The gaming industry is continuously fueled by rapid innovations and technological advancements. With the emergence of highly advanced 3D creation tools, immersive reality, and community-focused gaming platforms, it has become one of the most dynamic and disruptive forms of entertainment. In recent years, parallel to the growth of traditional gaming, the rise of Web3 has not gone unnoticed.
Since 2020, hundreds of Web3 games have been created, positioning this new sector as a strong contender within the broader industry. Technologies like in-game tokens, NFTs, and blockchain have unlocked significant opportunities in ownership, security, and the creation of virtual economies, further enhancing the already lucrative traditional gaming space.
However, despite its potential, Web3 gaming faces several critical challenges. While it is gradually making strides into the market, issues such as a lack of experience, unsustainable business models, and low-quality game offerings have hindered its ability to achieve widespread success.
But this is all about to change…
Gunzilla Games aims to overcome these challenges by launching the first mainstream gaming ecosystem developed from the ground up with blockchain technology. Unlike typical Web3 products, Gunzilla Games's offerings are created for a wider audience and leverage the advanced capabilities of Web3 technologies.
This month, we will review the current state of Web3 gaming and its evolution, focusing on Gunzilla Games, a portfolio company of Morningstar Ventures.
The review will delve into on-chain statistics, as well as Web2 and Web3 gaming market trends. It will also provide a detailed overview of the Gunzilla Games ecosystem, including its proprietary blockchain, GunZ, and the upcoming flagship game, Off The Grid. Additionally, the article will cover the project’s fundraising efforts, team, recent achievements and thoroughly analyze its strengths and challenges.
Current State of Web3 Gaming
In April 2024, the global Web3 gaming sector launched over 3,356 games across major blockchains such as BNB Chain, Polygon, Ethereum, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Base, and more.
This number is relatively small compared to the global gaming industry, particularly to platforms like Steam, which released over 12,000 games in 2023. Furthermore, when looking at how many Web3 games are currently active, there are only around 600+ games, which shows that the success rate of a Web3 game is currently less than 50%, but this also means there is a lot of room for new projects to take market share and stand out within this space.
Below is an overview of the top 10 Web3 games measured by Unique Active Wallets (UAW).
Moving on from games to gamers, the average number of daily active gamers has surpassed 4.7 million as of the end of September 2024, marking a significant increase from the previous bull cycle in 2021, during which there were less than 1 million daily users on average.
This growth can be attributed, in part, to the influx of new games into the market in recent years, which were mainly created after the success of the play-to-earn game Axie Infinity.
Another contributing factor is the wider adoption of cryptocurrency in the last few months, created by regulatory clarity and recent ETF approvals. As a result, more individuals are seeking opportunities to enter the wider Web3 sector along with Web3 gaming.
What Is Gunzilla Games
Gunzilla Games is an independent AAA video game developer and publisher of the highly anticipated battle royale game Off The Grid and the gamer-first blockchain, GUNZ.
The game publisher was founded in March 2020 by CEO Vlad Korolov and CSO Alex Zoll, the creators behind Warface, a Guinness World Record-breaking game for most concurrent online players, with over 150 million gamers playing it over time. Since Gunzilla Games’ inception, the two founders were set to make gaming fun again by bridging the gap between Web2 and Web3. The team multiplied in the first year, with over 350+ team members spread across Frankfurt, Kyiv, and London.
The team comprises talent from top studios like Ubisoft, EA, Warface, EA Sports NHL, an Audio Director from HBO's show Chernobyl, the Lead Art director of Call of Duty, and more. In 2021, the team's pivotal moment was announcing Hollywood director Neill Blomkamp joining as their Co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer, known for his work on titles such as District 9, Elysium, and Chappie.
Product Deep Dive
The Gunzilla Games brand has several key components and products, all of which aim to drive positive change and revolutionize people's perceptions of gaming.
These products include:
- Gunzilla Games - The game development studio
- Off The Grid - Gunzilla Games' Flagship Battle Royale Game
- GUNZ Blockchain - Powering the gaming ecosystem
- GUNZ Blockchain Scanner - A visual blockchain scanner providing transparent insights into all on-chain activity
- GUNZ Mobile Wallet - Non-custodial wallet embedded into the GUNZ ecosystem
- GUNZ NFT Marketplace - Mobile and Desktop marketplace for all GUNZ titles and their in-game assets
- Technocore - The mobile companion game to Off The Grid
- OTG Companion App - Matching gamers and their stats
- Gunzilla Validator Network - The network that mints all in-game items and validates transactions
Gunzilla Games: Gaming Studio & Publisher
Gunzilla Games is the overarching company for all its products and is primarily the main studio and publisher for all its gaming. With its proprietary blockchain GUNZ, Gunzilla Games studio can build in-house top-quality games, such as Off The Grid.
Moreover, given the team’s strong focus on talent, technology, and top-of-the-class production, it will also be able to support external game developers publish its games – enabling Gunzilla Games to expand its reach way beyond its creations and rival top game publishers such as Ubisoft and Tencent.
