The Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA) announced on March 30 the appointment of Sébastien Borget as President, while further adding that companies like Ubisoft, AMD, Animoca Brands, and MakerDAO have returned as sponsors for 2020. According to the announcement, the BGA — a coalition of 90 game and blockchain companies advocating for blockchain technology within the gaming industry — will seek to strengthen blockchain adoption to expand player capabilities without any barriers. Founded in 2019, the Alliance also hopes to represent blockchain gaming and major game industry events with the sponsorship of the returning leading technology companies. Strengthening blockchain adoption within …

Iconic entertainment firm Atari is partnering with The Sandbox (TSB) on the upcoming voxel-based blockchain version of its popular user-generated content and gaming platform. In an announcement on March 27, blockchain startup Animoca Brands — parent company of TSB Gaming — revealed that the collaboration will involve creating 3D voxel versions of popular Atari game properties. These include Asteroids, Centipede, Pong and RollerCoaster Tycoon. Scarce gaming real estate In its blockchain iteration, based on Ethereum, The Sandbox will offer users three new features shaped by the technology: a tool for building non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and in-game voxel assets, a marketplace …

One organization in Japan is finding new ways to explain regulations covering illegal activities in the blockchain gaming community. The Blockchain Contents Association (BCA) announced on March 24 that they had written new guidelines to deal with laws related to gambling and online scams. A Japanese self-regulatory organization established in February 2020, the BCA intends to promote customer protection for any blockchain-based content, including gaming and social media. Avoiding violating Japanese law on the blockchain Though many cities in Japan have explored establishing casinos, under local law gambling online and in person is still illegal in most situations. The Tokyo-based …

Amid the increasing adoption of blockchain technology in the gaming industry, some of the world’s biggest game developers like South Korean Netmarble are partnering with blockchain gaming startup Forte Labs to streamline blockchain-powered game experiences. Forte, a known partner of major cryptocurrency firm Ripple, has just tapped five new high-profile gaming companies in line with its mission to provide best-in-class gaming experiences based on blockchain technology. All five new partners will integrate Forte’s blockchain platform into their games According to a March 24 blog post, Forte’s new game developers include United States-based Hi-Rez Studios and nWay, Canadian social games provider …

After recently announcing a third presale of their coveted game’s virtual spaces, The Sandbox (TSB) revealed they have a number of big-name backers. According to a March 20 press release by Animoca Brands, parent company of TSB Gaming, the third quarter of 2019 had been a particularly successful one for the game. Between July 9 and Sept. 19, TSG raised $2.01 million consisting of 83% cash and 17% in digital assets, namely SAND tokens and simple agreement for future equity notes. Investors included Square Enix, B Cryptos, Mindfulness Capital, and True Global Ventures. Sebastien Borget, COO of Pixowl and of …

Legendary video game company the Atari Group will conduct an initial coin offering aimed at launching a cryptocurrency casino. Atari was founded in 1972 in Sunnyvale, California, though ownership has changed hands several times since then. The company currently belongs to Atari Interactive, a subsidiary of the French publisher, Atari, SA. Its stock is listed on NYSE Euronext Paris with a current market cap of just under $50 million. And now the company’s entering crypto. According to the company’s March 10th press release: “In 2018, the Group had granted an Atari brand license to Infinity Networks, Ltd (“INL”), to develop …

Ethereum users will soon be able to take advantage of another blockchain-based game with nonfungible token technology. The Sandbox (TSB), a mobile creation game with more than 40 million downloads, announced on March 12 they would be holding a third presale of the game’s virtual spaces — called LAND — starting on March 31st at 1:00 PM GMT. TSB has quickly become one of the most coveted blockchain games on the market. The first presale of the game was in Dec. 2019, which sold more than 3000 pieces of LAND in four hours. TSB announced the second presale on Feb. …

Blockchain-based fantasy soccer game Sorare has signed a licensing agreement with Italian Serie A football team S.S. Lazio. According to an announcement on March 17, the partnership will see official Lazio collectibles launched on the Ethereum blockchain. Unique Sorore cards have sold for more than $1,000 Sorare creates limited edition tokenized representations of soccer stars on the Ethereum blockchain. Cards can be traded on secondary markets or used in Sorare’s game. In the game, fantasy football managers compose teams of five player cards to compete for rewards. Sorore’s managers are ranked based on the performance of their chosen players, and …

MakerDAO, the organization behind the Dai (DAI) stablecoin, is making a bid for Dai to serve as a “real parameter” of dollar-pegged value for video game economies. As blockchain and crypto gain increasing traction with the gaming industry, MakerDAO argues nonetheless that “soft currencies” for in-game economies “don’t always feel authentic.” In a March 11 blog post, the organization wrote: “Like flight miles or credit card points, a soft currency’s unit of account isn’t always relative to the value of an actual currency. With Dai, players know exactly how much their game skills are worth.” An appeal to developers Proposing …

The creator of the popular Facebook game FarmVille, Eric Schiermeye, has transitioned to the blockchain gaming industry. Blockchain Game Partners, for which Schiermeyer is the founder and CEO, has announced that it is developing a blockchain-based gaming platform dubbed the Gala Network. The platform seeks to cater to the innovation of developers, and will afford players full ownership over blockchain-based in-game items represented as non-fungible tokens. The items will be usable across multiple games built on the Gala Network. Fifteen developers are currently working to build Gala. Blockchain to revolutionize gaming experiences Speaking to Venturebeat, Schiermeyer predicts that blockchain-based gaming …

On March 7, Horizon Blockchain Games announced it has raised $5 million a fundraising round led by Initialized Capital — the investment firm co-founded by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. The raise comes ahead of the release for Horizon’s blockchain-based card game SkyWeaver. In the blog post, Horizon Blockchain Games co-founder Peter Kieltyka stated that the funds will be used to deliver SkyWeaver — the company’s first game — to market. The raise included contributions from new investors ConsenSys, Regah Ventures and CMT Digital, in addition to existing partners Polychain, Digital Currency Group and Polychain. Kieltyka added that Horizon currently has …

Companies designing digital trading cards and online games are continuing to show their ability to rake in the big bucks in the blockchain world. According to TechCrunch, Horizon Blockchain Games raised $5 million in capital for their game SkyWeaver. The principal investors included Initialized Capital, with additional funds from Regah Ventures, ConsenSys, Digital Currency Group, Polychain Capital, Golden Ventures, and CMT Digital. This investment is an extension of a 2019 seed funding round, in which Horizon raised $3.75 million. SkyWeaver is a “free-to-play trading card game that unifies the best aspects of digital and physical collectible card games” built on …