Since the success of blockchain-based gaming platform, Axie Infinity, we are seeing more funding from venture capital organizations going into the blockchain gaming space. The latest gaming company to catch the eyes of VCs is a Swedish gaming startup named GOALS which announced a $15 million seed funding round led by venture capital firm, Northzone.
GOALS is developing an online multiplayer game that has a play-to-own mechanism for in-game assets such as players, clubs, and skins. These assets will be stored on a blockchain network as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The founder, Andreas Thorstensson, who was previously the founder of e-sports organization SK Gaming and partner at EQT Ventures stated, “With FIFA you only own the skins for a limited period of time. You can’t control them, you can’t sell them and you don’t have transparency. Blockchain is the perfect solution to this.”
What you should know
- Being free-to-play, the game will rely on taking a cut on every NFT marketplace sale alongside monetizing via add-ons that don’t hinge on a user volunteering to sell their assets.
- The company was founded in May 2021 and has spent the last four months exploring which blockchain network to build on. Proof-of-stake networks like Polygon, Starkware and Solana are currently at the top of the food chain.
- Every user of GOALS will own fifteen players, each of which are minted as NFTs and stored. Depending on user count, this could amount to a large number of NFTs, and Thorstensson said that it’s important that the supporting network is not only cost-efficient but also a low-emission network.
- This potentially knocks out the possibility of the platform building on the Ethereum network due to its high gas fees and network congestion.
- However, He also said he isn’t put off from exploring developing a sidechain of Ethereum such as Ronin, the blockchain underpinning Axie Infinity. Last week, Ronin was hit by a $625 million exploit that targeted the Ronin bridge, which connects Ethereum to the sidechain.
- On developing a sidechain/bridge, he stated, “First of all, bridges are a security risk,” noting that the hack will likely facilitate increased focus on securing bridges. He further added, “From a security standpoint, we just need to make sure that the chain is very decentralized and that there are enough nodes and validators [to ensure majority control].”
Thorstensson said he’s aiming to capture a non-crypto native audience. That’s why he passed on working with specialist crypto funds that he says “make a better fit for companies that go deeper into tokens” in favor of generalist equity-based funds with a strong web3 element. With the new financing, the company stated that it will use it to recruit another 30 game developers, coinciding with a form of public release by the end of 2022.