The Guild of Guardian Diaries — Edition #9

It’s been a huge few months at the Guild of Guardians Head Quarters! We’re over the moon to have hit 1 million pre-registered players and to have hosted the fun and mischievous Many Gifts of Morax event and, more specifically, the landmark Esports Exclusives Sale.

We value and are humbled by the ongoing feedback we receive from this community and are more aware than ever of the challenge that comes with balancing community feedback while striving to onboard hundreds of millions of gamers into digital ownership.

As we head towards our game launch, we anticipate new and ongoing challenges in 2023, but we’re fully geared up, excited, and ready to deliver a gaming experience that has the potential to revolutionise the industry.

Thank you, Guardians, for your continued feedback, participation, and support. We’re incredibly grateful to have you with us on this journey ❤️

TLDR:

• Mineloader and the 2023 release of Guild of Guardians: We’re thrilled to welcome Mineloader to the GOG fam! A premier game development studio, to handle the web2 portion of game development, with a Q4 2023 release date.
• The Esports Exclusives Sale recap: Regardless of the sale outcome, we know that persistence is key to changing hearts and minds, and repetition is essential in getting our message across. That’s why our partnership with esports teams is a multi-year one, as we work towards our vision of onboarding millions of users into web3. 20% of the sale proceeds will be used for staking rewards. All unsold NFTs will remain unminted.
• Delivering a sustainable web3 economy: The GOG economy is evolving with web3 gaming, but the objective remains the same — A sustainable economy that is engaging for players. The team will be focusing on sinks, trading UX, and iterating numbers for a fun economy.
• Investing in lore to make GOG a leading franchise and IP: We’re hard focused on expanding GOG lore and showcasing the growth of web3 gaming through new and exciting opportunities for players, with a tentpole lore event planned for later this year!
• Marketing and launch plans: Gear up for the launch of GOG! From a captivating cinematic trailer to a global brand campaign and localized marketing, we’re pouring resources into making GOG a success. With a new Growth Lead coming on board soon, we’re ready to take the gaming world by storm. GOG is coming, get ready!
• GDC and NFT.NYC: GOG is participating in the GDC panel with Mineloader and is the title sponsor for NFT.NYC, with exciting on-site activities planned that you don’t want to miss!
• The Guild’s Treasure — $GOG active staking updates: We’re exploring where we can take The Guild’s Treasure next and are determining what treasures are to await the GOG community next following the conclusion of the initial program.

Mineloader and the 2023 release of Guild of Guardians

We are thrilled to share that we are on track for a Q4 2023 release of Guild of Guardians and are excited to welcome our new game development studio, Mineloader, to the GOG fam!

Mineloader is a premier game development studio based in Shanghai, China, with Studios in Tianjin and Dalian, Liaoning Province who have worked on some of the biggest games in the world, including Final Fantasy XIV, Final Fantasy Remake, Biomutant, The Last of Us and many more!

The web2 portion of game development will now be handled by Mineloader. This move is aimed at achieving a higher level of quality and faster game development in the long-term. Immutable has a strategic focus on excelling in web3 gaming and seeks partners to handle the challenging web2 aspects.

To facilitate better experiences, Immutable has undergone a restructuring where organization is now based on function rather than by game. This enables sharing of expertise, processes, and tools across all games. This strategy has resulted in parting ways with some colleagues and Stepico. We want to express our gratitude for their contributions to the GOG journey. We are deeply grateful to our employees, past and present, and to our development partner Stepico — all of who have contributed greatly to the game thus far.

Some of the new leaders that we have brought on include:

Chris Clay — VP of Game Design: to expand his focus on GOG on revising the gameplay loop (former Wizards of the Coast).

Shibu Mathew — VP of Product: to focus on the product roadmap (former EA).

Aakash Mandhar — VP of Engineering: to focus on the engineering contracts and web3 integrations (former EA, Microsoft/Xbox).

Veronica Foo — Director of Marketing: to lead launch planning and marketing (former Illuvium, Ubisoft and Riot Games).

The Esports Exclusives Sale Retro

ICYMI Guild of Guardians entered into a multi-year partnership with Cloud9, Fnatic, NAVI, Ninjas in Pyjamas, NRG, SK Gaming, T1, and Team Liquid — eight of the biggest titans in Esports to bring web3 gaming to millions!

Phase one of this landmark partnership was IP integration, where we collaborated closely with each team, natively integrating their IPs and brands into the Guild of Guardians universe through playable in-game characters that players truly own.

