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PUBG meets Cosmos

Krafton, the company behind PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), is venturing into Web3 with Settlus, a Cosmos-based blockchain project specifically designed for the creator economy. Settlus aims to provide content creators with a payment platform that streamlines transparent settlement processes.

The South Korean gaming giant’s project was announced at the Korea Blockchain Week’s Circle Hacker House event, co-presented by Circle and AngelHack. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire highlighted PUBG’s large user base of 30 million monthly active users.

Cosmos’ software development kit will serve as the framework, and network gas fees will be payable using stablecoins.

A metaverse project by the name of Migaloo is also in the works. The project will center around user-generated content, allowing creators to automatically create nonfungible tokens of their digital content and earn royalties from platform sales.

Krafton previously announced a collaboration with Solana Labs in March 2022 to “support the design and marketing of blockchain-based games and services,” but no Web3 products have been released since. Settlus’ testnet is scheduled to launch in early 2024.

Who’s after players’ wallets: Web3 games or big publishers?

Web3 games may be marketed toward the allure of monetary gain, as most of the demographic is made of investors and financiers who wish to get something in return. Traditional gaming is doing the same. The only difference is that, in Web2 gaming, it’s the company and its shareholders getting all the revenue instead of the ecosystem. Free-to-play multiplayer online game League of Legends generated $1.75 billion in revenue for Riot Games in 2020 — mostly from cosmetic skin sales.

For a free-to-play game, earning money through cosmetics can be understandable. But what about games that charge players the full premium?

Soccer franchise FIFA’s Ultimate Team mode, which allows users to buy card packs that contain footballers they can use on their team, brought its publisher, Electronic Arts (EA), $1.62 billion in content revenue in 2021. As one Web3 gaming put it:

Gamers recall the backlash Star Wars Battlefront II received when EA Studios locked the most prominent characters of the franchise, including Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, behind loot boxes.

A comment from Electronic Arts’ community team regarding the complaints about the situation received more than 680,000 downvotes on Reddit, setting a Guinness World Record for the most downvoted comment of all time.

Most downvoted Reddit comment of all time. (Reddit)

Web3 gaming is nowhere near traditional gaming in terms of the user base. For example, Axie Infinity, one of the most popular Web3 games, reached a daily average of 11,072 users, while Roblox averaged 23,864,489 daily users during April 2023.

There were 2,155 Roblox players for each Axie Infinity player in April 2023. (CoinGecko)

Web3 game developers search for a solution in alternative business models, like play-to-earn, to draw in the masses and bridge the gap with traditional gaming, promising users monetary gains in exchange for their time.



Traditional gaming and Web3 gaming are not that different. But Web3 gaming receives more hate than it deserves on monetization, primarily due to preconceptions around the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Traditional games can get away with money-grab decisions because there are a lot of great games balancing the sheets. For Web3 games, the solution to breaking the general prejudice lies in creating better games, not turning the space into a cash counter.

Is $20 million enough to develop an ID system for Web3 gaming?

Animoca Brands raised $20 million in a funding round to accelerate the development of its Mocaverse project. The company was valued at $5 billion last year and has numerous investments in its portfolio, such as NFT marketplace OpenSea and Web3 games such as The Sandbox and Axie Infinity.

The funding round was led by CMCC Global and featured familiar names, including Sky Mavis founder Aleksander Larsen and Guild Games founder Gabby Dizon. Animoca Brands co-founder and executive chairman Yat Siu, who also participated in the round, commented on their goal:

“The ongoing evolution of the internet involves a shift from hierarchical power structures to autonomous ones, and the DAO-based approach of Mocaverse ensures that its community will be focused on driving innovation and collaboration across the broader Animoca Brands ecosystem.”

Mocaverse is preparing to launch its non-transferrable NFT collection called Moca ID as part of the funding round. The collection will enable owners to create their on-chain identities and participate in the Mocaverse.

Holders of Moca ID will have exclusive access to experiences within the project and earn loyalty points with their engagement. These loyalty points will be utilized in a permissionless and interoperable loyalty system that will be progressively decentralized. Will $20 million be enough to develop this ambitious system? With backing from a brand as solid as Animoca, the sky’s the limit.

Hot take: Shardbound

I was a hardcore League of Legends player back in the day. My only issue with the game back then was the mouse clicks. LoL was only available for PC during the early 2010s, and as a rookie copywriter at my agency, I was not able to play it silently during the office hours.

