News

Dec 17, 2023

Web3 Gaming Studio Argus Raises $10M Lead By Haun Ventures

Video game controller (Jose Gil/Unsplash) Crypto investment firm Haun Ventures

Video game controller (Jose Gil/Unsplash)

Crypto investment firm Haun Ventures has led the $10 million seed round for Web3 gaming studio Argus.

The round also saw participation from venture firms Robot Ventures, Anagram, Dispersion Capital, Web3 developer backend Alchemy and a handful of individual investors including former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan.

In addition, Argus is announcing the World Engine, a blockchain-gaming software developer kit (SDK) that will allow builders to create their own Web3 gaming ecosystems.

Scott Sunarto, CEO of Argus, told CoinDesk that the company aims to not only build the blockchain infrastructure to support emerging Web3 games but also to support developers in expanding their visions.

"Computer games in the 1980s and ‘90s were building their engine to build their own game … I think we're at a very similar stage in crypto gaming right now, where if you really want to build great applications for great content, you really need to have this ability to push the envelope yourself," said Sunarto. "That's really why we’re this engine infrastructure team and a content game studio built in-house."

Sunarto said that Argus plans to use the funding to scale the team and build out its studio and tooling infrastructure.

Breck Stodghill, the Haun Ventures investor who led the round, told CoinDesk that he sees Sunarto as a "missionary" in his efforts to spearhead growth in the greater Web3 gaming space.

"He believes first and foremost that the power of games to unite folks and the power of crypto is something that should be put together if we can figure out some of the infrastructure problems," said Stodghill. "If we can create fertile ground for game developers to have crypto as a tool, there'll be some really interesting new games that emerge – and it'll end up being super positive for the people who play games."

After a bear market that slowed investment across the entire Web3 industry, funding rounds for blockchain-based games have started to pick up again. In March, crypto investment firm a16z led a $40 million investment round for gaming studio CCP Games to expand into Web3. In February, the firm led a $25 million Series A for Web3 gamified-social protocol Here Not There.

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Cam Thompson is a news reporter at CoinDesk.

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