BlackPool Bulletin #1

This week : Future of France is bright, some sneak peeks of P&E games and alphas !

• The French Unicorn company Voodoo announced they will invest $200 millions in 2022 on studios that develop blockchain-based mobile video games.

“There are few occasions in life when we experience a technological breakthrough that transforms industries. Blockchain will especially disrupt gaming, as players are already used to buying digital assets. This technology will give players true ownership of their digital assets, creating deeper interactions between players - collecting, trading, selling in-game digital currencies and game assets - which will increase fun and engagement.” - Alex Yazdi - CEO at Voodoo

• A thread by Will Robinson about the difference in value proposition from web3 games compared to web2 ones.

“Bank your players: for various reasons gamers are often unbanked. Your game can have them come for the fun, but stay for the remittances and yields. The future's banks will have games for front-ends”

• The latest podcast of @Unchained_pod, where Gabby Dizon, cofounder of Yield Guild Games explained how YGG and Guilds are revolutionising the future of work and investment

• Peter Molyneux, the creator behind Fable games announced Legacy, a play-to-earn game business simulator in collaboration with Gala Games.

• Marc “Lemiscate” Zeller redacted an interesting thread about misconceptions in NFT-Gaming. A must read by the AaveGotchi sensei.

“Instead of buying "vBucks" or in-game currency, the players spend directly money to own a cosmetic, if they're tired of it, they can resell it and editor get their share.

Does any TF2 hat or CSgo knife hurt any player experience? it's not new, the tech is "new".

• If you are reading this today (December, 22nd), you're in luck if you’re interested in Guild Of Guardian. The collaboration between GoG x NRGgg is celebrated with an exclusive legendary hero sale, running for only 24h. Read more about it here.

• Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Animoca Brands are joining forces to create a play & earn game. Release expected in Q2 2022.

“NFTs have emerged as a store of culture. There are very few icons that are able to represent the surging world of NFTs as powerfully as Bored Ape Yacht Club, which is why we, as a group and in aggregate, hold a significant number of them. We are incredibly excited and proud to collaborate on a game for this cultural milestone.” - Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands.

• Bankless released a 101 vidéo on Web 3 Gaming with Amy Wu partner at Lightspeed. A dive in Play & Earn and Crypto Gaming in 1h30.

“In the future a great Web 3 game is going to need a great balance between people who are paying money and people who are skilled, otherwise they will not reach the scale or longevity of another game that actually has figured this out” - Amy Wu

• If you liked the previous video, you will like this thread by Amy Wu on how NFTs in Gaming are not that easily accepted by gamers when it comes from traditional Web 2 companies as Ubisoft and the Quartz initiative.

“Phase 2 of web3 gaming will be defined by great games with embedded blockchain tech designed to enhance the player experience. They may be born from an established game publisher, or an indie studio. From the gaming establishment or not.”

• Dru Riley released his last Trends.vc report on Play & Earn with some mention of your favourite Black & White NFT hedge fund in it...

• Forgotten Runes revealed a first sneak peek of their Create-To-Earn Game. A pixel looking game in partnership with Bisonix.

• Big Time just announced their first sale of Space, and some are still available on the primary market. Another alpha for those who missed it. If you haven't done so already, check out our partnership with them here.

That’s all Folks ! Have a great week and see you tomorrow on Twitch for a football special !