Zebedee, a financial tech and bitcoin payments company announced a $35m capital raise seven days ago. Now the company is announcing a partnership agreement with Viker mobile gaming studio. The two companies have enhanced three classic video games with Zebedee’s bitcoin reward mechanics which include “Solitaire,” “Sudoku,” and the game “Missing Letters.”
Bitcoin rewards to enhance 3 mobile video games
Square Enix-backed Zebedee made a few announcements recently. Last week, it announced that the company had raised $35 million from strategic investors. Participating investors in Zebedee’s latest capital raise include Kingsway Capital, Raine Group, Initial Capital, Lakestar, and the Japanese gaming giant Square Enix. Zebedee has announced a new partnership with Viker mobile game studio on July 26.
Zebedee and Viker have partnered in the past as the bitcoin rewards mechanism has been implemented in games like “Wheel of Trivia,” “Amazeballs,” and “Balls King,” which are available to play on iOS and Android devices. Two companies decided to combine BTC payments with classic mobile games, which have been in demand for a decade. The three newly enhanced games include “Sudoku,” “Solitaire,” and “Missing Letters,” a game that’s similar to the mobile application “Wordle.”
In mid-April, Zebedee linked up with Fumb Games, the creator of the mobile game “Bitcoin Miner.” When Fumb Games first introduced “Bitcoin Miner,” the game was a virtual mining application with no real rewards except for leveling up the playing experience. After connecting with Zebedee’s technology that leverages BTC’s Lightning Network (LN), “Bitcoin Miner” players can now earn real BTC rewards by playing the game.
Dan Beasley was the co-founder and CEO of Viker. He stated during Tuesday’s announcement that Viker is an avid believer in pay-to-earn mechanics. “These games are played literally by billions of people, for hundreds of hours over many years,” Beasley said. “But so far, none of them have been able to earn anything for their time. Why continue that, when we’re now in an era where games can reward you with more than just fun?” Beasley continued his statement by adding:
Our casual game portfolio is the most extensive play-and-earn, and 500k users earn bitcoin each month. We also release new games every day to improve the user experience. Viker is a platform that bridges the gap between crypto and gaming. It offers a smooth journey which allows anyone to have fun and make money. [and]Safely enter the Crypto World.
The topic of adding Crypto and NFT technology to videogames has been a contentious subject among gamers and studios.
Zebedee and Viker’s collaboration follows an influx of crypto-payment rewards and gaming companies investing in non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Viker has NFT technology embedded in some of its games. Square Enix, a video game firm that invested in Zebedee announced July 21 that they would be issuing Final Fantasy NFTs the following year.
The day before the Final Fantasy NFT announcement, Mojang Studios, the creator of the best-selling video game worldwide, Minecraft, said that blockchain and NFT technologies are now banned from any of Mojang’s servers. The mixed reaction from gamers to the introduction of crypto assets and NFTs in video games is not a good sign. Some are supportive, while others are against. In addition to Mojang Studios’ decision, last year, the large gaming firms Ubisoft and GSC Game World faced backlash over NFT inclusion.
What do you think about Zebedee’s and Viker’s latest partnership deal? Comment below and let us know how you feel about the subject.
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