Animoca Brands, the Hong Kong-based Web 3 firm, and Cross the Ages (CTA), a Singapore-based blockchain technology firm, announced last Friday a strategic partnership.
Animoca Brands said in a statement that under this partnership, the firm will support Cross the Ages’ upcoming official launch of Arise, a multiplayer action-RPG that has been in development for the past two and a half years, as well as the broader Cross the Ages ecosystem.
In addition, Animoca Brands has begun to acquire additional CTA tokens from the open market.
As part of the partnership, Animoca Brands will leverage its expertise to bolster Arise’s as well as Blast’s (the new version of Cross the Ages’ trading card game) go-to-market strategy, review and advise on tokenomics, and provide liquidity for the CTA token.
Arise is a free-to-play multiplayer action-RPG developed on Unreal Engine 5 and set in the Cross the Ages universe.
It is expected to launch first on PC in Q4 2025, with Mac and other platforms to follow.
Arise aims to deliver a fun, accessible, and evolving gaming experience in which players shape the game’s economy themselves.
With dungeons, PvP combat, resource gathering and trading, Arise caters to various playstyles and promotes player cooperation.
Each player is free to choose their own path: farmer, dungeon crawler, fighter, crafter, builder, and more.
Arise offers a true social experience where everyone plays a meaningful role.
Animoca Brands, which led an investment round in Cross the Ages in 2024, has also begun to purchase additional CTA tokens from the open market to support CTA’s transmedia and blockchain-native approach to IP building.
The CTA token serves as the utility token and value foundation of CTA, powering an interoperable fantasy-meets-sci-fi universe that bridges games, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), real-world assets, and next-gen storytelling experiences.
“The team at CTA has consistently shown strong commitment to high-quality Web3 game development and we believe that the market has significantly undervalued the potential of Cross the Ages,
“This collaboration exemplifies our commitment to high-quality blockchain gaming that bridges traditional audiences and Web3. Arise’s development on Unreal Engine 5 truly showcases crypto gaming’s AAA potential,” said Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands.
Sami Chlagou, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of CTA, commented the firm has been supported by Yat and Animoca Brands since 2021, during the launch of the firm’s first token and again in its first equity round in 2024.
“We’re proud to have the continued support of a Web3 gaming pioneer, and we’re convinced this partnership marks the next chapter in an incredible journey,” he added.
Launched in 2020, CTA is a transmedia intellectual property (IP) where futuristic fantasy meets sci-fi epic narrative.
Leveraging blockchain technology, the CTA universe sets a new benchmark in innovative gaming, combining free-to-play and play-to-earn.
The experiential ecosystem blends the virtual and real worlds, encompassing books, comics, gaming, esports, animation, collectibles, and an underlying gaming investment model to promote the transition to renewable energy in the real world.
Already boasting partnerships with industry leaders like Ubisoft and Square Enix, CTA continues to push the boundaries of innovation in gaming and entertainment.
Animoca Brands is a Web3 firm that leverages tokenization and blockchain to deliver digital property rights to consumers, helping to establish the open metaverse and its associated network.
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