Learn more: ➡️ here
Off The Grid: Flag Ship Game
With a focus on building the next-generation business model in blockchain gaming, Gunzilla announced Off The Grid in May 2022 – a battle royale third-person shooter and the first Web3 game to launch on PC,
PlayStation and Xbox.
The game's high-quality graphics, intricate storyline, and unique in-game assets—such as its Cyberlimbs and customizable weapons—attracted raving reviews and excitement for the upcoming launch.
The game is set in a dystopian cyberpunk future on Teardrop Island. Players shape the story and gameplay and craft, customize, and trade their in-game assets, ultimately surviving the cover corporate battles of the future. Along with the game's graphics and high-quality visual experience, players can expect top-notch weapons, a world setting, removable limbs, and characters, including the cyber-enhanced Zeroes during the game. Watch the Game Play Trailer below to experience it yourself.
The game offers an array of weapon combinations that surpass those found in other Battle Royale games.
The rarity of weapons in Off The Grid adds another layer of depth to the gameplay. Each weapon is visually distinct and possesses unique stats, making them valuable and sought after. The limited number of each weapon available across Teardrop Island encourages competition among players to acquire these rare items. Additionally, players have the option to trade weapons and their modifications in the game's marketplace, enhancing the strategic element of managing in-game assets.
In-game assets include Cyberlimbs and Weapons, along with skins and other cosmetic appearances such as a hat, different hair colors, and unique accessories:
The team unveiled a 16-minute gameplay trailer last September with gaming streamers Dr. DisRespect, ImperialHal, and Clix. Accumulatively, these streamers have over 7.5M followers on YouTube – enabling an immense reach for the game, disclosing how the in-game assets work and the intricate storyline progresses.
Disclaimer: Gunzilla Games and Off The Grid are no longer legally associated with the three parties shown in the YouTube Video above.
Additionally, a very exciting development for the Off The Grid and Gunzilla Games team was the announcement of securing the talents of Grammy Award-winning composer Lorne Balfe to create the soundtrack for Off The Grid. Balfe, known for his work on blockbuster films like 'Mission: Impossible - Fallout' and popular games such as 'Assassin's Creed III' and 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2', brings a wealth of experience in creating immersive and emotionally resonant soundscapes.
Listen to the Soundtrack: ➡️ here
Read more about Off The Grid’s gameplay: ➡️ here
GUNZ Blockchain
Along with its flagship game, Gunzilla Games has also developed its own Layer 2 blockchain built on the Avalanche subnet, called GUNZ.
GUNZ is the first-ever platform that can be integrated into a AAA game, allowing players to turn their in-game assets into tradable NFTs within the GUNZ marketplace. Gunzilla Game's original mobile game TECHNOCORE and Off The Grid are anchored by GUNZ and fueled by the native token $GUN.
The GUNZ blockchain has already made significant strides, recently going live on testnet and reaching over 34M transactions since its launch. Additionally, the testnet has already registered over 2.3M wallet addresses.
Gunzilla Games has developed an innovative ecosystem built around 10,000 validators that process transactions and mint all in-game items for their flagship game. These validators are a key investment opportunity, as they earn revenue from gamers paying in $GUN tokens to mint items.
The $GUN token serves as the native gas token for the GUNZ chain, used for all in-game transactions and on the external marketplace, with a portion of tokens being burned with each minting.
GUNZ Mobile Wallet
The GUNZ Wallet is the official wallet for all projects built on the GUNZ blockchain. The team has built a simple and user-friendly interface to allow users to store and manage all GUN tokens and NFTs. The wallet directly connects with the GUNZ marketplace, allowing people to make in-app purchases and buy items like skins, limbs, and other customizable accessories.
GUNZ NFT Marketplace
The GUNZ marketplace allows Play-to-Own players to earn $GUN, in-game assets, and turn them into tradable assets, which they own as NFTs. At the time of writing, the marketplace had reached 140 daily sellers and a total trading volume of 12K+.
Technocore
Technocore is the first game built on the GUNZ blockchain. It is available on the Apple and Google Play stores, allowing people to seek HEXs to earn rewards and buy items on the GUNZ marketplace.
Gunzilla Games’ Total Addressable Market
Off The Grid’s unique features and engaging gameplay are expected to captivate future audiences. In the current Battle Royale landscape, the top games, such as PubG, Fortnite, and Apex Legends, have an average daily player count between 250K and 600K. In fact, at the time of writing this article, PubG's 24-hour player peak was at 610K. Therefore, OTG has the potential to tap into a market of hundreds of millions of battle royale players.
