Goons of Balatroon (GOB) Raises $2.46 Million to Build a Fun Trading Card Game (TCG) Metaverse

Goons of Balatroon (GOB), a 2D and 3D hybrid metaverse incorporating NFTs on ETH, Immutable X and the Elysium blockchain, has raised $2.46 million in a seed and private funding round led by Merit Circle and Jun Capital.

Funding a “Fun, Rebellious, and Humorous” Trading Card Game Metaverse

In a recent press release, the team explained that funds would go towards developing the GOB trading card metaverse that will be fun, wild, and rebellious, injecting a hefty dose of humor.

Support received from investors is, as the team assesses, critical in realizing their top objective of building a deep, diverse, and multifaceted ecosystem.

This well-designed gaming platform will have the capacity to support elementary and advanced trading card game systems. At the same time, their offering will extend to entire franchises that the team is firmly convinced will anchor future NTF experiences. This aligns with their vision because a critical component of GOB is to progressively build their brand and sustainably grow their ecosystem and community.

GOB is listening to Gamers: The Future is NFTs and P2E

Increasingly, more gamers are calling for developers to integrate a rewarding system realized by P2E games, given their recent success. Thus far, blockchain games such as Axie Infinity and others have a substantial global following, turning millions in trading volumes.

Analysts are confident that the surge of NFTs, blockchain gaming, and the increasing investment in metaverse by crypto venture capitals will be definitive in the multi-billion gaming industry. Globally, it is estimated that there are over three billion gamers. As games become more interactive and accessible to a broader audience, participants have splashed billions of dollars purchasing gaming gear and in-game assets.

As more gamers demand P2E models, the GOB development team plans to launch exciting gameplay with an “earning” function incorporating humor and the meme culture. This, Mark, the co-founder of GOB, says, will create value for ecosystem participants.

Commenting, he said:

“With the recent surge in play-to-earn games, we see an increased focus on the 'earn' function. While this is absolutely an aspect of our environment, we believe a focus on making the game fun to play, first, is of utmost importance.”

Lowering the Barrier to Entry

GOB targets traditional gamers who want to explore and even make a career in the thriving P2E world. The GOB development team comprises seasoned professionals with over two decades of TCG experience to narrow the gap with traditional gaming studios.

Moreover, the game launched by the team will be at par and even better than those in traditional setups. GOB further eases onboarding by not requiring new gamers to plug in a compatible non-custodial wallet. Instead, it adopts a free play-to-earn mechanism, significantly lowering the barrier to entry, according to Mathew, the GOB community manager.

“Play to Earn (P2E) gaming tends to have a very high-cost barrier of entry. We want to onboard users in a free-to-play model, welcoming web2 natives to web3 without any initial need for a wallet.”

GOB runs on Elysium, a state-of-the-art blockchain developed by its partner, Vulcan Forged. Elysium's transactions settle fast with near-zero trading fees while remaining compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Meanwhile, the GOB token is on Ethereum, existing as an ERC-20 token.