Ubisoft and Take-Two Back Ethereum NFT Game Maker Horizon

Techspace - To this day, NFT and the discussion about Web3 is still a topic that sparks debate among game developers. But that doesn't prevent game developers like Ubisoft or Take-Two Interactive from showing interest in the Web3 gaming realm. Most recently, the game developers were involved in a $40 million Series A funding for a Web3 game studio called Horizon.

What is Horizon?

Horizon is the developer behind an NFT-based digital trading card game called Skyweaver. For those familiar with games like Hearthstone or Legends of Runeterra, it certainly won't take long to understand the gameplay that Skyweaver offers. What is different here, of course, is the utilization of the Ethereum blockchain; in this context, the cards that are present as NFT assets can be traded between players.

Having been busy developing and testing Skyweaver since 2018, Horizon finally launched the open beta version of Skyweaver last February. However, Skyweaver is not the only product made by Horizon that has managed to attract the attention of investors, including Ubisoft and Take-Two Interactive. Horizon also has something called Sequence, an Ethereum-based development platform that other Web3 game developers can use.

In a blog post published yesterday, Horizon said it would use the $40 million to advance Skyweaver and Sequence. It will soon provide Niftyswap, a decentralized market specializing in ERC-1155 NFTs (also known as semi-fungible tokens, or SFTs) for Polygon and Ethereum used for gaming and collectibles.

The Investment of Ubisoft and Take-Two Interactive

Picture: archive.esportsobserver.com

Ubisoft and Take-Two Interactive were among those who took part in the investment round organized by Morgan Creek Digital and Brevan Howard Digital. Polygon, the gaming-focused venture capital firm Bitkraft, the metaverse investor Everyrealm, the payments company Xsolla, and Initialized Capital are among the other backers.

Along with notable institutional investors, the round attracted several prominent individual investors, including Tobias Lütke, CEO of Shopify, Alex Adelman, co-founder and CEO of Lolli, and Sebastien Borget and Aleksander Larsen, co-founders of two well-known NFT games, The Sandbox, and Axie Infinity, respectively.

Two of the biggest video game publishers are Ubisoft and Take-Two Interactive. Massive franchises like Assassin's Creed, Just Dance, and Far Cry were created by Ubisoft, while Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, and NBA 2K were produced by Take-well-known Two's Rockstar Games and 2K Games brands.

Both have previously entered the Web3 market. Since years ago, Ubisoft has been experimenting with NFTs and blockchain technology. More recently, the company ramped up its efforts by announcing the December 2021 release of in-game NFTs based on Tezos for the PC title Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Numerous more Web3 firms have received funding and support from the company.

Before investing in Horizon, both of them had already launched their respective maneuvers in the realm of Web3. Towards the end of last year, Ubisoft launched an NFT platform called Quartz, although later, they admitted that the NFT initiative was only a trial and error. On the other hand, Take-Two revealed its plans to acquire Zynga last January, and Zynga itself has recently been reportedly busy developing its first NFT game.

Many players have opposed NFTs, claiming fraud, rife speculation, and the leading platform Ethereum's now-diminished environmental impact. However, due to the potential advantages for both players and producers, many in the Web3 area, from developers to marketplace architects, think that NFTs will eventually take off in the video game industry.

Those of you who like to play Ubisoft and Take-Two Interactive games, what do you think of this decision by the two developers to invest in Horizon? Leave your thoughts and comments down below.