Animoca Brands Joins $8 Million Seed Funding Round for Pixelmon NFT Project "Disaster"
Pixelmon, a controversial NFT project from the past, announces an $8 million Seed funding round.
Animoca Brands Joins $8 Million Seed Funding Round for Pixelmon NFT Project "Disaster"(Image: 9Minecraft)
The NFT game Pixelmon, previously criticized and dubbed a "disaster" for its perceived poor quality, appears to be turning its fortunes around. The project has concluded an $8 million Seed funding round, with participation from prominent investors such as Animoca Brands, Delphi Ventures, and Foresight Ventures.
The funding round also attracted contributions from Amber Group, 9GAG co-founder Ray Chan, and Immutable co-founder Robbie Ferguson.
Pixelmon is the brainchild of Pixelation Labs, a subsidiary of Web3 venture capital firm LiquidX Studios based in Singapore. Rising with the concept of creating the "first AAA community-driven NFT game," Pixelmon combines creature nurturing gameplay akin to Pokémon with 8-bit Minecraft-style graphics. NFTs within the game serve multiple purposes, granting holders land airdrops, project tokens, and other items. Players can also stake NFTs to earn additional rewards.
To fund its operations, the project raised $70 million from players through Ethereum (ETH) NFT sales, promising enhanced game graphics. However, the game, valued in the millions, immediately faced community backlash due to graphics resembling those of a first-grader.
Upon its launch in March 2022, Pixelmon received heavy criticism, disappointing gamers. Co-founder Syber publicly acknowledged the flaws and pledged an additional $2 million to improve image quality and restore community trust.
By September 2022, Pixelmon announced new leadership and renovation plans. A year later, the project introduced the game "Kevin the Adventurer," contributing to the surge of NFT floor prices from a low of 0.35 ETH ($800) to an all-time high of 1.85 ETH ($4,200).
Sharing with The Block, Giulio Xiloyannis, CEO of Pixelmon and co-founder of LiquidX, revealed Pixelmon is currently developing four games centered around its legendary NFT characters. The company plans to release PixelPals later this month.
