Mantle, a burgeoning DAO-led web3 ecosystem built around Ethereum layer 2 (L2) Mantle Network and Ether liquid staking protocol Mantle LSP, announced its integration with MetaCene, the next-generation blockchain MMORPG homeland for mass-market players.
Adhering to the principle of co-creation and co-governance, the strategic alliance between Mantle and MetaCene seeks to lower barriers to entry for users new to web3 and enable more gamers to enjoy enhanced gaming experiences powered by blockchain technology. MetaCene has secured an impressive US$15M over two rounds of early-stage funding, backed by a strong bench of industry heavyweights including Mantle EcoFund, Folius Ventures, SevenX Ventures, Animoca Ventures, WeMade, The Spartan Group and other prominent players in the blockchain and gaming sectors.
MetaCene leverages its Realms Server Network to incorporate deep-seated AAA gaming heritage with the ethos of blockchain innovation, including decentralized assets, governance rights and financialization opportunities to facilitate a seamless transition from web2 to web3 for traditional gamers. The project’s limited-edition Apostle NFT collection has demonstrated remarkable success, with 500 NFTs reaching the highest floor price of 1.88 ETH, showcasing strong market confidence and outperforming many other NFTs in the current market.
Preceding this launch was xMetaCene, a P2E mini-game available on Mantle and as a Google Chrome Extension, which drew over 478,000 players and generated more than 3 million on-chain transactions in Season 2 alone. The popularity and impressive engagement of both the Apostle NFT collection and xMetaCene mini-game underscores strong support for MetaCene’s blockchain MMORPG from its vibrant community.
Reimagining Triple-A Gaming With Blockchain Technology
MetaCene boasts an exceptional pedigree in the gaming industry. Founded by Alan Tan, the former CEO of Shanda Games, a NASDAQ-listed gaming powerhouse that popularized MMORPGs in Asia, the project is steered by a team of industry veterans with over 20 years of experience from renowned companies in the gaming sector. This wealth of expertise positions MetaCene uniquely to revolutionize the world of gaming by taking AAA-standard MMORPG on-chain and supercharging a truly immersive gaming experience.
Through the launch of MetaCene’s Gold Rush on Mantle, both web2 and web3 gamers will gain true asset ownership, community empowerment through user-generated content (UGC), community governance and virtual society building.
This has been made possible through having 500,000+ ecosystem users onboarded across three testing phases — 1 pre-alpha and 3 alpha tests, with 75% day-one retention and 51% 14-day retention, demonstrating MetaCene’s high commitment to ensuring that the game is well-tested and trialed before it is ready for market. Through the tests, the team garnered actionable insights from real user experience and transformed them into catalysts for infrastructure-end upgrades, game mechanism improvements, and long-term developmental inspirations to meet the diverse needs of a broad player base.
High-Performance Web3 Gaming Infrastructure Built for Complexity
Equipped with high-performance infrastructure, a web2-friendly in-game SDK, and intuitive on-chain asset management and transactions, MetaCene possesses all the right tools to minimize interactive complexity. By employing a seamless web2 and web3 distribution approach, MetaCene ensures that users can navigate and experience blockchain gaming with ease, making it accessible to all regardless of technical ability.
Geezee, Head of Gaming at Mantle, said, “We’re thrilled to partner with MetaCene, a team whose passion and expertise are set to transform the blockchain gaming landscape. The involvement of industry legends and backing from reputable investors underscores the project’s potential. Laser-focused on elevating users’ gaming experiences utilizing blockchain technology, MetaCene’s revolutionary game aligns with our vision to enable large-scale and high-quality games suitable for gamers from all around the world. This strategic alliance demonstrates our dedication to revolutionizing the gaming industry by empowering innovative projects and developers, driving mass adoption through cutting-edge web3 gaming experiences.”
Alan Tan, Founder and CEO at MetaCene, said: “As with any serious gaming venture, computing-intensive interactions between players and assets require a highly-performant network to support seamless gameplay. To that end, we are excited to take MetaCene’s mission to revolutionize blockchain gaming to the next level through our collaboration with Mantle. Our strategic alliance will allow us to tap on Mantle’s cutting-edge modular L2 technology, strong technical support and resources to propel the growth of web3 blockchain gaming and GameFi to proliferate across the robust and well-established Mantle Ecosystem.”
MetaCene Gold Rush is now available on Mantle. For more information, follow the official Twitter/X of MetaCene: https://twitter.com/