HyperPlay raises $12M in Series A funding round

On June 8, HyperPlay — a Web3-native game launcher — said it closed its Series A funding round after raising $12 million from investors, including co-leaders Griffin Gaming Partners and Bitkraft Ventures. 

Other investors include MetaMask’s parent company ConsenSys, Ethereal Ventures, Delphi, Game7, Mirana Ventures and Monoceros Ventures.

HyperPlay, which was established in November 2022 by MetaMask and Game7 DAO, says its platform tackles the Web3 gaming interoperability challenge “head-on,” providing interoperability for Web3 gaming, and allowing developers to work without being bound by centralized entities like Apple, Google and Steam.

The platform says it aims to enable interoperability across all Web3 games through a wallet overlay on top of games that allows players to carry their MetaMask wallet inside native or browser-based games. HyperPlay’s game store currently offers over 33 Web3 titles, the company said.

“Since announcing HyperPlay in November of last year, we’ve been focused on building a platform that empowers both developers and users to effortlessly navigate the Web3 gaming realm,” said JacobC.eth, founder of HyperPlay.

The platform touts itself as serving both developers and users alike, and says its “developer loyal” focus means it “charges no taxes on in-game economies, instead monetizing optional features like on-ramping or token swaps.”

For users, HyperPlay says it supports all Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible chains, enabling players to bring their wallets, tokens and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) into every native or browser game. HyperPlay’s launcher integrates an in-game wallet overlay, so users don’t need to leave the game and use a separate website for NFT transactions, the company said.

Web3 gaming, or blockchain gaming, uses distributed ledger technology to offer greater transparency, security, democratization and user control over in-game assets.

According to a report from DappRadar, Web3 gaming accounted for almost half of all blockchain transactions in 2022. This positions gaming as the fastest-growing sector in the blockchain space, well ahead of decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFTs.

That momentum has continued into 2023, with the sector experiencing consistent growth in the first quarter of 2023, according to another DappRadar report. Blockchain games and metaverse projects received $739 million of funding in the period.