Studio Proof of Play Successfully Raises $33 Million to Develop Blockchain Game
Proof of Play, founded by a co-creator of Zynga's FarmVille, has announced a successful fundraising round of $33 million for their blockchain game Pirate Nation, led by Andreessen Horowitz and Greenoaks Capital.
Amitt Mahajan stated that they will utilize the funds to expand their technological capabilities, aiming to sustain indefinitely games built entirely on the blockchain.
Emmett Shear, co-founder and former CEO of Twitch, has joined Proof of Play's board. Other participants in the $33 million seed round include AngelList co-founder and former CEO Naval Ravikant, and former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasian.
Mahajan highlighted that witnessing Zynga's development of FarmVille in 2020 inspired him to explore using blockchain technology to create and deploy "forever games". Reflecting on FarmVille's demise, Mahajan remarked, "Over a billion hours played, creativity, and investment lost. Realizing this, I felt compelled to find a better way to make games timeless."
Regarding Pirate Nation, initially deployed on Polygon, Proof of Play shifted to Arbitrum Nova for lower network fees. Despite running on blockchain, players can customize and expand their own game content at will.
In addition to fundraising news, Proof of Play announced on Thursday that they are beginning to offer free access to the game, allowing players to create a character without needing to own an NFT. However, NFT owners receive enhanced benefits. The free-to-play version aims to offer a more inclusive gaming experience suitable for a broader audience.
Proof of Play plans to open-source their technology to enable other creators to develop their own blockchain games and applications using similar tools.
"We are thrilled to support Proof of Play as they build a future for online gaming that combines interoperability, interactive capabilities, and longevity at the core of games, allowing players to truly own their assets and anyone to create new games based on another," said Chris Dixon of Andreessen Horowitz in a press statement.