Even though the battle royale genre already has strong titles, OTG aims to differentiate itself with a plethora of unique features and elements, such as:
- A narrative storyline consisting of 60 hours on both sides of the conflict
- Unique complex strategic decision-making process due to the in-game limb system
- Creating the best graphics, yet to be seen in other Battle Royale games
- Offering players Multiple Game Modes
- Hollywood exposure through the recognition of Neill Blomkamp and Lorne Balfe
Fundraising & Partnerships
The first round, announced in August 2022, secured $46M in funding to develop GUNZ. The round was led by Republic Capital and included contributions from Griffin Gaming Partners, Animoca Brands, Jump Crypto, KuCoin Labs, Morningstar Ventures, and others.
In March 2024, the team raised another $30M to support the release of Off The Grid ahead of its launch on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. The round was led by CoinFund and Avalanche Blizzard Fund, with participation from Republic Capital and Morningstar Ventures.
In addition to the above, the team also sold several millions of validator nodes, bringing the total amount raised by Gunzilla Games studios to over 90+ million, representing the biggest fundraising in Web3 gaming history.
Delphi Digital Strategic Investment
Gunzilla Games also announced a significant partnership with Delphi Ventures, a leading crypto venture capital firm. Delphi Ventures has become the largest validator of Gunzilla's gamer-first ecosystem and blockchain platform, GUNZ.
This strategic investment comes at a pivotal moment as Gunzilla Games prepares for the global launch of OTG later this year, underscoring the importance of blockchain integration in enhancing the gaming experience and supporting the game's economic infrastructure.
Analysis
Strengths:
- Gunzilla Games is delving into an underrepresented industry with its upcoming game, Off the Grid. This will be the first AAA game to integrate blockchain technology and will be available on PlayStation and Xbox, providing access to millions of console players and advancing mainstream blockchain adoption. Additionally, Gunzilla Games boasts a team of Hollywood producers and experienced developers with Web2 expertise who are well-equipped to propel their game, OTG, to widespread adoption. This will demonstrate to audiences who have yet to embrace Web3 gaming the market's potential and what the future of blockchain gaming could entail.
- A potential benefit of integrating Web3 into Gunzilla Games' OTG AAA game is the ability to create new revenue streams for developers. By allowing players to own and trade in-game assets using cryptocurrency, they may be more inclined to invest in their gaming experience and spend more money on microtransactions or other monetization strategies. It will be interesting to see if Gunzilla Games continues to use these approaches with the release of OTG. Given the game's narrative-focused gameplay and integration of the marketplace, it is well-positioned to grow and create additional monetization strategies for itself.
- One area where blockchain gaming can make a big difference is improving the gaming experience and ownership of assets. Play-to-earn, play-to-own, and similar models have often needed more high-quality gameplay and engaging narratives. Web3 game developers have focused more on the "earning" aspect, making it too crypto-intensive for the average gamer. Gunzilla's goal with OTG and its in-game marketplace GUNZ is to ensure that players have real ownership of their assets while enjoying the gameplay, graphics, and storyline. Gunzilla Game's proprietary blockchain, GUNZ, serves as both an infrastructure for OTG and a potential solution for other games developed by Gunzilla Games or external developers seeking a reliable solution for their games.
Challenges:
- The AAA gaming industry faces challenges due to the high development and marketing costs. AAA games often require budgets of tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars, and marketing campaigns can be quite expensive. This creates a high level of risk for developers, as a game that fails to sell well can lead to significant losses.
- This will be the first AAA game in Web3 and the first Web3 game to be released on major gaming consoles such as PlayStation and Xbox. Therefore, Off The Grid must strongly impact the market and demonstrate a promising future for blockchain gaming.
What’s Next for Gunzilla Games
The team has announced they are about 60 days away from officially launching Off The Grid on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. Currently, via the Pioneers Program, playtesters from North America and Europe have been playing and trying out the Beta version on PC and Playstation.
Just at the beginning of October, the team announced players can also test the game on Xbox, making the game available on all major consoles. Furthermore, in the upcoming month, the closed beta will be available for players globally, ringing the team closer to becoming the first mainstream blockchain-enabled game to launch on a console.
Watch a recap of Gunzilla Games’ Director of Web3 speaking about future developments and the game at Token2049: ➡️ here
Additionally, they are working on onboarding and developing new titles via the GUNZ platform. For those wanting to get involved and gain pre-access to Off The Grid, along with providing feedback on the gameplay, the team just launched the Pioneers Program, a community initiative targeted at those dedicated to the ecosystem. Learn more about how to apply: ➡️ here
Learn More About the Gunzilla Ecosystem
Gunzilla Games
🌐 Gunzilla Games Website: gunzillagames.com
🐦 Gunzilla Games Twitter: x.com/GunzillaGames
🤝 LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/gunzilla-games
Gun by GunZ
🌐 Gun by GunZ Website: https://gunbygunz.com/
🐦 Gun by GunZ Twitter: x.com/GUNbyGUNZ
🕹️ Discord channel: discord.com/invite/gunbygunz
Off The Grid:
🌐 Website: gameoffthegrid.com
🐦 Twitter: x.com/playoffthegrid🕹️ Discord channel: https://discord.com/invite/offthegrid
📹 YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@playoffthegrid
