Quick take:
- The Dragonfly-backed company is developing a community infrastructure for web3 games.
- Shrapnel boasts of being the world’s first-person shooter game powered by blockchain technology.
- It joins a growing list of web3 games on Ancient8’s launchpad.
Ancient8 has announced a partnership with the AAA first-person shooter game, Shrapnel. Shrapnel is the first multiplayer FPS that allows players to create, own and trade in-game assets.
The game is developed by a team of engineers and designers from leading web2 and video game companies including Xbox, HBO, and Electronic Arts.
Neon, the studio behind SHrapnel is also backed by a strong contingent of web3 venture capital firms including Griffin Gaming Partners, Polychain Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Sfermion, Mechanism Capital, Merit Circle, and Spartan, among others.
Ancient8 is a web3 games marketing and product launchpad building a community infrastructure for the global adoption of blockchain gaming.
The company is backed by some of the leading web3 venture capital firms including Pantera, Dragonfly, Hashed, Makers Fund, C² Ventures, Mechanism, Coinbase, IOSG, and Animoca Brands, among others.
Ancient8 is also Vietnam’s largest blockchain gaming guild, giving it access to one of the rapidly growing web3 gaming communities in Southeast Asia.
Web3 is a blockchain-based internet that prioritises decentralisation, trustless communications and community-based ownership. Online games built on web3 enable users to create and own in-game assets including NFTs— cryptographic files representing proof of ownership of an in-game character/avatar, skins and weapons.
Announcing the partnership on its blog, Ancient8 said: “Shrapnel will be deployed on a custom-built Avalanche subnet which offers zero latency, EVM compatibility, and in-game assets trading.” The game is built on the latest edition of the real-time 3D creation tool for photoreal visuals and immersive experiences Unreal Engine 5.
Shrapnel draws inspiration from multi-player first-person shooter game “Escape from Tarkov” and the “Dark Zone” mode from Tom Clancy’s The Division, an online role-playing game published by Ubisoft. The game has received rave reviews after releasing its first trailer.
“Not only can players use on-chain guns and gear to customise their play experience, but vanity items and cosmetics can be created, minted, and used in-game using Shrapnel’s UGC tools. In this way, Shrapnel offers a diverse range of experiences targeting various player types: players, creators, and curators,” Ancient8 wrote.
The partnership also comes hot on the heels of the latest blockchain games report by DappRadar, which showed VCs continue to back web3 games with $534 million raised in October and November.
According to the report, blockchain games saw a decline of just 12% in daily unique active wallets amid the FTX saga.
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