Many crypto enthusiasts have tried and failed to combine the multi-billion dollar video game industry with NFTs and blockchain technology. Out of 2,817 web3 games launched between 2019 and 2023, 75.5% of them failed, according to a CoinGecko report. For whatever reason, the two industries have struggled to mesh—but that doesn’t mean investors have stopped looking for a potential synergy.
Pantera Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and NFX are the latest to try and crack blockchain gaming by taking a chance on Azra Games, a Sacramento-based video game developer. Founded in 2022, Azra announced it has raised $42 million in a Series A funding round led by Pantera, bringing the total it has raised to $68.3 million.
CEO and founder Mark Otero is a veteran game designer best known for Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, Electronic Arts’ top-grossing game. Otero was also CEO and founder of a previous video game company called KlickNation, which was acquired by Electronic Arts in 2011.
Otero plans to defy the odds by developing a sustainable and immersive role-playing game, a type of video game where players assume 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 that you must first build a great game, a great RPG, that people love and want to share with their family and friends,” Otero said. “Once you’ve established that, you can then incorporate additional technology, including web3, to amplify the player experience.”
Otero also views his vision as different from others in the industry because he strives to be a part of a new generation of RPGs. These games are usually played on PCs or gaming consoles due to their need for vast amounts of computing power. Otero says the “4th generation” of RPGs will be played on mobile devices because of their advanced computing power. He told Fortune he will use the $42 million to develop a “great, world class game,” that will be available on the App Store, the first of which is code-named Project Legends.
“Project Legends is very much going to have the type of visual fidelity that you would expect from a previous generation of PC and console games on a mobile form factor,” Otero said. “And because we’re going mobile first, we can now take the game, and we can port it on PC and console with very little work.”
He will use a portion of the money to seek out new talent and build out his global team. He is also planning to further develop their IP center, a department of Azra Games, that supports the company’s intellectual property and helps quickly generate new ideas.
“The team at Azra Games has the incredible opportunity and vision to trailblaze the 4th generation of mobile RPG games that combines 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.
