Hong Kong-based Web3 investor Animoca Brands announced a partnership with Chess.com on January 16, spotlighting the launch of Anichess, a subsidiary developing a decentralized chess game. Anichess promises to offer a significant gaming experience, with a points system for gameplay.
Anichess has also partnered with five-time World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen, highlighting the game’s initial player-versus-environment gameplay. The company plans to introduce an online game structure in the first quarter of the year.
The company is creating a gaming environment where players can solve daily chess puzzles. By completing these challenges, users can earn Orbs of Power points that provide in-game advantages and unlock additional puzzles for more rewards. Yat Siu, co-founder and CEO of Animoca Brands, stated that Anichess combines traditional strategy and gameplay with a fantastic story and innovative Web3 functionality to revolutionize the classic royal game.
The launch follows Anichess’s successful seed funding round in June 2023, where it raised $1.5 million from investors including GameFi Ventures, The Operating Group, Koda Capital, Bing Ventures, 708 Capital, and Asymmetry Capital.
Amidst the 2023 blockchain ecosystem’s focus on Web3 games, significant companies from the Web2 sector have decided to invest in the Web3 space. With the hype around GameFi, gaming companies are offering substantial investment opportunities in NFT collections and game tokens. Animoca Brands continues to take significant steps in the sector, expanding its gaming activities in various branches and focusing its strategies on the GameFi space, especially in crypto-supportive countries like Hong Kong.