This is why the announcement of Vainglory, an iOS game sharing the same DNA with established titles like LoL and DOTA, was a big deal for me. I got an iPhone 6, then an iPad, just to be able to play that game silently like an office anarchist. 

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I played Vainglory for years and sold my iPad only after they finally pulled the plug on the game by shutting down its servers. So, imagine my surprise when I heard the guys behind Vainglory were making a Web3 game.

With experience from Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar Studios, League of Legends maker Riot Games and award-winning Vainglory in their pockets, Bazooka Tango co-founders Bo Daly and Stephan Sherman took on the Shardbound project and were kind enough to walk me through the game and answer my questions. 

In a nutshell, Shardbound is a turn-based tactical collectible card game that puts players against each other on a tile-based isometric map. After being given the chance to play the alpha version, I can fairly say Shardbound is a promising game — not just in the Web3 sense — that brings a new approach to an age-old genre. The general look of the game feels similar to auto chess battlers, such as Dota Underlords and Teamfight Tactics, with an art style resembling Blizzard games like Heroes of the Storm. 

The free-to-play game bears all the usual tactical card game elements we’ve seen in the likes of Hearthstone, such as heroes who have skills and cards with mana, health, attack damage numbers and different abilities. Except all this happens on a 3D hex map that introduces fresh movement mechanics. Players get to move and position their minions and heroes as they like to get the maximum strategic advantage.

Blue mana crystals, which randomly spawn on the map, award players with extra mana when attacked. Players can win the match by either collecting 10 victory points or by zeroing out their rival hero’s health. Victory points are earned by hitting randomly spawned orange crystals, which grant the hero or minion that hits them an orange shard. If the hero or entity is killed by the end of the next round, the shard goes to the opponent. If they stay alive, the shard disappears and the holder gains a victory point.

Shardbound is a PvP tactical card game played on a tile-based isometric map.

Shardbound has six different factions, each offering a unique hero and a different playstyle. For example, Landshapers, represented by the color green, offer a more control-oriented gameplay, while purple color-coded Bloodbinders take a more vampire-like approach and allow the player to damage their own hero to strengthen their minions.

Shardbound features six different factions.

Cards can be upgraded by combining copies up to five levels. The fifth level is called the “tournament grade,” with the end goal being to have a deck of 30 tournament cards. 

Shardbound has two sides: one in Web2 and one in Web3. It is possible to reach tournament grade on the Web2 side, but it is much harder, as cards are dropped from mystery boxes, which means the player is mostly dependent on their luck. The Web3 side allows tradeable and purchasable cards, making the upgrade process much easier. 

Competitive players will eventually have to get into the Web3 side of Shardbound to keep their competitive edge.

Even in the alpha stage, Sharbound bears immense potential and is a candidate to be an all-time classic with its innovative features. The game gives Web3 gaming an actual product that focuses on gameplay instead of monetization. If they don’t stray from their current path and gain some mainstream adoption, it is safe to say that Shardbound is set for success. 

More from Web3 gaming space:

– Polkastarter Gaming rebranded to GAM3S.GG after securing $2 million in seed funding.

– Crypto entertainment experience Tokyo Beast was announced at Korea Blockchain Week.

– Planetarium unveiled Verse8 and Immortal Rising 2.

– Zynga released the mint details for its Web3 IP, Sugartown.

– Blockchain-based MMO Heroes of Mavia introduced the mass ownership model.

– The Captain Tsubasa avatar collection is coming to The Sandbox.

– Creator of the Deadfellaz NFT collection, DFZ Labs, is creating a trading card game codenamed RIP TCG.

Erhan Kahraman

Erhan Kahraman

Based in Istanbul, Erhan started his career as a gaming journalist. He now works as a freelance writer and content creator with a focus on cutting-edge technology and video games. He enjoys playing Elden Ring, Street Fighter 6 and Persona 5.

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‘Shameful’ that black boys in London more likely to die than white boys, says Met Police chief

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'Shameful' that black boys in London more likely to die than white boys, says Met Police chief

It is “shameful” that black boys growing up in London are “far more likely” to die than white boys, Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley has told Sky News.

The commissioner told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that relations with minority communities “is difficult for us”.

Sir Mark, who came out of retirement to become head of the UK’s largest police force in 2022, said: “We can’t pretend otherwise that we’ve got a history between policing and black communities where policing has got a lot wrong.

“And we get a lot more right today, but we do still make mistakes. That’s not in doubt. I’m being as relentless in that as it can be.”

He said the “vast majority” of the force are “good people”.

