Game studio Ncsoft strikes partnership with Mysten Labs, reveals $15 million backing

Blockchain developer Mysten Labs has entered a strategic partnership with South Korean gaming company Ncsoft, according to a company release.

The developer of the Sui blockchain, will partner with the game development studio to create engaging gaming experiences. Ncsoft is known for its development of popular massively multiplayer online games, such as Lineage and Guild Wars.

As part of the partnership, Ncsoft contributed $15 million to Mysten Lab’s previously announced $300 million Series B round, which valued the company at over $2 billion. Other backers included FTX Ventures, Binance Labs, Franklin Templeton and Jump Crypto.

What is Sui?

Sui is a Layer 1 blockchain developed by the Mysten Labs teams. The startup was founded last year by former Meta executives and architects of Meta’s Diem blockchain project. Sui leverages the Move programming language, which was developed at Meta, and uses novel data structures to create a fast and low-cost blockchain.

“The scalability and object-oriented architecture of Sui render it the destination of choice for developers seeking to build densely populated games that realize the benefits of on-chain elements, monetize well, and, most importantly, result in high quality user experiences,” said Sam Blackshear, co-founder and chief technology officer of Mysten Labs, in the release.

The Move language is also being leveraged by another buzzy Layer 1 blockchain founded by Meta executives known as Aptos. The chain has raised over $350 million from investors this year and launched on mainnet only a few weeks ago.

Both chains are competing for market share in an already crowded market of established blockchains such as Ethereum, Solana and Avalanche.

The Ncsoft partnership

This isn’t Ncsoft’s first foray into the web3 world. The game developer planned to launch NFT-based games in the second quarter of  this year, it said in a 2021 third quarter earnings call. The games would follow a play-to-earn gaming model, the company said. 

NFT gaming and trading volumes have dropped dramatically since Ncsoft’s announcement was made last year as the macroeconomic environment worsened.

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