Singaporean developer Eyeball Games has raised $1.5 million in a pre-seed funding round led by White Star Capital, from its Ubisoft-backed Digital Asset Fund, reports Venturebeat. The round involved the participation of Polygon Ventures, Ocular, Immutable, and Great South Gate Ventures, as well as angel investors.
Eyeball Games will use the investment to fund the development and release of its blockchain pool game Eyeball Pool. The game is being developed by the creators of 8 Ball Pool, a mobile title which has achieved more than a billion downloads to date. The game will initially be released online for players who hold the its NFTs, with a full mobile rollout scheduled for the first quarter of 2024. This release will also see the game’s NFTs convert into starter packs, including exclusive and unique items.
Success in Singapore
Singapore is a quickly growing mobile gaming hub, and this growth has accelerated in recent years as some of the biggest players in the Chinese gaming scene, such as MiHoYo, have set up new studios in the country to avoid increased regulation by the Chinese government.
Singapore’s location in the increasingly lucrative SEA market also sees its gaming companies benefit from a market with increasing mobile penetration, with more and more people onboarding onto mobile gaming than ever before.
“We are delighted to gain the backing of prestigious investors for our first round of funding,” said Eyeball Games CEO Jonathan Ivarsson. “We look forward to tapping into their knowledge and support to build a world-class game that gives players true ownership of their assets and pioneers a new approach to valuation creation.”
“We believe that Web3 has so much potential to improve gameplay experience beyond what’s possible today,” said White Star Capital general partner Eddie Lee. “We’re excited to partner with the Eyeball team and create a game that will be enjoyed by millions of people one day.”
We listed miHoYo as one of the top 50 mobile game makers of 2022. We’ll be unveiling our list for 2023 in the coming months.
