Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author | Asher (@Asher_0210)
After the AI + Meme craze, will AI + GameFi also welcome a new round of market?
Last night, Musk posted on platform X, stating that too many game studios are owned by large corporations, and xAI (Musk's AI startup, previously valued at $45 billion after raising $5 billion) is about to launch an AI game studio to make gaming exciting again. In fact, this combination of 'AI and games' has already been brought to the forefront of traditional gaming industries at last year's Global Game Developers Conference. Perhaps, with Musk's push, more projects that integrate AI and GameFi narratives will emerge.
Below, Odaily Planet Daily will summarize the AI + GameFi projects that have already issued tokens.
Colony: Echelon Prime ecological artificial intelligence game
Colony launches a new AI game for the sci-fi themed NFT card game Parallel on Solana. In the game, AI agents will be able to autonomously conduct transactions on-chain and store assets in their own wallets.
According to the white paper information released in March this year, Colony will be a significant deployment for the Echelon Prime Foundation in the Web3 gaming ecosystem. The Echelon Prime Foundation is dedicated to empowering the next generation of distributed Web3 games, providing a community-governed environment and shared resources built around Echelon's PRIME token, its smart contracts, and gaming infrastructure.
Colony, as part of the Echelon Prime ecological project, has its project token PRIM, currently valued at $590 million, with a weekly increase of 56.0%.
AI Hero: The first AI blockchain game under Binaryx
AI Hero is the first AI blockchain game project under Binaryx. It is a Web3 game that combines 'RPG + Battle Royale + DND,' generated with the participation of AI. Players first need to choose their race and profession based on their preferences, and explore different plot options generated randomly by AI in the competition, to obtain equipment rewards and enhance their character attributes. During the competition, players will encounter other opponents and fight with 12 other players; the surviving player will achieve ultimate victory and win rewards.
AI Hero, as part of the Binaryx ecological project, has its project token BNX, currently valued at $145 million, with a weekly increase of 25.5%.
Zentry: An open gaming universe connecting Web2 and Web3
Zentry is the Metagame Layer of games, connecting an open gaming universe between Web2 and Web3. This means Zentry combines multiple game elements to create a fully immersive MMORPG. A unified universe that brings together 3.3 billion players worldwide.
Zentry provides the infrastructure for this open universe, shaped by residents according to their wishes. To realize this vision, the metagame stack consists of four elements: consumer applications, infrastructure, IP-rich worlds, and treasury, where consumer applications include the cross-platform metagame Radiant, the social entry Nexus of the Zentry universe, Zigma, and the cross-world AI partner Azul.
Zentry project token is ZENT, currently valued at $139 million, with a weekly increase of 19.6%.
Ultiverse: An AI-driven one-stop Web3 gaming platform
Ultiverse is an AI-driven one-stop platform for the creation and publishing of Web3 games, facilitating the large-scale adoption of AI-enhanced Web3 games. Ultiverse is based on the Bodhi protocol and connects different game worlds in a generative AI manner. Its core team members have participated in the development of well-known games such as (The Lord of the Rings), (Prince of Persia), and (Assassin's Creed).
According to ROOTDATA, Ultiverse has completed three rounds of financing, with a total financing amount of $13.5 million, respectively:
In March 2022, Ultiverse announced the completion of a $4.5 million seed funding round, led by Binance Labs and Defiance Capital, with other investors including Three Arrows Capital, SkyVision Capital, and others;
At the end of March 2022, Binance Labs added $5 million in equity investment to Ultiverse. Additionally, Nicole Zhang, the director of Binance Labs, stated that the additional equity investment was to give Binance Labs a say in the future development of the project;
In February 2024, Ultiverse announced the completion of a $4 million strategic funding round, led by IDG Capital, with participation from Animoca Brands, Polygon Ventures, MorningStar Ventures, Taiko, ZetaChain, Manta Network, DWF Ventures, and Jacob KO (partner at Superscrypt). This funding round valued Ultiverse at $150 million.
Ultiverse project token is ULTI, currently valued at $102 million, with a weekly increase of 17.3%.
Sleepless AI: Web3 + AI virtual companion game
Sleepless AI is a pioneering Web3 + AI virtual companion game that utilizes AIGC and LLM to create rich story-based gameplay and continuously evolving interactions with characters, providing players with emotional support and an immersive gaming experience. Investors in Sleepless AI include Binance Labs, Foresight Ventures, and Folius Ventures.
