In an announcement yesterday, Layer-2 blockchain game developer Immutable Games Studio revealed its partnership with premier developer Mineloader on the Web3 RPG Guild of Guardians.
Mineloader is most well-known for contributing to numerous AAA games such as The Last of Us Part I, Final Fantasy VII Remake and The Division 2. The studio will help develop Guild of Guardians as a Web2 development partner, improving the gameplay loop, experience and artistic elements.
Immutable Games will focus on the game’s Web3 aspects, including the sustainability of its blockchain economy. Studio representatives explained that Immutable had put its trust in Mineloader’s development experience to create an engaging experience for Guild of Guardians players.
“We’re excited to bring Guild of Guardians to the market later this year, and our new strategic partnership with Mineloader will help get us there quickly and without compromising on quality,” Immutable Chief Studio Officer Justin Hulog said.
“We believe that with Mineloader, we can deliver an incredible gaming experience that will propel the entire web3 industry forward.”
Over one million players have pre-registered for the upcoming game, making it one of the biggest Web3 titles of the year. Immutable Games Studio VP Game Director Chris Clay will also elaborate more on the team’s partnership with Mineloader in a Discord Town Hall on Wednesday.
Advancing Web3 game development
Guild of Guardians began its development in 2020 as a mobile RPG that allows players to own the digital assets they earn in-game. Since then, the game has reached multiple milestones, including its one million pre-registered players and sold out $4.6 million NFT Founder sale.
The game has generated interest from several AAA publishing and development teams, including Yield Guild, Sandbox and Ubisoft. Though it was planned for a 2022 release, Immutable Games Studio has delayed the game to 2023, presumably to polish the game’s content.
While Guild of Guardians remains a highly-anticipated title in the Web3 community, the game’s development team has had issues updating the community. Notably, Hulog acknowledged in his community update that the game’s development was not “on track” before Immutable Games Studio’s partnership with Mineloader.
Hulog also identified the difficulties involved in creating Web3 games. Along with common Web2 issues such as quality, gameplay or graphics, Web3 games must also contend with tokenomics and interoperability.
New faces and changes
Hulog’s announcement featured a variety of new faces in the Guild of Guardians team, along with sneak peeks into the game’s development.
Immutable Games Studios boarded several notable names from major game companies in the RPG genre. Clay will be tasked with enhancing Guild of Guardian’s gameplay loop with his experience in Wizards of the Coast (Dungeons and Dragons publisher).
Shibu Mathew will use his experience in Electronic Arts to advance the product roadmap as VP of Product. In a similar vein, Director of Marketing Veronica Foo’s experience in Ubisoft, Riot and Illuvium will assist the game’s launch and marketing later down the line.
On a more technical side, VP of Engineering Aakash Mandhar will handle Web3 contracts and integrations. He has previously worked at Microsoft/Xbox and EA in game development and engineering.
The new team and partnership with Mineloader will focus on balancing the game’s Web3 integration along with improving its Web2 elements. In particular, Hulog noted that new updates would revise the game’s lore and magical system to turn the game’s world, Elderym, into a successful intellectual property.
