E4C franchise from Ambrus Studio will incorporate web3 gaming elements for both titles through a partnership with Mysten Labs.

• Gangster Arena (Base). Gangasters Arena will be incubated by Coinbase and receive gas sponsorship and prize money for their partnership and launch on Base.

• Maplestory Universe (Polygon → Avalanche). The web3 revival of Nexon’s cult classic MMORPG Maplestory is moving to Avalanche after parting ways with Polygon back in early February.

Other News

• The BGA will feature Cosmic Factions, DOGAMI, Lucidia Desert Warriors, and Stratosphere Games in this month’s BGA Demo Day.

• Night Crows will incorporate Chainlink’s CCIP through unagi(x)’s CCIP integration for WEMIX.

• Nouns Esports secured copy_yonagi, a top 100 ranked player in Europe and Nouns’ new mid for DOTA.

• Starknet launched the Starknet Gaming Committee, which will deploy 50M STRK (~$120M) to fund proposals related to game development on Starknet.

• Synergian shared additional information about the contents of its airdrop prior to announcing the official date.

• Thirdweb and Optimism created a $3M fund to support Superchain network builders.

Bonus Loot

• 📘 Key Takeaways from ETHDenver, BGA (Read)

• 📘 The Digital Future of Tabletop Games, a16z (Read)

• 🎧 Gamifying Collectibles w/ Milan Harris (Boxedgg), Zima Red (Listen)