A quick look at HyperPlay, a Web3 game portal: raising $12 million to build a game store aggregator

As the hope of breaking the circle of Web3 and cryptocurrency, more and more funds in the industry have begun to pour into the game track in recent years. Correspondingly, the number of Web3 games is increasing day by day, and individual 3A chain game masterpieces like Abyss World have also begun to be put on the agenda. In the face of Web3 games that are like crossing the river, for ordinary players, a Web3 game platform that can aggregate, promote and distribute is becoming more and more important.

In November 2022, HyperPlay, the Web3 native game launcher, will be launched. The self-hosted Web3 wallet MetaMask and the game-focused autonomous organization Game7 DAO will also provide support for the project. On June 8 this year, HyperPlay announced that it had raised $12 million. Well-known game venture capital Griffin Gaming Partners and Bitkraft Ventures co-led the round. Participating investors included MetaMask parent company ConsenSys, Ethereal Ventures, Delphi, Game7 DAO, Mirana Ventures and Monoceros Ventures .

Behind HyperPlay is a team of developers led by Jacob C and Flavio Lima. According to the information shown on LinkedIn, Jacob used to be the head of MetaMask operations and is still serving as its strategic advisor. In addition, he is currently the product leader of MantleNetwork, a Rollup project under BitDAO, and the product leader of Game7 DAO initiated by BitDAO. people. Flavio Lima, founder of the open source application Heroic Games Launcher, which provides support for gaming platforms such as Epic Games for Linux and Mac devices, shares much of the same technology as HyperPlay.

The early access alpha version of HyperPlay was launched in March this year, and its HyperPlay store currently has 38 games online. However, it seems more appropriate to call it an aggregator of game stores than a native Web3 game launcher. In addition to its own HyperPlay store, the platform currently allows players to install and use games in the game digital store Epic Store and GOG. Unlike Steam and Apple, which charge developers a hefty 30% commission, HyperPlay does not deduct any fees from game purchases or in-game transactions. However, for developers who publish games through Epic or GOG, they still need to pay the corresponding commission to the store, but HyperPlay will not charge additional fees.

Currently HyperPlay has not released any tokens or related information. It supports all EVM networks, including Ethereum, zkSync, Polygon, Mantle, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Optimism, BSC, and Harmony. In the future, the project party also plans to support non-EVM networks such as Solana and Cosmos through MetaMask's Snaps plug-in system. At that time, users need to use MetaMask wallets to achieve compatibility. In terms of operating systems, HyperPlay supports Windows, SteamDeck, MacOS and Linux.

Due to problems such as the imperfect infrastructure development at this stage, it is difficult for game developers to combine excellent game performance and convenient wallet interaction at this stage. In order to make wallet interaction more convenient, many developers have to build browser games with poor performance. If you are after excellent performance, you can build native games yourself, but then developers must push all transactions to a separate web application, or embed a game wallet separately in their games, so that assets between Web3 games become isolated.

Working closely with MetaMask, HyperPlay allows players to connect to the same wallet (MetaMask or WalletConnect) containing their NFTs, tokens and achievements through the launcher, into web games or every local game installed and launched from HyperPlay, thus Enable full interoperability for Web3 games. This allows players to obtain assets, exchange assets between games, use DeFi to exchange or lend, and also allows friends to follow each other's wallets to enhance sociality.

The security of players’ game accounts and assets has always been the top priority of game manufacturers. To protect players from fraud, malware and other attack vectors, HyperPlay will launch and implement four security strategies:

1. Store review: All stores included in the HyperPlay app (HyperPlay, Epic, GOG) conduct extensive malware testing and due diligence on the development team of any software submitted;

2. Game sandbox: HyperPlay introduced a game sandbox to prevent malicious games that pass the store review process from running outside of its own context, since it is impossible to ensure that there are no fish caught in the store review process. This feature is still under development;

3. Key isolation: HyperPlay does not expose the user's keys to the game, the wallet resides on its desktop application or on an external mobile device. The game cannot access the user's keys or sign on behalf of the user without the user's consent;

4. External signer: Keeping the key away from the device and popping the transaction on an external mobile device is an inherently more secure model. HyperPlay recommends the MetaMask Mobile integration as the most secure connection method. This mode should prevent malware from accessing the key even in the event that the user's computer is compromised.

Platforms and distribution models are important to the interoperability of Web3 games. Referring to the advantages of platforms such as Steam and PlayStation Network in traditional games, similarly, in order for the Web3 game industry to grow, there needs to be some unified game access points, which is what HyperPlay is doing.