SoftBank leads $93 mln investment in NFT gaming firm the Sandbox

November 8, 2021 Audrey

SoftBank leads mln investment in NFT gaming firm the Sandbox

SoftBank Corp’s emblem is pictured at a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, February 4, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Nov 1 (Reuters) – The Sandbox, a Hong Kong-based gaming system that permits buyers to develop a digital earth using non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has lifted $93 million from traders led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2, the enterprise explained to Reuters on Monday.

The most current fund boosting arrived a very little over a year right after its final round, as the company noticed quickly advancement in regular monthly lively customers and crossed $144 million in transaction quantity on the system. It also marks Eyesight Fund 2’s initial expenditure in a corporation that issues its own cryptocurrency.

The Sandbox, bulk-owned by blockchain gaming developer Animoca Makes, enables players to establish, have, and monetize their virtual gaming activities on the Ethereum blockchain. It provides creators with possession as NFTs and provides applications to build belongings on the system.

It has announced partnership with models and celebs, such as rapper Snoop Dogg, who will create a electronic replica of his mansion in the Sandbox’s metaverse.

The corporation declined to disclose its valuation, but the crypto currency it backs, the Sandbox coin, has a market cap of approximately $2 billion. The corporation said it now owns about 22% of the tokens.

The price tag of the coin has jumped above 200% just after Facebook (FB.O) declared it would improve its identify to Meta Platforms Inc last 7 days, which spiked trader fascination in organizations that make metaverse gaming practical experience. Metaverse refers to the plan of a shared virtual platform that folks can accessibility by different units and in which they can move as a result of digital environments.

This expenditure will support gasoline the progress of the Sandbox creators’ economic system as it expands from gaming into manner, architecture and virtual concerts, Sebastien Borget, main running officer and co-founder told Reuters in an interview.

“We are generating this open metaverse. We are positioning the Sandbox versus all those giant tech businesses who are professing the metaverse to be theirs, presenting an alternative where by people are very first,” said Borget.

Amid explosive progress for the NFT current market, SoftBank has led a sequence of fundings in NFT-similar providers this year. Its recent investments include things like athletics NFT startup Sweet Digital as nicely as NFT fantasy soccer video game Sorare.

Reporting by Krystal Hu in San Francisco Enhancing by Edwina Gibbs

Our Expectations: The Thomson Reuters Believe in Rules.

Dell’s New Alienware Aurora R13 Gaming PC with Intel Alder Lake Processor and RTX 30 Series Video Cards Is Now Available

November 2, 2021 Audrey

Dell has just launched its newest line of Alienware Aurora gaming PCs ahead of the holiday season. Unceremoniously dubbed the “R13”, Dell’s new flagship gaming PC sports a number of aesthetic, quality of life, and performance improvements over its predecessors. The chassis has undergone a substantial facelift with the new option to add a side panel window that shows off the clean internals. Liquid cooling is now standard, but you can upgrade to Alienware’s proprietary “Cryo-Tech” liquid cooling, which offers better thermal performance and a swankier RGB-lit design, perfect for your side panel window upgrade. The R13 still boasts the same toolless access to the case components, but now the internal volume has increased by 50% for easier DIY installs, improved ambient air temps, better cable management, and more acoustic dampening. The standard power supply has also been beefed up to a minimum of 750W. Dell offers the same warranty as with previous models: 1 year in-home warranty service standard with the option to extend to up to 4 years.

In terms of future proofing, the Alienware Aurora R13 is the first Alienware PC to come equipped with the newest 12th gen Intel Alder Lake processors. Unlike the past several Intel Core iterations, the Alder Lake CPU is looking to be a substantial upgrade in both performance and efficiency. That’s paired with an RTX 30 series video card of your choice, which is impossible to find by itself. The base model sports an RTX 3060 Ti, but you can upgrade this all the way up to an RTX 3080 Ti or RTX 3090.

Since this is a new release, don’t expect too many deals to come your way during Black Friday, but prices are reasonable if you compare similar pre-built gaming PCs from the other boutique gaming PC manufacturers.

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Esports talent in S.Korea gets boost from big business, easing of gaming ban

October 28, 2021 Audrey

SEOUL, Oct 28 (Reuters) – South Korean teenager Yoon Ki-chan gets just three hours of sleep a day but spends more than three times that playing online games – with the blessing of his parents and teachers – as he dreams of becoming a top pro League of Legends player.

Yoon and his peers are the next generation of gamers in South Korea, a fast-growing esports powerhouse whose players have won Riot Games’ League of Legends World Championship six times since the most-watched esports event began in 2011.

