Crypto gaming firm Cauldron raises $6.6M to build ‘Pixar of web3’
A number of crypto gaming firms have ramped up production in the past year with hopes of revolutionizing the growing industry. Adding to the list is London-based gaming firm Cauldron, which plans on becoming the “Pixar of web3” through a key element: storytelling.
The company just closed a $6.6 million seed round and plans to launch its first web3 gaming world, Project Nightshade, in the fall, Mark Warrick, founder and CEO of the company, exclusively told TechCrunch.
“A big bit missing from web3 gaming is storytelling … people aren’t really coming back because there isn’t a reason to come back,” Warrick said. “If you close your eyes and are listening to a Pixar film, you can’t see the art or technology but the story is still gripping you. Storytelling is what matters.”
The gaming studio was a spinoff founded in August 2021 by Warrick and two other creative veterans, Fox Rogers and Matt Hyde. The company has since hired science fiction and fantasy-focused authors to help build out its storytelling focus.
“When you’re looking at entertainment in web3, you have to look at what web3 is: It’s about ownership of assets,” Warrick said. “If you’re not designing around owning a part of a universe, then existing entertainment can’t translate to that.”
Cauldron plans to release three different gaming worlds to the public: Two worlds have a fantasy angle, while one world is focused on science fiction, Warrick noted.
“We focus on Pixar not because of aesthetics, but because they created a recipe with ‘Toy Story,’ and 23 years later, they never had a mishit,” Warrick said. “For us, we want to create a recipe with Project Nightshade and want to repeat that and make many worlds. In five years’ time, I’d love to have three worlds out there
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