Published on: 03/01/2023

Aptos to launch first Web3 game, Gran Saga: Unlimited in 2023

This year, Layer 1 blockchain Aptos will reportedly launch its first Web3 game called Gran Saga: Unlimited in collaboration with South Korean game developer NPIXEL.

The game will have a public global release in the second quarter of this year. However, the developer will conduct alpha testing for Gran Saga: Unlimited in the first quarter. In the coming months, the developer will perform several playtests with recruited players to improve the blockchain features of the game.

Aptos and NPIXEL will use feedback from early users to improve Gran Saga: Unlimited before its launch. METAPIXEL’s Twitter account provides the latest news on this game’s development for fans. The developer has also announced a discord channel, opened just after the new year holiday.

This game is a Web3 adaptation of NPIXEL’s Web2 game, Gran Saga. The original game is one of the highest-grossing games on the Apple App Store with more than four million downloads only in South Korea and Japan. NPIXEL plans to launch Gran Saga for global users later this year.

The Web3 version of the game will come in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) format. It is a part of NPIXEL’s metaverse ecosystem called METAPIXEL.

Aptos said METAPIXEL would shape the perception of true Web3 gaming. NPIXEL, through its metaverse ecosystem, will provide various games using original IPs and full ownership of in-game assets. Aptos also said that METAPIXEL’s innovative gaming models, like free-to-own, could open up a new economy for gamers.

Players of the Web3 Gran Saga will get opportunities to receive in-game assets and mint gaming tools as NFTs. They can then trade these NFTs on various marketplaces across the Aptos Network. Aptos and NPIXEL plan to launch the game for PC first before developing its mobile versions.

Aptos first announced the strategic partnership with NPIXEL in November 2021. Launched in 2017, NPIXEL became a unicorn in August 2021 after a successful Series B funding round.

“Partnering with Npixel has been a dream, and we look forward to optimizing the use cases on the Aptos ecosystem even further as we onboard these top-tier strategic ecosystem partners,” Aptos co-founder and CEO Mo Shaikh said at that time.

While some people welcome blockchain gaming initiatives, other gamers have voiced concerns regarding scams in Web3 games. Shaikh said his company was aware of the concerns. Shaikh assured that gaming companies can confide in Aptos to support them not only in building one or two games on a blockchain system. Aptos could provide the necessary technology to support gaming companies in the long-term period.

About Aptos

Shaikh founded Aptos Lab with Avery Ching in 2021. The company’s headquarter is located in Palo Alto, California. The blockchain’s Mainnet was launched in October 2022. About 90 employees are working for the company and they have been working on more than 200 blockchain projects since the Mainnet launch.

The two co-founders aim to create a more usable blockchain ecosystem that can bring the advantages of decentralization to broader users. Aptos ecosystem is intended to have a “battle-hardened” infrastructure that can scale up conveniently.

According to Ching, Aptos has also partnered with Google to test and run validators for the network. Ching said Aptos would accommodate users with a minimum understanding of blockchain so they could conduct transactions without worrying about hacking risks.

Shaikh said building trust was necessary for developing a crypto or a blockchain entity. He referred to the implosion of the crypto exchange FTX last November, which was plagued with alleged mismanagement of customer funds. Although the impact of FTX’s collapse on the entire industry was significant, he said it was “healthy” that bad entities were wiped out from the crypto space.

As of 2022, Aptos raised more than $400 million in funding. It has gained the attention of many prominent venture capitalists, including PayPal Ventures, Multicoin Capital and Coinbase Ventures.