A number of crypto-gaming companies have ramped up production in the past year in the hopes of revolutionizing the growing industry. Adding to the list is London-based game company Cauldron, which plans to become the “Pixar of web3” with a key element: storytelling.
The company just closed an initial $6.6 million round and plans to release its first web3 game universe, Project Nightshade, in the fall, Mark Warrick, the company’s founder and CEO, told TechCrunch exclusively.
“A huge part missing from Web 3 games is the storytelling… people don’t really come back because there is no reason to go back,” Warrick said. “If you close your eyes and listen to a Pixar movie, you won’t be able to see the art or the technology but the story still sweeps you in. What matters is the storytelling.”
The game studio was a subsidiary founded in August 2021 by Warrick and two creative veterans, Fox Rogers and Matt Hyde. The company has since hired science fiction and fantasy-focused authors to help build its focus on storytelling.
“When you look at web3 entertainment, you have to look at what web3 is: it’s about asset ownership,” Warrick said. “If you’re not designing around owning a part of the universe, current entertainment can’t translate into that.”
Cauldron plans to release three different game worlds for the public: two that have a fantasy corner, while one world focuses on science fiction, Warrick noted.
“We focus on Pixar not because of the aesthetics, but because they created a recipe with ‘Toy Story,’ and after 23 years, they have had nothing wrong,” Warrick said. “For us, we want to create a recipe with Project Nightshade and we want to replicate that and make many more worlds. In five years, I would like to have three worlds loved by millions, and in 10 years, multiply that by four.”
Warrick said the round was led by Cherry Ventures with participation from Cassius, Seedcamp and Playfair and closed just six months after the $1.4 million preliminary round. Decline to share the evaluation.
“Characters in regular entertainment are developed and watched by viewers, but imagine an empty world where we put these characters out there and you’ll be able to select origin stories, villains, and heroes, create your own version of ‘Star Wars’, Game of Thrones, and watch it evolve. This is a new format,” Warrick said. A form of entertainment.
Warrick said the capital will be used to recruit talent from the games and film industries while building its expertise.
“Our focus is only on making [virtual] “We can’t think of a better way to do this with the web 3 space because people really get the sense of wanting to have things online and have a little bit of the world, like having a little ‘Lord of the Rings’ or having a little ‘Star Wars’,” Warrick said. . We wish we had that opportunity, and now it’s a chance for people to do it, but with a new IP. “
