Illuvium secures $12 million in funding for blockchain gaming ecosystem

Blockchain game developer Illuvium has secured $12 million in Series A funding to support its forthcoming titles in an interoperable Ethereum gaming ecosystem. Led by investors like King River Capital, Arrington Capital, Animoca Capital, and Spartan, this round brings the total funding for the company to $60 million. The new investments will enable Illuvium to develop and launch new games within its universe, with blockchain technology and NFT components allowing players to interact seamlessly across multiple titles. Illuvium plans to introduce three new properties including Illumium Arena, an autobattler, Illumium Overworld, an open-world creature collector, and Illumium Zero, a city builder.

Illumium Zero is already available in alpha – and check out the official announcement on the Illuvium X account.

New PvP shooter Marvel Rivals announced

In superhero-level gaming news, Marvel has unveiled a new free-to-play PvP shooter game titled Marvel Rivals. Drawing comparisons to popular titles like Overwatch and Valorant, the game features unique hero abilities, a 6v6 gameplay style immersed in the Marvel universe, and the ability to play iconic characters like Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk. While an exact release date is yet to be announced, a closed alpha is scheduled for May. Fans can expect more updates and details about Marvel Rivals in the coming weeks. For now, the game can be wishlisted on both Steam and the Epic Games Store.

To register for the playtest, you can fill out this form here (and cross your fingers)!

PUBG Corp. drops ‘Fortnite’ lawsuit

Bloomberg reports that PUBG Corp. has withdrawn its copyright infringement lawsuit against Epic Games. The lawsuit, filed in January, alleged that Epic Games' Fortnite copied elements of their game, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG). While PUBG Corp. argued that Fortnite was replicating the experience for which PUBG is known, including the battle royale concept, it seems the lawsuit was dropped possibly due to the challenge of protecting such concepts under copyright law. Despite the bitter competition and Fortnite's rapid success, PUBG remains a significant player in the gaming industry with over 400 million players worldwide. Details about a potential settlement between PUBG Corp. and Epic Games remain undisclosed. Read the full report on Bloomberg.