Mobile game developer Limit Break announced that it had raised $200 million in two rounds of funding. The investment rounds were led by the chair of mobile gaming firm Mino Games, Josh Buckley, and investment firms Paradigm, and Standard Crypto. Additional funding was also provided by FTX, Coinbase, and Positive Sum.
Related: AppLovin buys Game of War developer Machine Zone
Limit Break is a startup that develops Web3 MMO games. The company name is inspired by a particular attack sequence called limit break during combat popularized in RPG games like the Final Fantasy series. The studio’s future plans include incorporating Web3 elements into the free-to-play multiplayer mobile online games.
The Utah-based company was founded by Gabriel Leydon and Halbert Nakagawa, former Machine Zone CEO and COO, in 2021. Their previous company, Machine Zone was founded in 2008 and pioneered free-to-play mobile gaming. The studio is known for eye-catching advertisements with Arnold Schwarzenneger, Mariah Carey, and Kate Upton. Machine Zone’s bestsellers include games like Game of War, Mobile Strike, and Final Fantasy: XV. The company was sold for $500 million in 2020 to AppLovin.
Gabriel Leydon left the studio in 2018, saying he wanted to work with cryptocurrencies. In August 2021, he teamed up with Machine Zone co-founder Halbert Nakagawa to create a game with a new blockchain-based business model. It is called free to own because users are able to mint non-fungible genesis tokens (NFTs) for free. “These Genesis NFTs lead to other NFTs through airdrops and more, none of which involve gimmicky fundraising tactics,” Limit Break wrote.
Limit Break isn’t the only blockchain-based mobile game company to raise funding this year. At the beginning of this month, MetaverseGo announced the company has raised $4.2 million in funding. In May 2022, N3TWORK Studios and InfiniGods also announced their new funding.
Next: Xterio raises $40M to make cross-platform Web3 games
