Can Australia's Illuvium overcome gaming's war on crypto?
While well-regarded and lauded within the crypto community, Australian-founded 'Pokemon-like' Illuvium knows its in for a fight to win over a broader market.
“They f-cking hate us,” says Illuvium CEO Kieran Warwick.
He's speaking, of course, about the online gaming community. Which is inconvenient given he's just launched the open beta of a new video game, also called Illuvium.
His comments highlight the expected uphill battle of the Australian-founded Pokemon-but-with-crypto-game in trying to win over one of its core markets. This challenge isn't unique to Illuvium. The entire category of crypto-gaming is under fire from the gaming community, frequently slammed as a game publisher cash-grab.
Warwick elaborates that a spate of poorly-made "undercooked" crypto-based games have essentially poisoned the well ahead of Illuvium's launch.
"The VCs [who back video games] said 'ooh this is a new trend' and jumped aboard… funding dried up for good IP out there, titles that millions of …
