Proof of Play, led by co-founder of Farmville Amitt Mahajan, has raised $33 million to create Web3 games, according to an announcement on September 21st. Mahajan serves as the CEO of Proof of Play, and Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear is a board member.
The funding comes from Chris Dixon at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Neil Mehta at Greenoaks, who led the investment. Investors also include Naval Ravikant, Balaji Srinivasan, and the co-founders of the online streaming platform Twitch, as well as Web3 companies like Anchorage Digital, Mercury, Firebase, Zynga, and Alchemy.
Proof of Play released a private beta of its first game, Pirate Nation, in December 2022.
In their announcement, the company claims they can overcome many of the barriers that players often face when trying to play Web3 games. They assert that they possess “a set of technology and product innovations” that will “quickly immerse players in exciting gameplay” without needing to understand blockchain beforehand.
Proof of Play also states their commitment to decentralization. Pirate Nation is a “forever game” that can run without external servers or creator intervention, adding that the company plans to open-source its technology framework in the future to further decentralize.
The Proof of Play team includes members from major gaming and web companies, including Epic Games, Zynga, EA, Activision, and Google.
Million-dollar funding rounds from Web3 companies have become a standard in 2023. EVE Online developer CCP Games raised $40 million in March to develop a new EVE spin-off game, and Hyperplay raised $12 million in June to further develop its distribution platform, competing with Steam.