Animoka Brands Leads $7M Funding Round for Param Labs
Gaming infrastructure developer Param Labs has raised $7 million in a “heavily oversubscribed” investment round.
Modular Game Ecosystem's $7 million round was led by crypto venture capital (VC) Animoka Brands, with investment firms Delphi Ventures, Cypher Capital, P2 Ventures (formerly Polygon Ventures), Mechanism Capital, Merit Circle, TRGC Capital, Double Peak Group, and MH Ventures.
The funding will be used to address one of the most pressing weaknesses of Web3 games – the lack of infrastructure. According to Anthony Anderson, CEO of Param Labs and Kiraverse, modular game ecosystems like Param will be critical to laying the foundation for the next generation of Web3 games.
Anderson told Cointelegraph:
“Unlike most Web3 studios developing single game titles, Modular Ecosystems offers a variety of products and components. This allows developers to build their own games from these modules and provides essential tools for other developers to use and integrate into their projects.
The funding precedes significant growth for Param's gaming platform, which has more than 300,000 daily active users. The Protocol X page also surpassed the 2.5 million follower mark before the investment round.
Yat Siu, founder of Animoka Labs, and Banks, founder of FaceClan, have also made strategic investments in the protocol. According to Yat Sue, Param Labs will help realize the vision of a truly open metaverse. Siu wrote:
“We are excited to partner with Param Labs to advance digital property rights in gaming, bringing us one step closer to realizing the vision of a truly open Metaverse. This collaboration aligns with our shared vision to redefine the gaming landscape, ensuring players are the true owners of their digital assets.”
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Web3 gaming requires infrastructure for mainstream adoption
The lack of Web3 gaming infrastructure makes blockchain integration difficult for developers, which is a major challenge for mainstream adoption, Anderson said.
“[We’re] Focusing on infrastructure is critical not only to solving the challenges in the games we develop, but because it has the potential to be applied to hundreds, if not thousands, of other experiences. This will greatly contribute to the adoption of blockchain games.
The lack of blockchain game infrastructure became more apparent this week after Wanderers game founder Nick Greenwalt shared a game preview on May 15th on XPost, which he ironically called “the future of gaming.”
The video shows gameplay pausing every few seconds as the MetaMask wallet boots up to record each shot on the chain. While the video is known as a satirical article rather than a real preview, it does show the importance of a seamless gaming infrastructure.
This is the future of gaming – every shot is on the chain pic.twitter.com/eFavYC0t4D
— Nick Greenawalt (@motionbynick) May 15, 2024
According to Param Labs' Anderson, to achieve true mainstream adoption, Web3 games must incorporate crypto assets and Web3 technology without any disruptive conflict points.
“Players should be able to interact with their friends, such as trading assets and unknowingly on-chain assets while monetizing their in-game hours.”
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