Published on: 09/08/2022

StarHeroes developer receives grant from Microsoft

The developer behind StarHeroes, an upcoming blockchain-based third-person space shooter game, has recently announced that it had received a grant from tech giant Microsoft.

The grant has also allowed the game access to the Azure PlayFab, the multiplayer server hosting service owned by Microsoft, which means that StarHeroes now joins titles such as Rainbow Six Siege, Sea of Thieves and Forza Horizon that use the optimized multiplayer server hosting service.

The grant was also a historic event for the Web3 gaming environment as StarHeroes has become the first to receive such recognition from a major company.

Microsoft’s acknowledgment does provide an extra credential to the game amid general skepticism against Web3-based titles, especially those with the Play-to-Earn (P2E) model, and the grant will open doors for the team to develop StarHeroes further.

Following the breakthrough, the team behind StarHeroes took on Twitter to confirm the grant will be used for development. The game’s development team is now in line with those at Ubisoft, whose gaming portfolio expanded years back in some of the gaming world’s most beloved series, such as Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Tom Clancy’s shooter games.

More on StarHeroes, developer’s ambition

The team behind StarHeroes claims the game is the first galactic game on Terra Blockchain. The game is a fast-action space shooter where the “NFT hero” will explore the universe and fly spaceships. The core of the game still offers NFT for players to collect, which can be found in-game alongside its “multiple in-game utilities”.

Via a release published on March 25, the developer explained that the game would have combat mechanics and multiple ways of winning a battle against other players in several available multiplayer modes.

Like other P2E games, StarHeroes will have its own token called $STAR. The team confirmed that $STAR would be “extremely scarce”, and players may earn these tokens by either participating in a special pre-farming event or playing the game.

“$STAR tokens will be extremely scarce as there will be no pre-sale of the token to anyone, including the development team. The primary way to acquire the tokens will be to play the game or participate in a special pre-farming event,” the team wrote.

The team is also keen to have StarHeroes’ gameplay “fully dedicated” for esports purposes. Players may participate in 5v5 games, and squad-fill works similarly to other online games — one may invite friends, recruit others, or do random matchmaking.

“While playing the game you will join a team in multiplier, up to 5 vs 5, of your friends, recruit others, or have randomly assigned players fight alongside you. Compete using different strategies, tactics, hero classes and different space battle machines,” the team added.

Participating in StarHeroes’ competitive play will reward players with $STAR tokens. In addition, The developer also confirmed that ranking systems would appear in the game.

“Competing with your team and others to achieve higher ranking on the leaderboard — all while earning $STAR. As the game founders see amazing potential in blockchain esports gaming, the gameplay will be adjusted and fully dedicated to esports tournaments,” said the team.

“This means you can expect to earn decent rewards not only by daily playing the game but also in professional tournaments gathering top blockchain players.”