Illuvium Launches ‘Beyond’ Collectible Card Game

Illuvium, the web3 game development team, added a collectible card game to its roster on Tuesday.

Illuvium: Beyond is the fourth game in the Illuvium series. Players collect NFTs depicting characters from the Illuvium universe and compete to earn points by completing objectives.

With many GameFi projects among the hardest hit by the brutal 2022 bear trend, Illuvium plans to stash away all revenues from Beyond for a rainy day.

“Funds generated from the sale of Illuvium: Beyond will be directed to a special $15M ‘Safety Pool’ designed to mitigate the risk of uncertain macroeconomic conditions by providing a unique source of runway to sustain DAO operations,” Illuvium said in an announcement.

Keiran Warwick, Illuvium’s co-founder, said the Safety Pool allows Illuvium to fund game development using revenue.

“The Safety Pool safeguards against a bear market and provides additional resources to expand the Illuvium gaming universe,” Warwick told The Defiant. “Rather than perform a capital raise under suboptimal market conditions, we have directed some revenues that usually go back to stakers to the treasury.”

Illuvium’s ILV token was a darling of the 2021 GameFi boom, surging from a low of $30 in late June 2021 to an all-time high above $1,800 on Nov. 30, 2021.

But the giddy highs were short-lived, with ILV falling back down to triple-figures in early January 2022, and back below $100 last July. ILV bottomed out at $39 in November and last traded hands for $80 — a 95.6% drop.

ILV/USD. Source: CoinGecko.

Warwick noted that Illuvium downsized by 30% amid the bear trend. “We have optimized our operations and remain focused on building our vision,” he added.

Warwick told The Defiant Beyond was developed by a dedicated team for 18 months. Illuvium said Beyond’s NFTs were hand drawn by a team with experience at major game companies Blizzard, Magic The Gathering, and Sega.

Players that complete specific tasks in Beyond will unlock in-game cosmetics that can be used across the Illuvium ecosystem.

In January, Illuvium launched its third title and first mobile game, Zero, in alpha. The game is available to investors holding Illuvium’s digital land plots. Players build and manage their own “digital industrial complex” on the land in Zero, including mining in-game fuel that can be sold alongside other NFTs.

Illuvium also launched an RPG, Overworld, and an auto-battler, Arena.

Each game in the Illuvium series is live on ImmutableX, an Ethereum Layer 2 designed for web3 gaming that boasts gas-free NFT minting. ImmutableX also hosts Gods Unchained, Ember Sword, and Guild of Guardians, among other web3 gaming titles.

ImmutableX ranks as the fifth-largest Ethereum Layer 2 with a total value locked of $127m, according to L2Beat.