Blockchain game Illuvium goes mainstream with looming Epic Games Store listing

cointelegraph.com:

Blockchain-based game Illuvium is set to tap into an audience of millions of PC and mobile gamers with its upcoming listing on the Epic Games Store, which is home to massively popular titles like Fortnite.

Illuvium, an interoperable blockchain game developed by Illuvium Labs, will feature on Epic’s store from Nov. 28, following several months of background work to get the title to meet its standards.

Speaking exclusively to Cointelegraph ahead of the Epic launch, Illuvium co-founder Kieran Warwick outlines the evolution of the game in order to cater to a mainstream audience and comply with the platform’s legal and compatibility requirements:

The game was developed using Unreal Engine 5 on the Immutable X network. Its beta launch on Epic Games will feature three different game genres set within the Illuvium universe.

This includes Overworld, an open-world exploration game and “creature capturer reminiscent of beloved classics,” an auto battler strategy game called Arena and Zero, and a mobile and desktop city-builder that ties into the other titles. Warwick says its approach of building separate genres and game modes aims to attract a wider audience of gamers.

“By launching three different games in three different genres, we have significantly increased our addressable market. The only issue is it has taken much longer to get to this point,” Warwick adds.

Given that blockchain games featuring nonfungible token (NFT) elements have struggled to break into the mainstream, Warwick’s team has adapted its approach to onboard more users. He highlights the barrier to entry for non-Web3 native gamers as a key reason for the slow adoption of blockchain games:

As Cointelegraph recently reported, Web3 venture capital firms like Animoca