Animoca Brands acquired Eden Games, a long-standing racing game studio. Eden will be working on existing and new blockchain-powered racing games to benefit Animoca.
Animoca Brands, recently valued at more than $5 billion , is expanding by acquiring long-running videogame developer Eden Games.
Eden Games was founded in 1998. It is most well-known for its console and PC racing games, such as the Test Drive Unlimited series or Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed. This French studio focuses primarily on racing games. Recently, the focus has shifted to mobile titles like Gear.Club or F1 Mobile Racing.
Animoca purchased the studio from Engine Gaming & Media at $16 million. Eden Games, previously under Atari, was temporarily closed in 2013. It reopened as an independent studio following Atari’s bankruptcy proceedings.
It’s not surprising that Eden Games will be tasked to create blockchain-based racing games, given Animoca’s focus. The studio will be working on existing games in Animoca’s REVV Racing system, as well “a series” of brand new racing games.
REVV Racing includes the NFT-powered race game. It is powered by Ethereum sidechain scaling solution Polygon. All of Animoca’s racing games revolve around the REVV token.
An NFT is a deed to ownership of a digital item. In video games that could mean avatars, vehicles, weapons and customizable virtual land, it can also refer to race cars, avatars and other forms of customization. DappRadar estimates that the wider NFT market will generate $25B in trading volume by 2021.
The Eden Games acquisition comes just a month after Animoca abruptly shut down F1 Delta Time, its official Formula 1 game. After Animoca couldn’t renew its league license, the Ethereum-based gaming was forced to shut down.
Animoca offered NFTs from REVV Racing to replace players who purchased NFTs in F1 Delta Time. It also provided a Race Pass NFT which allows access benefits like token staking.
The upcoming racing games by Eden Games will also be part of the wider REVV ecosystem. Animoca presented the announcement as a benefit to those who were awarded compensatory NFTs due to the F1 Delta Time shut down.
According to to the press release, “The new games will offer additional utility to the NFT Race Passes as well as the other assets acquired by swapping assets of Animoca Brands F1 Delta Time,”
This is Animoca’s second acquisition of a racing game studio in 2022. Grease Monkey Games was the developer of Torque Drift. The firm also acquired Grease Monkey Games in February. Animoca also publishes The Sandbox which is an upcoming Ethereum-based metaverse gaming game.
