Immutable published game Guild of Guardians raises $2m in one hour through NFT sales.

Guild of Guardians, an NFT-based mobile blockchain role-playing game (RPG) published by the Australian team of Immutable and developed by Stepico Games, today announces the completion of the first wave of its Founder's NFT Sale. In total, the Sale raised more than $3m USD, with $2.8m coming in the space of 24 hours. The NFT sale, which marks the first in a series of Guild of Guardians offerings, featured a collection of soon-to-be-playable in-game NFTs ranging from $200 to $100,000 USD in price.

Derek Lau, Game lead for Guild of Guardians, said: "In wave one alone, we managed to achieve more than $3 million in sales,133,270 pre-game registrations, and sell almost all of the NFTs on offer. In addition, the community response has been incredible. Over 50% of all sales came via referrals — indicating that the community was sharing with each other, and there is a real 'share-to-earn' aspect in place."

Yield Guild Games (YGG), a decentralized collective of nearly 15,000 players and investors who generate yield from NFT-based games, was one of the first to participate in the Sale. Founder Gabby Dizon said: "We are always looking for the next good play-to earn-games, and Guild of Guardians piqued our interest. We spoke to the team, and we're happy with what we found; they have polished graphics, interesting gameplay; we like that it is mobile-based and that they have the guild system, which is perfect for what we do, so it ticked all the right boxes for us to come in and buy assets for the game."

YGG secured one of only ten "Mythic guild" NFTs for $100,000. The highly coveted NFT allows entry for up to 50 players and provides the guild owner a 10% cut of guild crafting. For YGG's members, this translates to tangible, real-world income.

According to Dizon, players in the Philippines (which had an unemployment rate reaching as high as 17.7% during the pandemic) have been playing games in the Guild and earning $300-$400 per month — 33% higher than the average monthly income in the Philippines.

"Being able to turn gaming into a career is a groundbreaking notion for many, and we're pleased we are able to facilitate a future where career-based gaming is a reality. But rather than 'play-to-earn,' we want to instill the idea of 'play-and-earn' — ensuring that players are not just playing to make money alone, but playing for fun and great gameplay as well," Lau said

One of the primary benefits of NFT and blockchain-based gaming is cross-game interoperability, allowing players to use the same in-game items and characters within multiple metaverses.

Attempting to bring the concept to reality, Guild of Guardians partnered with The Sandbox, a unique virtual world where players can build, own, and monetize their gaming experiences using NFTs. The partnership will allow players of Guild of Guardians and The Sandbox to interact across both game ecosystems.

The incipient game was also recently selected for the exclusive Ubisoft Entrepreneurs Labs Season Six program. Led by Ubisoft's Strategic Innovation Lab, the incubator supports startups creating products and services that have the potential to transform the entertainment industry.

"We're extremely excited for the future of the Guild of Guardians and NFT/blockchain gaming in general. The space opens up a breadth of collaborative opportunities, has the potential to disrupt and alter the face of gaming as we know it," Lau added.