The gaming industry is evolving rapidly, driven by innovations in 3D creation, immersive reality, and community-focused platforms, making it one of the most dynamic sectors in entertainment. Since 2020, Web3 has gained momentum alongside traditional gaming, with hundreds of games leveraging NFTs, blockchain, and in-game tokens. These technologies offer new opportunities in ownership, security, and virtual economies but face hurdles like unsustainable business models and low-quality games. Gunzilla Games, however, is tackling these challenges head-on.
As a AAA game developer, Gunzilla is leading the way with the Early Access launch of its flagship game, Off The Grid—the first mainstream gaming ecosystem built entirely on blockchain technology. This month’s review will explore Web3 gaming’s evolution, focusing on Gunzilla Games. We’ll dive into on-chain statistics, Web2 and Web3 market trends, and provide a detailed overview of the Gunzilla ecosystem, including its proprietary blockchain, GunZ, and Off The Grid. The article will also cover the project’s fundraising efforts, team, and recent achievements.
What Is Gunzilla Games
Gunzilla Games is an independent AAA video game developer and publisher of the highly anticipated battle royale game Off The Grid and the gamer-first blockchain, GUNZ. The game publisher was founded in March 2020 by CEO Vlad Korolov and CSO Alex Zoll, the creators behind Warface, a Guinness World Record-breaking game for most concurrent online players, with over 150 million gamers playing it over time. Since Gunzilla Games’ inception, the two founders were set to make gaming fun again by bridging the gap between Web2 and Web3. The team multiplied in the first year, with over 188 team members spread across Frankfurt, Kyiv, and London.
The team comprises talent from top studios like Ubisoft, EA, Warface, EA Sports NHL, an Audio Director from HBO's show Chernobyl, the Lead Art director of Call of Duty, and more. In 2021, the team's pivotal moment was announcing Hollywood director Neill Blomkamp joining as their Co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer, known for his work on titles such as District 9, Elysium, and Chappie.
Product Deep Dive
The Gunzilla Games brand has several key components and products, all of which aim to drive positive change and revolutionize people's perceptions of gaming.
These products include:
- Gunzilla Games - The game development studio
- Off The Grid - Gunzilla’s Flagship Battle Royale Game
- GUNZ Blockchain - Powering the gaming ecosystem
- GUNZ Blockchain Scanner - A visual blockchain scanner providing transparent insights into all on-chain activity
- GUNZ Mobile Wallet - Non-custodial wallet embedded into the GUNZ ecosystem
- GUNZ NFT Marketplace - Mobile and Desktop marketplace for all GUNZ titles and their in-game assets
- Technocore - The mobile companion game to Off the Grid
- OTG Companion App - Matching gamers and their stats
- Gunzilla Validator Network - The network that mints all in-game items and validates transactions
Gunzilla Games: Gaming Studio & Publisher
Gunzilla Games is the overarching company for all its products and is primarily the main studio and publisher for all its gaming. With its proprietary blockchain GUNZ, Gunzilla Games studio can build in-house top-quality games like Off The Grid.
Moreover, given the team’s strong focus on talent, technology, and top-of-the-class production, it will also be able to support external game developers publish its games – enabling Gunzilla Games to expand its reach way beyond its creations and rival top game publishers such as Ubisoft and Tencent.
Learn more: ➡️ here
Off The Grid: Flag Ship Game
With a focus on building the next-generation business model in blockchain gaming, Gunzilla announced Off The Grid in May 2022 – the game officially announced global Early Access on the 8th of October. The news took the gaming community and Twitter by storm with top gamers in the industry streaming and commenting on the incredible graphics and in-game assets. Take a look at the official cinematic trailer to experience it: ➡️ here
The game features high-quality graphics, an intricate storyline, and unique in-game assets—such as Cyberlimbs and customizable weapons—which garnered rave reviews before its launch. Set in a dystopian cyberpunk future on Teardrop Island, players shape the narrative, customize and trade assets, and survive intense corporate battles. Along with stunning visuals, the game offers top-tier weapons, removable limbs, and cyber-enhanced characters like the Zeroes.
