Neon Machine, a Web3 game developer, raised $20 million in Series A funding to create Shrapnel, a highly anticipated extraction shooter similar to Call of Duty.
This round follows a seed round of $10.5 million that concluded in June of 2021. Polychain Capital led the round, with participation from Griffin Gaming Partners, Brevan Howard Digital, Franklin Templeton, IOSG Ventures, and Tess Ventures.
Neon Machine is promoting Shrapnel as a AAA game, a designation for video games with superior production values, budgets, and marketing.
Shrapnel is a first-person shooter with multiplayer components, according to gameplay footage on Neon Machine’s YouTube page and information on the game’s website.
The game, which has not yet entered pre-alpha testing, will reportedly feature “extraction” mechanics that require the player to flee with any loot they discover in-game to keep those items. Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard studio developed the famous free-to-play extraction shooter Call of Duty: Warzone.
Shrapnel’s reliance on Web3 and blockchain differentiates it from comparable AAA competition. In contrast to other games, such as The Division 2, where players can “extract” valuable objects to apply them to their characters and profiles, Shrapnel’s assets are linked to the blockchain.
According to the developer, this gives users complete ownership of the game’s assets.
Shrapnel will also include a set of modification tools that, in theory, could enable players or developers to add other blockchain assets for players to interact with. This could produce a compelling scenario for both seasonal competition and tournament play.
According to a press release from Neon Machine, paid subscribers will have access to the game in December for early access testing. After the initial evaluation period, the company plans to release the game as a free-to-play title “sometime” in 2024.Â
In addition to the development and release of Shrapnel, Neon Machine plans to license its Web3 developer’s API platform, GameBridge, after the release.
