Turkish mobile game developer Manc, best known for its string of Muhabbet mobile games, has reported that they have received a $50m investment from GEM Digital Limited. The investment will go towards further integrating Manc’s “Mancium” utility token (a type of cryptocurrency used to access digital services) into their mobile games. The Mancium token will reportedly form a major part of their mobile game ecosystem and has already been utilised in “meta” versions of their games.
The Mancium token mirrors other company’s introduction of “play-to-earn” concepts into their games and digital ecosystems. With players both using it in-game and being able to sell and buy it like “traditional” cryptocurrency. Manc CEO and Founder Halit Emre Aydin stated, on how this investment would change the company’s presence, “This commitment from GEM Digital will push Manc a step closer to becoming a global gaming company. Not just in the mobile game app industry, but in the game ecosystem as well.”
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Manc was founded in 2019 however Mancium, their flagship utility token, was only announced earlier this year. Turkey has been a major adopter of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency due to a (reported by Financial Express) lack of faith in traditional financial institutions. It’s also not the first multi-million dollar investment that GEM Digital Limited made, with the same amount going to database management firm Inery earlier this year.
At a time when general interest in blockchain technology seems to be dropping, GEM Digital’s investment is notable for its size. It also follows an increasing trend of Turkish mobile developers seeing larger domestic and overseas investment into the growing market of this region. Turkish developers such as Magic Games and Umuro have recently seen investments in the millions, but a $50m investment outstrips them by a wide margin.
It’s interesting to note that although NFT sales and cryptocurrency transactions have dipped significantly, investors are still seeing potential in the market. As we reported in our ongoing coverage of Drake Star’s Global Gaming Report, Metaverse and Crypto-based investments have been a not insignificant part of the gaming industry this year despite the scepticism the technology still faces.