They will also benefit from the country’s announcement in August that it would abolish a decade-old law which bans those below the age of 16 from playing online games on computers from midnight to 6 a.m, over a growing consensus that youths are increasingly using their mobile phones instead.

“I suffered a lot from the shutdown law. I typically don’t sleep a lot, so I studied different things during the shutdown hours. If it weren’t for the law, I could have been a better player by now,” said Yoon, who says he can game at least four hours more now since turning 16 this year.

South Korea’s move is in contrast to that of China, the world’s biggest esports market, which in late August drastically limited the amount of time under-18s can spend on video games to a mere three hours a week. read more

Esports will also feature as a medal sport for the first time at the Asian Games in Hangzhou next year.

“China’s game regulation could be a rather good opportunity for us to build strength and regain the esports initiative,” said Park Se-woon, vice president at Seoul Game Academy that offers programmes to nurture pros.

Park said the private academy has seen a 30-fold jump in daily consultations since it started this programme in 2016.

GOVERNMENT APATHY?

Despite the growing international status and interest among prospective professional players, government support for the esports industry, estimated in 2020 to be worth around 17.9 trillion won ($15.2 billion), has been lacklustre, experts say.

Esports and the gaming sector received 67.1 billion won of the 604.4 trillion won national budget for next year.

But the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism wants to do more, especially ahead of organised competitions such as the Asian Games, an official said without giving details.

In the meantime, the space has been filled with investments from big businesses and private educational institutes.

Instant noodle maker Nongshim Co Ltd (004370.KS) launched its professional League of Legends gaming team, Nongshim RedForce, late last year, joining other South Korean conglomerates that have seen potential in the industry.

Among them are SK Group’s SK Telecom Co Ltd (017670.KS), Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) affiliate Kia Corp (000270.KS), Hanwha Group’s Hanwha Life Insurance (088350.KS) and KT Corp (030200.KS).

“The esports industry continued growing, but the state-led support measures have been weak, with corporate sponsorships and private academies mainly having driven the industry,” said Oh Ji-hwan, CEO of Nongshim E-Sports.

Oh said

GameStop memes even harder with ‘Web3 Gaming’ and NFT job listings

October 28, 2021 Audrey

After a rollercoaster of a year on the stock market fueled by WallStreetBets retail trading, GameStop is going full meme and looking to build a “Web3” platform, according to a flurry of job listings posted to its careers site on Monday. One of those ads, discovered by CoinDesk, is a LinkedIn listing for a “Head of Web3 Gaming” in which the company says it’s looking for someone to “accelerate the future of gaming and commerce” based on blockchains.

If you’re lucky enough to have never heard the phrase “Web3,” it’s often used to describe a decentralized, crypto-based internet. That tracks with the other job listings, which indicate that GameStop is developing some sort of NFT platform, likely based on Ethereum. While sometimes job listings are just job listings, in this case, it may be a play by GameStop to get back on WallStreetBets’ radar or to work its way into the crypto community’s good graces.

*GameStop’s many job listings for NFT and Web3 Gaming-related positions.*

GameStop hasn’t mentioned its ardent retail trading fans much in its earnings calls, but the company’s stock has clearly benefited from their enthusiasm — at the beginning of 2021, it was hovering around $20 per share, and it closed on Tuesday at $177.84, according to Yahoo Finance. High stock prices don’t necessarily indicate that the company as a whole is doing well, but they can at least help keep people liking the stock.

When you’re dealing with an Internet mob, though, attention eventually fades. AMC has tried to court back traders’ interest (it was caught up in the same trading fiasco as GameStop) with things like free popcorn and news that they’re looking into accepting Bitcoin and other crypto at theaters. For GameStop, it’s possible that an NFT platform promising a future of games where “play is driven by the things you bring” and incorporating buzzy phrases like “Web3” and “blockchain-based gaming” is a similar tactic to reignite the passion investors once felt for it.

With all the talk about GameStop as a wild stock market bet, you’d be forgiven for forgetting that its main business is being a video game store. Whether or not video game vendors allow for games that include NFTs is a bit of an open question at this point — Valve declared that developers can’t sell blockchain-enabled games on its Steam store, while Epic has said that it’s okay with them. Apple has yet to publicly make a decision about the App Store, possibly because developers are rightfully scared to be the first ones to try submitting an NFT-powered app.

Meanwhile, GameStop seems very interested in becoming a place for those kinds of projects — one of the listed responsibilities in the job description is “build a team to help creators launch their projects on the GameStop platform.” While the company seemingly teased plans for something NFT-related earlier this year, an obscure