Sleepless AI was previously one of the four excellent projects in Binance Labs' MVB VI, later becoming the 42nd project in Binance's new coin mining.
This week, Sleepless AI announced on platform X that a new version of the HIM APP is about to be launched.
Sleepless AI project token is AI, currently valued at $85 million, with a weekly increase of 49.5%.
Gaimin: A distributed computing infrastructure platform for gamers
Gaimin starts from the gaming field, aiming to combine cloud computing power with the gaming platform to build a dAPP that can provide game download and login services, and allow players to rent out their idle hardware GPU power to earn extra rewards. By leveraging the high-performance GPU power of most players, Gaimin aims to create a decentralized distributed supercomputing platform gaimin.cloud, which can provide data processing services such as video rendering, AI deep learning, and blockchain computing power.
Gaimin project token is GMRX, currently valued at $81 million, with a weekly decrease of 9.9%.
GamerHash Al: A distributed computing infrastructure platform for gamers
GamerHash is a distributed computing infrastructure platform for gamers. According to the team, GamerHash has over 760,000 users and supports a distributed computing infrastructure to meet the needs of many players. GamerHash AI will also support the use of AI on players' personal PCs in a completely private manner without requiring technical knowledge.
GamerHash AI provides a solution for the GPU crisis by leveraging its global network of consumer-grade GPUs primarily installed in gaming PCs, creating a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) aimed at meeting the urgent demand for AI computing power.
GamerHash AI connects global gamers with AI projects that require scalable solutions. These gamers already possess GPUs and can share excess capacity to help run AI tasks such as inference. Players can earn rewards by contributing hardware, earning GamerCoin (GHX), while AI developers can access a vast pool of computing resources that are both flexible and cost-effective, also supporting the liquidity of GamerCoin (GHX).
GamerHash AI project token is GHX, currently valued at $52 million, with a weekly increase of 21.9%.
MATR1X: Infrastructure and distribution system for Web3 cultural entertainment
MATR1X is an innovative cultural entertainment platform that combines Web3 gaming, artificial intelligence, esports, and blockchain infrastructure, dedicated to transforming the global gaming and digital content industry through blockchain and AI technologies, accelerating the arrival of the Web3 era. Currently, the MATR1X platform includes four Web3 native games: MATR1X FIRE, MATR1X BATTLE, CASTILE, and Evermoon.
According to ROOTDATA, as of now, MATR1X has gone through multiple rounds of financing, with a total disclosed financing amount exceeding $20 million. The specific information is:
On September 19, 2022, it was announced that $10 million seed round and A-1 round financing had been completed, led by Hana Financial Investment (Hana Financial Investment belongs to Hana Group, which owns the second largest bank in Korea, Hana Bank). Other institutional investors included Hashkey Capital, Amber Group, SevenX Ventures, etc.;
On November 23, 2023, it was announced that $10 million A-2 round financing had been completed, led by Folius Ventures (a top Web3 fund, the lead investor in StepN's A round) and SevenX, with other institutional investors including ABCDE, Find Satoshi Lab (the investment fund under StepN), Jambo Ventures, etc.
Subsequently, MATR1X received strategic investments from several well-known investment institutions, specifically including:
On December 12, 2023, it was announced that A2+ round financing had been completed, with specific amounts not yet disclosed, and the only investor in this round was OKX Ventures;
On February 21, 2024, it was announced that a strategic investment from Animoca Brands had been obtained, with specific financing amounts undisclosed;
On July 26, 2024, it was announced that investment from one of the three major gaming funds in the US, Makers Fund, had been obtained.
MATR1X project token is MAX, currently valued at $33 million, with a weekly decrease of 2.7%.
Phantasma: A Layer1 aimed at gaming, entertainment, and content creation
Phantasma is a Layer1 public chain aimed at gaming, entertainment, and content creation, providing Unity SDK, smartNFT technology, and AI smart contract encoders, allowing users to build DApps without code through Phantasma AI.
Phantasma project token is SOUL, currently valued at $19 million, with a weekly increase of 5.8%.
GameGPT: AI-driven game engine
GameGPT is an AI-driven game engine that powers the next generation of blockchain games. GameGPT v1 was developed in 2020 and can automate game code libraries, visual effects, and in-game economies. Currently, GameGPT has completed all four rounds of its AI agent NFT collection and will soon announce details of the pre-sale and auction.
GameGPT project token is DUEL, currently valued at $10 million, with a weekly increase of 63.2%.
