The potential of blockchain technology in the gaming world has been remarkable, making significant milestones across the industry. The recent news on Proof of Play, a crypto gaming company led by FarmVille co-creator Amit Mahajan raising $33 million in the seed round is one such example of growing enthusiasm and belief in the future of blockchain-based games. Amit Mahajan is not just the co-creator of FarmVille but also a former Zynga Executive. The seed round saw participation from high-profile investors including a16z crypto, Anchorage Digital, and Naval Ravikant among others.
Background of FarmVille
FarmVille is a series of agriculture-themed social network games that was developed by Zynga in 2009. Zynga holds a reputation as one of the leading producers of social video games. They started their journey by creating a social poker game that featured real-world people and soon launched games like FarmVille and Words with Friends earning the position of one of the leading developers of mobile games in the West. The essence of FarmVille gameplay involves farmland management such as planting, growing, plowing lands, harvesting crops, and trees, and raising livestock.
The game begins by allowing the players to create a customizable avatar, allocating an empty farmland and a fixed number of Farm Coins which is the primary currency of the game. Players earn experience points for performing certain tasks in the games and as they level up crops and animals are made available to them for purchase using Farm Coin or Farm Cash. Owing to the success of the original FarmVille, its sequels FarmVille 2 and FarmVille 3 launched in September 2021 and November 2021 respectively.
About Proof of Play
Proof of Play, spearheaded by its CEO, Amitt Mahajan, strives to develop a fun and accessible blockchain game. The company’s initial offering, Pirate Nation which was a beta version of the social role-playing games was launched in December. The Pirate Nation is a free-to-play game that allows the players to engage in epic battles, craft, trade, and quests, all in the pursuit of a digital token called PGLD representing the Pirate Gold.
Amitt Mahajan stated that he felt compelled to discover better ways to make the games timeless, especially after realizing the amount of energy and storytelling put in by the players for the game they like. He also mentioned that the inspiration for this stems from the closure of FarmVille in 2020 which led to the loss of billions of hours of playtime, creativity, and investment.
Proof of Play Raised $33 Million in Seed Around
Proof of Play amassed a remarkable amount of $33 million in the seed round from high-profile investors. Some of the major investors include a16z crypto, Anchorage Digital, and Naval Ravikant who have also invested in Uber and Twitter during their early stages. Among other participants include Twitch founders Justin Kan and Emmett Shear, Balaji Srinivasan, Mercury, Firebase, Zynga, and Alchemy. Greenoaks joined forces with a16z to co-lead the seed round.
Proof of Play’s successful seed funding backed by its innovative approach has positioned it as a rising star in the blockchain gaming industry. With Amitt Mahajan’s vision and experience with FarmVille and Zynga, this venture aims to address the shortcomings of traditional gaming while creating an enhanced way to make the games timeless.
Disclaimer: This article was created for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. An asset’s past performance does not predict its future returns. Before making an investment, please conduct your own research, as digital assets like cryptocurrencies are highly risky and volatile financial instruments.
