AAA Game Shrapnel Successfully Raises $20M in Funding
The race to develop the first high-quality AAA blockchain game capable of competing with popular titles on platforms like PlayStation and Xbox has intensified recently, with several promising contenders vying for the lead.
One standout competitor in this space is "Shrapnel." Developed by Neon Machine, the company secured $20 million in Series A funding led by Polychain Capital.
About Neon Machine
Neon Machine, a game studio based in Seattle and the creative force behind the upcoming first-person shooter game Shrapnel, has successfully raised $20M in Series A funding.
Polychain Capital led this funding round, with participation from Griffin Gaming Partners, Brevan Howard Digital, Franklin Templeton, IOSG Ventures, and Tess Ventures.
These funds are earmarked for the pivotal development phase of Shrapnel, as the game gears up for an early-access release in December, followed by a full launch in 2024. The Shrapnel team currently comprises over 70 employees.
Mark Long, CEO of the project, expressed their vision: “We aim to break the mold of traditional game development and design a blockbuster shooter where players truly own and create in-game assets.”
About Shrapnel
Shrapnel is a sci-fi extraction shooter game where significant in-game content such as weapon parts, weapons, and cosmetics will be offered as NFTs on the Avalanche network.
It is a free-to-play multiplayer game with plans for both solo and group gameplay. Shrapnel places substantial emphasis on user-generated content (UGC) potential, aiming to empower gamers to create their own in-game items using Shrapnel’s technology, which can then be minted as NFTs.
Josh Rosenthal, Partner at Polychain Capital, commented: “It's exciting to see the Shrapnel team push forward gameplay while transcending boundaries in player experience and ownership through blockchain technology.”
Jocy Lin, Founding Partner at IOSG Ventures, added: “As a crypto-native fund, we're excited about Shrapnel’s potential to leverage blockchain in redefining traditional extraction gameplay.”
Neon Machine initially started as part of HBO Interactive and subsequently became independent, securing $10.5 million in initial funding in 2021. They ventured into comic book releases and launched a PFP NFT collection last year. With the successful Series A funding, Shrapnel has now raised a total of $37.5 million across seed rounds, Series A, and private sales.
