Immortal Game raises $12M to build out Web3 chess platform

Immortal Game, the company behind the blockchain-based chess platform of the same name, announced it has raised $12 million in its latest round of funding. In addition to its previous financing, it’s raised a total of $15.5 million. It plans to use this funding to build out its platform, which offers a Web3 platform for chess players.

Founded in 2021, Immortal Game plans to create a specialized chess gaming portal that not only offers the classic game, but also extras such as additional “quests,” a reward system and, yes, NFTs. It’s currently in beta form for users who wish to sign up. The creators emphasize that Immortal Game’s Play&Earn system is optional for those who wish to simply play chess.

Players who do join Immortal’s extended features can do things such as complete additional objectives within each game for rewards. They can also use NFTs of particular pieces in each game, which can also later be sold. According to the company, the NFTs can have “distinct playing styles.”

Same game, new features

TCG Crypto led the round, with participation from Cassius, Greenfield One, Sparkle Ventures, 35V, Blockwall, Kraken Ventures and Spice Capital. 50 chess Grand Masters serve as ambassadors, including Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Pragganandhaa Rameshbabu. Other advisors include Wu-Tang Clan’s GZA, Queen’s Gambit producer Scott Frank and various Twitch and YouTube influencers.

Immortal Game’s CEO Thomas Zaepffel told GamesBeat, “Since we believe the community is creating the game and the product, we feel we should give them back part of the revenue and the value from the product … . We were thinking about the best way to include blockchain into chess without corrupting or perverting the game. We have a lot of chess lovers we want to play with — we didn’t want to disappoint them. We had to find the precise way to do it without upsetting everyone.”

Jesse Jacobs, co-founder and partner at TCG, said in a statement, “Immortal Game is at the cutting-edge of games and blockchain technology. The team is world-class, the product is excellent and the vision is inspiring. We’re excited to partner with Thomas, David [Cingala, CTO] and Geoffroy [Mestrallet, COO] as they expand the gaming experience for passionate communities in new and exciting ways.”

Immortal Game plans to expand its key markets in the US, Europe and India. Zaepffel said, “Now the focus is to reach out to players and to show them we can offer something different, if not something new, to chess.”