Off the Grid stands out with its vast array of weapon combinations, surpassing other Battle Royale games. Each weapon is visually distinct, with unique stats and rarity, making them highly sought after. The limited availability of weapons on Teardrop Island intensifies competition, and players can trade weapons and modifications in the marketplace, adding a strategic element to asset management.
In-game assets include Cyberlimbs and Weapons, along with skins and other cosmetic appearances such as a hat, different hair colors, and unique accessories:
Additionally, a very exciting development for the Off The Grid and Gunzilla Games team was the announcement of securing the talents of Grammy Award-winning composer Lorne Balfe to create the soundtrack for Off The Grid. Balfe, known for his work on blockbuster films like 'Mission: Impossible - Fallout' and popular games such as 'Assassin's Creed III' and 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2', brings a wealth of experience in creating immersive and emotionally resonant soundscapes.
Listen to the Soundtrack: ➡️ here
GUNZ Blockchain
Along with its flagship game, Gunzilla Games has also developed its own Layer 2 blockchain built on the Avalanche subnet, called GUNZ. GUNZ is the first-ever platform that can be integrated into a AAA game, allowing players to turn their in-game assets into tradable NFTs within the GUNZ marketplace.
Gunzilla’s original mobile game TECHNOCORE and Off The Grid are anchored by GUNZ and fueled by the native token $GUN.
The GUNZ blockchain has already made significant strides, recently going live on testnet and reaching over 40M transactions since its launch. Additionally, the testnet has already registered over 2.9M wallet addresses.
GUNZ Mobile Wallet
The GUNZ Wallet is the official wallet for all projects built on the GUNZ blockchain. The team has built a simple and user-friendly interface to allow users to store and manage all GUN tokens and NFTs. The wallet directly connects with the GUNZ marketplace, allowing people to make in-app purchases and buy items like skins, limbs, and other customizable accessories.
GUNZ NFT Marketplace
The GUNZ marketplace allows Play-to-Own players to earn $GUN, in-game assets, and turn them into tradable assets, which they own as NFTs. At the time of writing, the marketplace had reached 128 daily sellers and a total trading volume of 100K+.
Technocore
Technocore is the first game built on the GUNZ blockchain. It is available on the Apple and Google Play stores, allowing people to seek HEXs to earn rewards and buy items on the GUNZ marketplace.
Fundraising & Partnerships
The first round, announced in August 2022, secured $46M in funding to develop GUNZ. The round was led by Republic Capital and included contributions from Griffin Gaming Partners, Animoca Brands, Jump Crypto, KuCoin Labs, Morningstar Ventures, and others.In March 2024, the team raised another $30M to support the release of Off The Grid ahead of its launch on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. The round was led by CoinFund and Avalanche Blizzard Fund, with participation from Republic Capital and Morningstar Ventures.
Gunzilla Games also announced a significant partnership with Delphi Ventures, a leading crypto venture capital firm. Delphi Ventures has become the largest validator of Gunzilla's gamer-first ecosystem and blockchain platform, GUNZ. This strategic investment comes at a pivotal moment as Gunzilla Games prepares for the global launch of OTG later this year, underscoring the importance of blockchain integration in enhancing the gaming experience and supporting the game's economic infrastructure.
What’s Next for Gunzilla Games
As mentioned, the team announced global Early Access on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. With this, the team will continue to fix bugs and ensure the game is perfect for the official launch. If you’re an avid game, make sure to play the game: ➡️ here
Learn More About the Gunzilla Ecosystem
Gunzilla Games
🌐 Gunzilla Games Website: https://gunzillagames.com/en/
🐦 Gunzilla Games Twitter: https://x.com/GunzillaGames🤝 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gunzilla-games
Gun by GunZ
🌐 Gun by GunZ Website: https://gunbygunz.com/
🐦 Gun by GunZ Twitter: https://x.com/GUNbyGUNZ
🕹️ Discord channel: https://discord.com/invite/gunbygunz
Off The Grid:
🌐 Website: https://gameoffthegrid.com/
🐦 Twitter: https://x.com/playoffthegrid
🕹️ Discord channel: https://discord.com/invite/offthegrid
📹 YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@playoffthegrid
