XP Foundry, a web3 game development studio, has announced that it is migrating on-chain assets of its free-to-play (F2P) mobile game Rooniverse to ImmutableX – the dedicated platform for building and scaling web3 games from leading web3 gaming company Immutable.
“We are extremely excited that XP Foundry and its debut web3 title Rooniverse are joining the ever-growing ImmutableX family.The partnership will greatly help both Immutable and XP Foundry onboard millions of mobile gamers together with a combination of chaotic fun and frictionless blockchain integrations to support what really matters: ownership, trading, and interoperability,” said Immutable VP of global business development Andrew Sorokovsky.
Rooniverse is a F2P hyper-royale mobile game featuring cute and savage creatures battling in PvP game modes. Players can also take part in crafting, user-generated content (UGC), and social gameplay. On-chain collectibles are integrated through a fully optional blockchain layer, making the game enjoyable by both traditional and web3 gamers on iOS, Android, PC, and Mac.
In the game, players pit their “Roos” against each other in multiplayer game modes to win resources, which can be used to craft unconventional weapons and build their own empire in the Rooniverse ecosystem.
XP Foundry’s engineers and artists boast AAA credentials in IPs like Sonic the Hedgehog, Game of Thrones, Batman, Call of Duty, The Elder Scrolls, and more. The studio’s co-CEO and game director James Finley is a former director of technology at Unity Studios with over 15 years of experience in game direction. Additionally, executive producer, James Chung, is a former art director at EA and worked on the original Call of Duty team.
With the transition of assets to ImmutableX, Rooniverse offers gamers a plethora of user-friendly features such as extremely fast, cost-efficient transactions and zero-fee minting for their on-chain characters & items, this is combined with Ethereum’s robust inherent security.
Unlike general-purpose blockchains, ImmutableX was explicitly designed from the ground up with web3 gaming in mind, resulting in one of the most expansive and innovative blockchain gaming ecosystems to date, in terms of both players and developers. XP Foundry will gain access to Immutable’s vast technical expertise in blockchain as well as the team’s hands-on experience working with 100+ other web3 gaming studios as well as through Immutable Gaming Studios.
“Immutable has great features to facilitate mass adoption like gas-free trading and a development roadmap exclusively focused on serving games,” noted XP Foundry co-founder/co-CEO and Rooniverse game director James Finley.
“There are superb blockchains and L2s out there, but I am a big believer in platforms who niche down and focus on catering to a specific industry segment.Through our many conversations, Immutable has shown us that they clearly ‘get it’ when it comes to understanding mainstream gamers and getting rid of ‘NFT stigma’ that prevent open adoption. We love using blockchain integrations as features for our game, for this reason, I think we’re making the best long-term decision for the game,” says XP Foundry’s co-Founder/co-CEO and its resident crypto-native Germán Palau.
Previously, XP Foundry had successfully raised $1.5 million at a fully diluted valuation of $10 million during its pre-seed funding round led by Shima Capital. Today, the studio’s backers and partners include Big Brain Holdings, Deep Ventures, Criterion, Double Peak, Snack Club, Magic Eden, 3DGG Labs, Spectre, Citizen Capital, XBorg, Naavik, Battle Arena Gamers Guild, and Stardust, as well as esports organizations such as YGG SEA and the Global Esports Federation.
Rooniverse’s open alpha testing is slated for February 2023, with beta (Q2/3) and the full game (Q4) to follow.