Many crypto enthusiasts have tried and failed to combine the multi-billion dollar video game industry with NFTs and blockchain technology. Of 2,817 web3 games launched between 2019 and 2023, 75.5% of them failed, according to a CoinGecko report. For one reason or another, the two sectors have struggled to come together, but that doesn’t mean investors have stopped looking for potential synergy.
Pantera Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and NFX are the latest to attempt to hack blockchain gaming by taking a chance on Azra Games, a Sacramento-based video game developer. Founded in 2022, Azra announced it raised $42 million in a Series A funding round led by Pantera, bringing the total raised to $68.3 million.
CEO and Founder Mark Otero is a veteran game designer, best known for Star Wars: Galaxy of HeroesElectronic Arts’ highest-grossing game. Otero was also CEO and founder of a former video game company called KlickNation, which was acquired by Electronic Arts in 2011.
Otero plans to defy the odds by developing a sustainable, immersive role-playing game, a type of video game in which players take on the role of a character in the game’s fictional world, before integrating new technologies like NFTs and blockchain.
“Our approach since the founding of the company has always been: First, make a great game, a great RPG, that people love and want to share with their family and friends,” Otero said. “Once you establish that, you can integrate additional technologies, including Web3, to amplify the player experience.”
Otero also sees his vision as different from others in the industry as he strives to be part of a new generation of role-playing games. These games are usually played on PCs or gaming consoles due to their need for high computing power. Otero claims that the “4th generation” of RPGs will be played on mobile devices due to their advanced computing power. He said Fortune it will use the $42 million to develop a “world-class major game” that will be available on the App Store, the first of which is codenamed Project Legends.
“Project Legends will really have the type of visual fidelity you expect from a previous generation of PC and console games on a mobile format,” Otero said. “And because we’re moving to mobile first, we can now take the game and port it to PC and console with very little work.”
It will use some of the money to scout for new talent and build its global team. He also plans to further develop their Intellectual Property Center, a department of Azra Games, which supports the company’s intellectual property and helps generate new ideas quickly.
“The Azra Games team has the incredible opportunity and vision to launch the 4th generation of mobile RPG games that combine the creativity of new gaming formats and experiences with the digital ownership of blockchain,” said Arianna Simpson, general partner at a16z crypto in a statement.
