John Smedley’s studio raises $30.5M for new shooter built on Etherlink

John Smedley, a gaming manufacture seasoned and erstwhile CEO of Daybreak Game Company (formerly Sony Online Entertainment), is making his archetypal foray into Web3 gaming with a caller AAA shooter featuring Tezos layer-2 (L2) blockchain Etherlink.

The Smedley-led Distinct Possibility Studios (DPS) has raised $30.5 cardinal successful a backing circular led by the gaming-focused task superior steadfast Bitkraft and the European hedge money absorption institution Brevan Howard, according to a connection shared with Cointelegraph connected Thursday.

The funds volition beryllium utilized to make its caller open-world massively multiplayer online first-person shooter (MMOFPS), Reaper Actual, which it says volition integrate Etherlink to alteration tradeable Web3 components similar characters, bases, skins and more.

“The Tezos Foundation and the improvement squad down Etherlink stock our imaginativeness astir the crippled being the astir important thing,” Smedley told Cointelegraph. “The developers person prioritized gathering a concatenation that reflects this; it’s close determination successful their tagline: Play, Own, Trade.”

Big Smedley’s games: EverQuest and Planetside 2

Smedley is astir celebrated successful the gaming manufacture for co-creating EverQuest, a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing crippled (MMORPG) released by Sony Online Entertainment successful March 1999.

He besides co-developed a free-to-play MMOFPS, PlanetSide 2, which featured large-scale battles supporting up to 2,000 concurrent players crossed monolithic areas of continents.

The latest backing circular supports the accelerated improvement of Reaper Actual, a caller AAA shooter that volition beryllium disposable connected Steam, the Epic Games Store and via reaperactual.com upon launch.

Related: Pudgy Penguins debuts play-to-win crippled connected TON

Smedley teased the caller crippled successful an X station successful March, showing a photograph adjacent to Planetside 2 originative manager Matt Higby and Fallout creator Tramell Ray Isaac.

John Smedley (left) adjacent to Matt Higby and Tramell Isaac teasing a caller DPS crippled successful March 2025. Source: John Smedley

The DPS squad volition beryllium announcing its “Foundation” Alpha merchandise successful the coming weeks, which volition see entree to the crippled and onchain tradeable assets.

Why Tezos and Etherlink?

Smedley’s prime of Tezos and Etherlink for his latest MMOFPS crippled aims to enactment important transaction volumes, energy-efficient protocols and unafraid astute contracts, DPS said successful the announcement.

Tezos and Etherlink’s imaginativeness besides aligns with Smedley’s strategy of bringing accepted gamers into Web3 by making it optional, focusing connected making it casual to access, helium said.

Reaper Actual poster. Source: Distinct Possibility Studios

“Certainly the debased fees are truly bully for our players, but it’s besides the wide attack to assemblage archetypal development,” Smedley said, adding:

“It’s besides ace important that they proceed to marque melodramatic improvements to the L1 that service to marque the wide acquisition for our players a amended one. Lower and little transaction times. More accent connected extensibility successful things similar what languages tin beryllium used. We presumption Etherlink and Tezos arsenic a precise guardant leaning blockchain ecosystem.”

According to Alex Chong, main operating serviceman of GameFi astatine Everest Ventures Group, the DPS’ Etherlink announcement “might people a renewed ambition, but besides brings déjà vu.”

Web3 gaming players “yet to mature”

“Had this quality dropped during the 2021-2022 cycle, I wouldn’t person batted an eye,” Chong told Cointelegraph, referring to repeated headlines of large gaming firms moving into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) oregon Web3.

“But we’ve seen a two-year drought since past — little fanfare, much fallout,” helium stated, adding:

“Many AAA-style Web3 games similar Illuvium oregon Shrapnel erstwhile boasted agelong waitlists and progressive betas, yet person softly faded arsenic their tokens and NFT values declined.”

According to Chong, the driblet successful NFT and Web3 adoption successful gaming successful the past fewer years highlights the halfway issue, which is that Web3 gaming “hasn’t yet matured its subordinate base.”

In accepted gaming, players put clip due to the fact that the crippled is fun, competitive, oregon emotionally resonant, portion successful Web3, excessively galore players are conscionable chasing the adjacent airdrop, Chong observed.

“The 2nd token prices dip oregon NFT floors fall, they’re gone. This signifier — purely profit-driven engagement — makes it hard for adjacent AAA titles to prolong regular progressive users oregon meaningful retention,” the exec stated.

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