In brief
Solana Ventures, Forte, and Griffin Gaming Partners have established a $150 million investment fund for games being built on Solana.
Last month, Solana Ventures teamed with FTX and Lightspeed on a separate $100 million Web3 gaming co-investment fund.
With crypto game Axie Infinity now the top-grossing NFT project overall in terms of trading volume, major publishers and indie upstarts alike are turning their attention to how blockchain networks can transform gaming experiences. And Solana Ventures aims to make Solana a key destination for those builders with a sizable investment fund.
Today, Solana Ventures announced an alliance with Forte and Griffin Gaming Partners to collectively invest $150 million towards Web3 games built on Solana.
This isn’t even the first significant gaming investment fund announced by Solana Ventures recently. In early November, the firm announced a $100 million co-investment fund alongside crypto exchange FTX and VC firm Lightspeed Venture Partners focused on crypto games. Its first co-investment was in startup game developer, Faraway.
Along with Faraway’s web-based first-person shooter, Mini Royale: Nations, the Solana blockchain will play host to an array of upcoming crypto games, including sci-fi simulation Star Atlas and play-to-earn fantasy game, Aurory.
Forte is a blockchain development platform for crypto games, and it’s interoperable with any layer-1 blockchain, such as Solana or Ethereum. Griffin Gaming Partners, meanwhile, is a gaming-centric VC firm that has invested more than $400 million in gaming companies to date. Both Solana Ventures and Griffin took part in Forte’s recent $725 million Series B funding round.
As mentioned, the Ethereum-based Axie Infinity is now the largest overall NFT project by total trading volume, with more than $3.6 billion in secondary trading volume, per CryptoSlam.
In that play-to-earn game, players must own cartoon monsters that are sold in the form of NFTs, but then can crypto token rewards. An NFT acts like a receipt for a unique digital item, and NFT collectibles can be resold and potentially even used in other games and experiences.
Ubisoft recently launched in-game NFTs, making it the first major traditional game publisher to do so, while Electronic Arts and Square Enix have signaled interest in the space. More and more NFT profile picture projects are building crypto games as longer-term initiatives, such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club and the aforementioned Aurory.
Source: https://decrypt.co/88309/solana-ventures-launches-150-million-fund-crypto-games
