Gunzilla Games Raises $46M Focus on NFT Battle Royale Genre
Gunzilla Games, an AAA game studio, announced today that they have raised a total of $46 million in their latest investment round.
This new funding round will enable the studio to build their new platform named GunZ, empowering players by granting them full ownership rights over assets within their games.
GunZ and Off The Grid (OTG)
GunZ will serve as the foundation for "Off The Grid" (OTG). A standout feature of OTG is its "in-game item trading," the first game where players can acquire new in-game items from other players who have collected them in-game or purchased them from each other. Transactions will be processed through a blockchain-based marketplace or any third-party marketplace that supports NFT technology.
Republic Capital led this investment round. Other key 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, who will also support the project's technical infrastructure. Noteworthy angel investors and advisors include Justin Kan, co-founder of Twitch.
Gunzilla assures gamers that they will never directly sell NFTs to their player community, nor conceal monetization processes or any game features behind paywalls; trading is entirely optional. Gunzilla believes the GunZ platform has the potential to completely transform the core gaming experience for players, and those uninterested in trading can enjoy the entire game for free without any restrictions.
Vlad Korolev is leveraging blockchain technology to make this vision a reality. "With OTG and GunZ, we are creating a universe that will set a new standard for the industry," he said.
Players will also be able to withdraw their items from the game. As OTG's world continues to expand, gamers will discover new items each time they play. In-game items that players can trade will include uniquely crafted characters, custom weapons, clothing items, and accessories.
This investment round follows the recent teaser-trailer release of Gunzilla's new game OTG, a third-person AAA Battle Royale 2.0 game directed by studio Chief Visionary Officer Neill Blomkamp, an Oscar-nominated director. The free-to-play (F2P) game OTG focuses heavily on narrative storytelling with unique gameplay mechanics and is slated for release on next-generation platforms in 2023.
Brian Johnson, Senior Director at Republic Capital, remarked, "The Gunzilla team stands out with industry veterans who have contributed to games many of us grew up playing. We believe in free-to-play as paramount, and by combining it with an optional Crypto component, Gunzilla is leading the charge, merging Crypto with the gaming world. There's no doubt that the future of Crypto gaming needs next-generation dashboards, and we believe Gunzilla will enable this seamlessly."
About Gunzilla
Founded in 2020, Gunzilla Games is a new AAA developer working on its next-generation multiplayer shooter game at: Frankfurt, Germany (HQ); Los Angeles, USA; and Kyiv, Ukraine. The company is led by CEO Vlad Korolev and CSO Alexander Zoll. Gunzilla is built on a mission to innovate and push the boundaries of the industry.
Gunzilla's formidable talent pool comes from leading film studios and publishers including Ubisoft, Electronic Arts (EA), THQ, among others. Oscar-nominated writer, director, and producer Neill Blomkamp joins Gunzilla as Chief Visionary Officer. The team also includes industry veterans such as Richard K. Morgan, author of the award-winning Altered Carbon series adapted into a Netflix show, and Gunzilla's CTO Timur Davidenko, who led development of CryEngine and worked on titles like Far Cry, Warface, and Crysis. Art Director Jussi Keteli contributed to iconic titles like Gears of War, Star Citizen, and Hunt: Showdown.
