Published on: 23/09/2022
Iskra raises $40M to host TGE, develop platform
Iskra has raised $40 million from Korean tech giants to hold its first-ever Token Generation Event on Gate.io on September 29, 2022, and continue to develop its Web3 gaming platform.
The fundraising involved companies such as Netmarble and LINE Studio also showed that Iskra is planning to pursue its goals despite the recent crypto market crash a few months ago.
Iskra’s Token Generation Event is a landmark in the development of the project and will let the platform establish the value of the company’s native token ISK alongside providing global access to its users.
“We are fortunate to work with and launch with one of the top 10 trading exchanges in the world,” said Eugene Lee, chief executive officer at Iskra.
One day before the Token Generation Event goes live on Gate.io, Iskra users can receive up to 500,000 ISK tokens by staking USDT. This promotion will be followed by the game’s release in Q4 of 2022 alongside features such as the Iskra Marketplace, game NFT sales and more.
Iskra’s plan to solve blockchain gaming’s problems
Currently, Iskra believes there is a gap in the market for gaming. Traditional games are “a one-sided market” where players do not receive any additional rewards or value for their time and investment. Combined with the high cost of development, this leads to traditional game studios “creating highly concentrated oligopolies” to minimize the potential risk.
Play-to-earn gaming seeks to address this issue but comes with some limitations on its own. Iskra identified that most gaming experiences end up in the play-to-earn market and end up being reduced to their financial value, making the act of playing the game feel like a job. Instead of building a traditional play-to-earn platform, Iskra is looking to establish a “play-and-earn” mindset that rewards the player through financial incentives and enjoyable gameplay.
“Current play-to-earn gaming creates financial rewards for users but provides no fun or entertainment. We have flipped the paradigm on its head by transitioning from a ‘play-to-earn’ mindset to a ‘play-and-earn’ mindset which combines financial rewards with a fun gaming experience,” Iskra wrote in its whitepaper.
The current state of blockchain gaming also presents issues for developers. There is a large amount and variety of blockchains, platforms and wallets, which makes it difficult for a developer to choose which one to utilize. The blockchain gaming audience being new also means that most developers aren’t sure how to cater a game to a relatively new demographic, leading to unbalanced gameplay and earning experiences.
Iskra’s platform aims to make things more convenient for a developer by providing an established community to get guidance from and scalable tokenomics solutions so developers can settle on a cryptocurrency model suitable for their game. Iskra’s team can provide guidance on creating games that are both financially rewarding and enjoyable to play alongside a consistent, sustainable platform to grow and foster a community.
“Game studios, for their part, can utilize various resources provided by Iskra to build games of all genres… we provide the full support necessary for the development and operation of blockchain games, from funding and infrastructure to a token economy and a passionate community…” wrote Iskra.
