NEON, a Seattle based gaming company, has successfully closed its seed funding round by raising total $10.5 Mn. Griffin Gaming Partners alongside Polychain Capital and Forte spearheaded the seed funding round. Griffin Gaming Partners, a high-profile VC firm that invests exclusively in gaming startups, is also a investor in Indian gaming startup Winzo.
NEON will use the proceedings to build what it claims will be world’s first blockchain-enabled AAA first-person shooter game. The game will be officially known as Sharpnel. The company said that the platform will be designed to reward both players and creators. The Seattle based firm further said that the complete details about Sharpnel will be shared next year.
Commenting on the raise, Mark Long, CEO at NEON, said, “When we saw the market research that players want to truly own their digital items, we knew there was a unique opportunity in blockchain. Thanks to Griffin’s investment and expertise, along with Polychain and Forte, we can bring to life a game and mod platform that I’ve dreamed of making for years. This team is inspiring to work with. We know we have the right game with the right tech at the right time.”
Notably, NEON is spun out from the HBO Interactive (HBO’s gaming unit). It supposedly boosts unmatched professional experience in transmedia, virtual production, and gaming-as-a-service. According to the company’s official press release, NEON’s team compromises of game industry veterans hailing from some of the world’s best known gaming companies including Xbox, Electronic Arts, HBO, LucasFilm, Irrational and Zombie Ent.
The Blockchain technology, by the way, is now becoming mainstay of the gaming industry. One of India’s well-known gaming startup Chingari recently announced the launch of its crypto product Gari, which has been developed with the help of Solana Blockchain technology.
