Gunzilla Games, a developer of AAA video games with headquarters in Frankfurt, has raised $46M. Republic Capital took the lead in the transaction. Other participants include Griffin Gaming Partners, Animoca Brands, Jump Crypto, Raptor Group, CoinFund, Shima Capital, Dominance Ventures, GSR, Kucoin Labs, Spartan Investment Group, AlphaCrypto Capital, Blizzard, Digital Strategies, Morningstar Ventures, Gamegroove Capital, NGG, and Huobi Group. One notable angel investor and advisor is Twitch co-founder Justin Kan.
Fund usage
With the help of the new fund, the company will construct GunZ, a platform that will let users purchase items in-game. Two months ago, “Off The Grid” (OTG), a brand-new AAA Battle Royale 2.0 third-person shooter set in a dystopian cyberpunk future, was revealed.
This funding round comes in the wake of the recently released teaser-trailer for Gunzilla‘s upcoming AAA Battle Royale 2.0 third-person shooter, OTG, which is being overseen by Oscar nominee and Chief Visionary Officer Neill Blomkamp. OTG is a free-to-play (F2P) game with distinct gameplay mechanics and a strong narrative focus that will launch on next-generation platforms in 2023.
Vlad Korolev and Alexander Zoll founded the independent AAA studio in 2020. It is currently based in Frankfurt, Los Angeles, and Kyiv, where it is developing a next-generation multiplayer shooter IP. The company states that the trading will take place on a private blockchain-based marketplace or any external market that accepts NFT.
Selling NFTs?
Gamers can rest assured that Gunzilla will never sell NFTs to their player base directly, nor will they monetize any game features or progress, and trading is completely optional, the company said in a statement.
Vlad Korolev, CEO and co-founder of Gunzilla, said: “We are striving to provide players with complete freedom in every detail of OTG and each step of its gameplay. In OTG, besides the core gameplay, players can own and trade their in-game items with other players. As well as assure players that their hard-earned items remain theirs to keep, no matter what. In today’s free-to-play games, it isn’t yours if you pay for something. You do not, and cannot, own anything. Anyone can read the EULA of any game to verify this.”
Brian Johnson, senior director of Republic Capital added: “Free-to-play reigns supreme and that by combining it with an optional crypto component, Gunzilla will lead by example, marrying the crypto and gaming worlds. There’s no doubt that the future of crypto gaming needs to involve next-gen consoles, and we believe Gunzilla will allow this to happen easily.”
Additionally, players will be able to remove their items from the game. Every time they play, players will find new items as the OTG universe expands. The unique characters that players create themselves, as well as personalised weapons, outfits, and accessories, will all be in-game items that players can trade.
