The blockchain game Legendary: Heroes Unchained, which raised $46 million in financing, is about to launch NFT minting and early access.

In 2022, there were a total of 334 public investment and financing events in the blockchain gaming sector, with a total financing scale of 4.4 billion USD. Among them, there are many projects with participation and lead investment from well-known institutions. Recently, the blockchain game developer and publisher N3twork Studios, ranked among the top in financing scale, is about to launch its first game Legendary: Heroes Unchained (LHU).

N3twork Studios was established in January 2022 and is formed by a game team acquired by a certain Blockchain gaming platform. The platform has over 40 partners and more than 15 million partner game users in the blockchain gaming field. Its financing scale is quite high, raising over $900 million in total in 2021. Investors include several well-known institutions from both the crypto and traditional sectors.

N3twork Studios announced the completion of a $46 million Series A financing round on May 18, 2022. The round was led by a gaming investment firm, with participation from several well-known institutions. The funds raised will primarily be used to develop two blockchain games: Legendary: Heroes Unchained and Triumph.

N3twork Studios plans to approach from two angles: a blend of crypto-native games and free-to-play games with Web3. The upcoming LHU is a crypto-native game, a play-to-earn role-playing game based on a once-popular mobile game IP.

Team Background

The N3twork Studios team consists of more than 60 members from several well-known gaming and internet companies. The main management team includes:

• Neil Young: Executive Chairman, co-founded the mobile game creator, publisher, and operator N3TWORK in 2013.

• Matt Ricchetti: President, with extensive experience in game design and product management.

• Josh Sell: Chief Operating Officer, formerly held executive positions at several gaming companies.

Game Development Progress

LHU opened pre-registration in September 2021, and by December, over 100,000 players had completed pre-registration. The game will introduce NFTs through Drops or Drop Events and will focus on organizing NFT collections around Seasons.

Founder's season will provide players with the opportunity to purchase NFTs for the first time. The community has opened the dungeon exploration game and the pre-sale qualification competition in the third quarter of 2022. In the first quarter of 2023, the minting opportunity for Founder NFTs and the early access version will be available.

LHU will introduce Hero NFT through Drops. The level and evolution of Hero NFT will become permanent attributes that determine its utility and value in the game. The official will also provide rookie heroes for free players to use.

The follow-up plans for 2023 include:

• Second Quarter: Open the third round of Founder NFT minting list and the second round of early access version.
• Q3: Launch of NFT marketplace and tokens
• Fourth Quarter: Release the second NFT collection

The number of NFTs issued will be fixed, with some being used for various activity rewards. The official team will also sell the held ecological tokens as needed to generate revenue.

Game Mechanics

LHU is a hero-based card collection game. Players can form teams of up to five heroes to engage in PvP or PvE battles. The game uses a play-and-own model, with the primary goal of providing an entertaining gaming experience.

The main game modes include:

• PvE Random Dungeon: Gain Hero Experience and Rewards
• PvP Arena: Earn Ranking Rewards
• Guild Battle: GvE and GvG modes

Each hero has 9 immutable traits and 6 assignable attributes that determine their performance in the game. Heroes also have individual power values that can be enhanced through upgrading, evolving, and other means.

The battle is divided into multiple rounds, and players can use energy multipliers to speed up the combat process. The officials reserve the right to adjust parameters in real-time environments to maintain the balance of the game.

Economic Model

LHU adopts a dual-token model:

1. LHU: Utility token, total supply fixed.

   • Purpose: Hero evolution, skill upgrades, purchasing NFT, etc.
   • Output: Event and tournament rewards

2. HP: functional token, no limit

   • Purpose: Restore hero health points
   • Output: Daily game earnings

In addition, there are three types of in-game currencies: "energy, evolution, health" that are not on the blockchain.

The official will regulate the token economy through various means, including:

• Control token production and consumption
• Adjust the NFT minting quantity and speed
• Monitor and adjust game difficulty

N3twork Studios has extensive experience in game development and publishing, and with the support of its parent company's resources, it is expected to bring more audiences to crypto games. However, the actual operational effect of the ecosystem still needs time to be validated, and it is worth our continued attention.