The funding round will be used by Metatheory to make NFTs and a play-to-earn game that is expected to come out in late 2022.
Metatheory, a web3 gaming and entertainment company founded by Twitch Co-Founder Kevin Lin, has raised $24 million in a Series A funding round.
According to the announcement, the round was led by crypto capital venture firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from Pantera Capital, the venture arm of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, FTX Ventures, and other venture firms.
Metatheory was founded in November 2021, approximately one year after Lin left Twitch, where he stated in a Medium article at the time that he was developing the gaming company as well as a blockchain game called “DuskBreakers.” Lin was quoted as saying in this week’s announcement:
“Building immersive digital experiences has always been a passion of mine, and after stepping away from Twitch to explore what’s next in the industry, I truly believe blockchain will open the door to even more possibilities and have a major impact on the gaming, storytelling and community building space.”
DuskBreakers was released in December 2021, with art by Twitch’s former lead illustrator. For its first 10,000 non-fungible tokens, the Ethereum-based game used a “play-to-mint” model. Those seeking an NFT must first play an arcade-style game to validate their entry onto a whitelist.
The DuskBreakers team intends to release comics and animations to continue the storyline, and Metatheory is working on additional NFTs and content, including a play-to-earn game set to launch in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Lin is not the only co-founder of Twitch who is interested in gaming NFTs. Justin Kan, another Twitch co-founder, launched the Fractal NFT marketplace, which focuses on blockchain gaming tokens, in December 2021, claiming that “NFTs are the future of gaming.”
Blockchain gaming is gaining traction among traditional gaming titans, with Square Enix recently revealing in its earnings report that it will incorporate NFTs into more of its games in 2022.
The development of metaverse platforms was a key reason for Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of gaming behemoth Activision Blizzard, and Sega is looking to integrate cloud technology NFTs as part of its new “Super Game” project, which connects its various games.