However, he added: “But that legacy, combined with the tragedy that some of this crime falls most heavily in black communities, that creates a real problem because the legacy creates concern.”

Sir Mark, who also leads the UK’s counter-terrorism policing, said it is “not right” that black boys growing up in London “are far more likely to be dead by the time they’re 18” than white boys.

“That’s, I think, shameful for the city,” he admitted.

The Met Police chief’s admission comes two years after an official report found the force is institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.

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Police chase suspected phone thief

Baroness Casey was commissioned in 2021 to look into the Met Police after serving police officer Wayne Couzens abducted, raped and murdered Sarah Everard.

She pinned the primary blame for the Met’s culture on its past leadership and found that stop and search and the use of force against black people was excessive.

At the time, Sir Mark, who had been commissioner for six months when the report was published, said he would not use the labels of institutionally racist, institutionally misogynistic and institutionally homophobic, which Casey insisted the Met deserved.

However, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who helped hire Sir Mark – and could fire him – made it clear the commissioner agreed with Baroness Casey’s verdict.

After the report was released, Sir Mark said “institutional” was political language so he was not going to use it, but he accepted “we have racists, misogynists…systematic failings, management failings, cultural failings”.

A few months after the report, Sir Mark launched a two-year £366m plan to overhaul the Met, including increased emphasis on neighbourhood policing to rebuild public trust and plans to recruit 500 more community support officers and an extra 565 people to work with teams investigating domestic violence, sexual offences and child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Watch the full interview on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips from 8.30am on Sunday.

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Unite votes to suspend Angela Rayner over Birmingham bin strike

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Unite votes to suspend Angela Rayner over Birmingham bin strike

Labour’s largest union donor, Unite, has voted to suspend Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner over her role in the Birmingham bin strike row.

Members of the trade union, one of the UK’s largest, also “overwhelmingly” voted to “re-examine its relationship” with Labour over the issue.

They said Ms Rayner, who is also housing, communities and local government secretary, Birmingham Council’s leader, John Cotton, and other Labour councillors had been suspended for “bringing the union into disrepute”.

There was confusion over Ms Rayner’s membership of Unite, with her office having said she was no longer a member and resigned months ago and therefore could not be suspended.

But Unite said she was registered as a member. Parliament’s latest register of interests had her down as a member in May.

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The union said an emergency motion was put to members at its policy conference in Brighton on Friday.

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Unite is one of the Labour Party’s largest union donors, donating £414,610 in the first quarter of 2025 – the highest amount in that period by a union, company or individual.

The union condemned Birmingham’s Labour council and the government for “attacking the bin workers”.

Mountains of rubbish have been piling up in the city since January after workers first went on strike over changes to their pay, with all-out strike action starting in March. An agreement has still not been made.

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Rat catcher tackling Birmingham’s bins problem

Ms Rayner and the councillors had their membership suspended for “effectively firing and rehiring the workers, who are striking over pay cuts of up to £8,000”, the union added.

‘Missing in action’

General secretary Sharon Graham told Sky News on Saturday morning: “Angela Rayner, who has the power to solve this dispute, has been missing in action, has not been involved, is refusing to come to the table.”

She had earlier said: “Unite is crystal clear, it will call out bad employers regardless of the colour of their rosette.

“Angela Rayner has had every opportunity to intervene and resolve this dispute but has instead backed a rogue council that has peddled lies and smeared its workers fighting huge pay cuts.

“The disgraceful actions of the government and a so-called Labour council, is essentially fire and rehire and makes a joke of the Employment Relations Act promises.

“People up and down the country are asking whose side is the Labour government on and coming up with the answer not workers.”

SN pics from 10/04/25 Tyseley Lane, Tyseley, Birmingham showing some rubbish piling up because of bin strikes
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Piles of rubbish built up around Birmingham because of the strike over pay

Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said the government’s “priority is and always has been the residents of Birmingham”.

He said the decision by Unite workers to go on strike had “caused disruption” to the city.

“We’ve worked to clean up streets and remain in close contact with the council […] as we support its recovery,” he added.

A total of 800 Unite delegates voted on the motion.

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Binance’s CZ threatens to sue Bloomberg over Trump stablecoin report

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Binance’s CZ threatens to sue Bloomberg over Trump stablecoin report

Binance’s CZ threatens to sue Bloomberg over Trump stablecoin report

Binance co-founder CZ has dismissed a Bloomberg report linking him to the Trump-backed USD1 stablecoin, threatening legal action over alleged defamation.

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