It’s not all about the money, but despite that, the news Swedish developer Goals has added $20 million in a Series A funding round to its previously announced $19 million seed round certainly positions the project as one of blockchain gaming’s ones-to-watch.
Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six led the round, with participation from existing investors Northzone and family office Cassius plus Moonfire and angels such as Peter Sellis (Discord), Wayne Mackey (Statespace), Riqui Puig (LA Galaxy) and Clement Langlet (Tottenham Hotspur).
The team is currently 50 people strong and with this funding expects to hit 75 as it moves from pre-alpha towards its formal launch.
As for the game itself, it sits in the context of “X-on-blockchain”, with X being FIFA, albeit Goals is not a simulation-style game with official licenses and real-life players.
Given EA’s soccer game is itself going through an existential identity crisis as it loses the FIFA branding, becoming plain old EA Sports FC — so catchy! — this could be a good opportunity to release a new multiplayer-first experience for PC/console, which mixes the generation of unique players with management skills and direct control modes plus ownership of in-game assets.
Nevertheless, competing with a 30-year behemoth that’s generated billions of dollars of revenue and has unparalleled market dominance is never easy.
Yet Goals’ backstory with CEO Andreas Thorstensson’s previous career as a pro-CS:GO player and founder of the SK Gaming esports team does provide a lens into a process that could arrive at something significantly different — something he labels “FIFA for the Fortnite generation”.
It’s also worth noting that in the funding press release there’s no mention of blockchain, web3 or even digital assets. The website itself is very light on such details too — merely discussing that assets belong to players and that they can be traded in a marketplace.
No doubt that’s part of the current PR positioning in terms of getting the most press coverage as possible in these early stages.
And I guess there is an interesting wider discussion to be held in terms of whether blockchain helps or hinders the potential success of such disruptive products.
But in terms of getting Thorstenssson’s opinion, it looks like that’s something for another day.
This Substack is sponsored by Hiro Capital: Investing in the future of games
Calendar
Meta World: My City launch — 19th April
ArcheWorld North America server launch - 19th April
Cyberbrokers’ Mech mint — 19th April
Wildcard genesis NFT mint — 20th April
Launch of Mocaverse event in Arc8 — 20th April
Funding news
Krafton and Naver Z have announced they are investing $37 million (KRW 48 billion) into Migaloo. Previously this was Krafton’s metaverse project, but now it will become a joint venture based in North America.
First announced in 2022, Migaloo — a working title — is a “create-to-earn” project that will combine Krafton’s game expertise with Naver Z’s experience with the metaverse, social networks and IP partnerships.
Henry Hyung-chul Park, Krafton's Migaloo project head confirmed the core service and metaverse model has already been developed with the service is expected to launch during 2023.
From TikTok to Immutable
Anime webtoon Kaidro, which has generated 1 million TikTok followers is becoming a web3 game. Launching on Immutable, the game will build on the existing characters and lore with a story-based RPG shooter.
A key part of the experience will be the game’s clans such as mech, pilots or spirit guardians, which provide access to specific narrative and in-game items. In addition, the top clan in each season will receive rewards, including the in-game token KDR.
Homeland Is Back news
Sky Mavis has launched Season 2 for its Axie resource game Homeland, which is currently in Alpha testing. Homeland requires players to own Axie Infinity land NFTs. Season 2 will last for 30 days but all building progress will remain until the end of the alpha test.
New features include a task management dashboard and smart equip system. Competitive play is encouraged thanks to the leaderboard, with positions during the 30 day period rewarded with AXS tokens.
Read the full details here.
Merit Circle x Avalanche news
Blockchain gaming guild turned investor and developer Merit Circle has announced it’s building its own Avalanche subnet. Called Beam, it will be used to run Merit Circle’s products as well as a number of thirdparty games.
Beam’s development arose from Merit Circle’s work on its NFT marketplace Sphere, which was put on hold following market conditions in late 2022. It will use Merit Circle’s MC token for gas, and projects that have announced they will be using it include Trial Xtreme, Walker World and Hash Rush as well as Merit Circle’s Sphere and Edenhorde Eclipse.
Have you installed crypto security layer Stelo for Metamask yet?