NDUS Interactive, a South Korean game studio making a third-person shooter game Xociety, has raised $7.5 million in funding.
The pre-Series A funding round was led by Hashed and the Sui Foundation, with additional investment from other prominent gaming entities such as Spartan, Neoclassic, Bigbrain Holdings, and Krafton.
The funding comes off the heels of Xociety’s beta testing, where it accrued over 3,000 users from 76 countries, reaching over 11,000 hours of playtime. NDUS Interactive said the test retained over 77% of players for a week or more.
NDUS Interactive is developing Xociety, integrating RPG mechanics with a new reward system emphasizing player engagement and skill. The game introduces an in-game corporation system, allowing players to own shares and manage their own companies and economic entities within the game world.
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“We are focusing on creating a sustainable player engagement model, moving away from the short-lived earning models seen in some Web3 games,” said Jeffry Kim, founder of NDUS Interactive, in a statement. “This investment will help us blend the best aspects of traditional gaming with the possibilities of Web3.”
The game is being developed by industry veterans with a proven record in building engaging commercial-level gaming services such as Myoungjin Lee, known for his work on Ragnarok, and Sang Chung, former Head of PlayDapp.
“Our team’s experience is crucial in developing a high-quality, engaging game that stands out in the Web3 space,” commented Simon Kim, CEO and managing partner of Hashed, in a statement.
“Xociety is a natural partner for Sui,” said Greg Siourounis, managing director of Sui Foundation, in a statement. “Thanks to Sui’s high throughput, instant settlement speeds, dynamic on-chain assets, players will be able to experience the best of what gaming powered by web3 has to offer.”
The company describes Xociety as a “triple-A” game featuring player-versus-player (PvP) and player-versus-environment (PvE) elements combined with RPG mechanics, with the aim of innovating within the Web 3.0 gaming segment.
With an emphasis on player experience, Xociety aims to redefine gaming experiences offering FPS players economic control, transforming them into key economic agents. Unlike traditional FPS games, where a single user’s activity has little impact on the broader game environment, decisions in Xociety create dynamic ripple effects throughout the gameplay and environment, the company said.
The company has 33 people. NDUS Interactive was founded in January 2022 and it was incubated by UNOPND.
The core leadership team has experience as leaders from global game companies such as NCSoft, Nexon, and Krafton. Among the other notable team members is Jeffrey Kim, lead director, with 20 years of experience and multiple lead experience with dev projects for NCSoft and Nexon.
NDUS sees blockchain technology as the solution to enable safe and transparent transactions of all in-game assets without relying on centralized authorities or intermediaries. By adopting Web 3.0 technology, NDUS aims to create a fair and decentralized gaming ecosystem that empowers players with true ownership and control over their digital assets.
More importantly, Web 3.0 enables interoperability which is already providing content expansion through leveraging partner assets as additional game content, the company said.
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