Electronic Arts (EA), one of the biggest video games publishers in the world, sees non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and play-to-earn games as the future of gaming.

Banking adoption is big, but if you listen to a good deal of the crypto industry and its observers, the pull of the gaming tractor beam is the real way to bring the masses into the space.

In an earnings call today, EA CEO Andrew Wilson called play-to-earn and NFT-related games “the future of our industry,” before adding that he thinks “it’s still early to figure out how that’s going to work”.

“I think that in the context of the games we create and the live services that we offer, collectible digital content is going to play a meaningful part in our future,” Wilson said. “So, it’s still early to tell, but I think we’re in a really good position, and we should expect us to kind of think more innovatively and creatively about that on a go-forward basis.”

EA, which publishes the FIFA football titles, as well as the Madden NFL, The Need for Speed and Apex Legends series, has posted recent job listings that suggest it’s making clear moves in the NFT and crypto/blockchain direction.

 

Mythical Games raises US$150m, Michael Jordan involved

The blockchain startup and self-described “next-generation” gaming studio Mythical Games has raised US$150 million in a new funding round, giving the company a valuation of US$1.25 billion.

The series C round was led by VC giant and major crypto-industry investor Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from crypto exchanges FTX and Binance, as well as D1 Capital, RedBird Capital, and The Raine Group.

Oh, and NBA legend Michael Jordan also got involved, along with the National Football League’s investment arm 32 Equity, and OneTeam Partners, an NFL/Major League Baseball investment alliance. Some big-name, heavy-hitting backers right there.

Mythical is the developer of the open-world (yep, you guessed it, “metaverse”) game called Blankos Block Party, which features playable NFT characters called Blankos.

The raise, which will help launch the game and expand Mythical’s NFT-game offerings, comes about five months after the gaming company scored US$75 million in funding from investors including American YouTube personality and NFT entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, Galaxy Digital and others.

According to a Decrypt article, the studio was founded in 2018 by former execs from a bunch of top gaming firms, including EA, Oculus, Activision and Zynga.

 

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