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Immutable, a blockchain game publisher, has teamed up with King River Capital and Polygon Labs to create a $100 million gaming fund.
Immutable Launches $100 Million 'Inevitable Games Fund' in Collaboration with King River Capital and Polygon Labs
Immutable, a blockchain game publisher, has launched a $100 million fund called the "Inevitable Games Fund" — IGF for short.
According to a statement shared with Cointelegraph, venture capital firms King River Capital and Polygon Labs also helped launch the "ecosystem-agnostic fund."
King River will lead the investment process, with Immutable and Polygon serving as advisors.
The fund's first close raised $30 million, with contributions from Alpha Wave Ventures, Merit Circle, TechCrunch co-founder Michael Arrington, former Algorand CEO Steve Kokinos, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, and Immutable founders James and Robbie Ferguson.
The IGF began with investments in seven blockchain game titles developed by ImmutableX or Polygon, including the Pokémon-inspired Pixelmon, the fantasy role-playing Guild of Guardians, and the shooter games Metalcore and My Pet Hooligan.
Pixelmon initially raised $70 million, and its subsequent February 2022 art reveal was so poorly received that many accused the project of being a ruse.
It has since attempted to come back, replacing its artwork and leadership team in 2022. Last month, it received a $8 million seed round from investors, including Animoca Brands and Immutable founder Robbie Ferguson.
Web3 Gaming: Navigating Funding Shifts and Emerging Trends in the Metaverse
According to King River co-founder Zeb Rice, video games are "ripe for a huge technology shift," such a shift "has only just begun to Web3 technology," from which the fund will benefit.
A January DappRadar gaming report stated that Web3 games and metaverse projects received $2.9 billion in investments across 163 deals last year, a 62% and 19% decrease from 2022, respectively.
The 2023 funding slump did not impact gamers, as blockchain games had the highest UAW in the decentralized application (DApp) space in 2023.
According to a DappRadar report from March 14, Polygon was the top blockchain for gaming last month, with an average of over 400,000 daily unique active wallets (UAW). DappRadar said Polygon was the third largest gaming blockchain in 2023, with 1 million unique active wallets. It was "bolstered by strategic partnerships," including one with Immutable.
Photo: Microsoft Bing