A total of 6,591 NFTs were minted, including 3,905 which were sold and 2686 set aside for giveaways or buy 1 get 1 free airdrops.

Although we’re currently analysing and reviewing the results of our esports campaign, unfortunately, we didn’t quite reach our goal of drawing in new web2 players to GOG.

The web2 community is still hesitant towards web3, especially amid the media controversy and bear market. However, we know that persistence is key to changing hearts and minds, and repetition is essential in getting our message across. That’s why our partnership with esports teams is a multi-year one, as we work towards our vision of onboarding millions of users into web3.

With an engaging live game and committed strategic partners like these esports teams, we’re confident we can demonstrate the value and benefits of web3 to all players and bring them onboard.

Regardless of the sale outcome, we’d like to thank everyone for being part of this major milestone and want to assure you that your contributions, involvement and feedback have been invaluable. As a reminder, all NFTs unsold during the sale will remain unminted. The NFTs that are not eligible to be matched with the 1:1 airdrop promotion from the reserved 5,500 will also remain unminted.

Additionally, 20% of proceeds raised from Esports sale will be converted to $GOG as per whitepaper for Staking Rewards Pool. Further details on how this will feed into the staking programme will be announced in due time.

You have helped to make history by being part of this groundbreaking event, and we are extremely proud to be the leaders in this industry-first partnership.

We appreciate your support, and we look forward to creating new and exciting opportunities for all of us, ensuring we take into account all types of feedback for our future plans.

Delivering a sustainable web3 economy

Since the initial design of the GOG economy, there have been significant developments in web3 gaming. As the industry and game continue to evolve, we plan to update the GOG economy accordingly. However, the core objective remains the same — To establish a sustainable and engaging economy for players. All of the NFTs players are familiar with — such as heroes, equipment, pets, and energy boosters — are critical components of the economy.

Currently, the team is focusing on several key areas -

• Firstly, ensuring that there are adequate sinks in the economy, particularly in relation to equipment and legendary heroes. We have designs in place to address these gaps.
• Secondly, embedding trading into the game experience. Trading is an essential part of the ecosystem, but players often find it confusing. We are working on improving the economy UX, exploring when and how players engage with economy features and what it looks like. Passport will play a significant role in this.
• Finally, numbers and iteration are crucial to making both the game and the economy enjoyable. The team is diving deep into the numbers and planning ways to test them. However, designing repeatable economy playtests is challenging since incentives aren’t perfect if NFTs aren’t real. Therefore, the team is focusing on developing ways to test the economy sustainably.

Investing in lore to make GOG a leading franchise and IP

Our team has been working tirelessly behind closed doors to take Guild of Guardians to new heights by expanding our lore through innovative design systems and frameworks. We believe that to become a leading franchise, we need to put in the same level of hard work and resources that all major franchises in the world have invested.

Our goal is not just to create a compelling storyline but to showcase the true power and growth of web3 gaming through our actions and interoperability. We want to provide players with new and exciting opportunities to play, taking our gameplay to a whole new level across multiple titles.

We are not just building lore, we are creating a new identity for GOG that will prove Immutable’s vision to be clear, viable, and applicable across projects. We are excited to announce that we have a tentpole lore event planned for the latter half of this year.

Our team is continuing to build with passion and excitement, and we cannot wait for you to be part of it. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for hidden teasers and easter eggs leading up to the event!

Marketing and launch plans

Get ready as we gear up for the launch of GOG! Our team is already hard at work on pre-production for our cinematic trailer, which will introduce you to the game’s captivating lore and characters like never before. But that’s just the beginning — we’re also working on an updated roadmap to keep you in the loop on all of our progress in the coming months.

To ensure that GOG reaches gamers around the world, we’re working with marketing agencies around the world to create both a global brand campaign and localized marketing for key markets where mobile gaming reigns supreme. And we’re not stopping there — we have a new Growth Lead joining us in April with a proven track record in game launches and user acquisition, dedicated to making GOG’s launch a success.

We’re pouring significant resources into making sure that GOG takes the gaming world by storm, from our talented team’s hard work to our substantial investment of both manpower and funding. GOG is coming, and we can’t wait to share it with you!

GDC and NFT.NYC

We’re excited to be part of the GDC panel where we’ll be joined by none other than Mineloader! And that’s not all — as the title sponsor for NFT.NYC this year, Immutable is bringing the heat! GOG is proud to be a part of the many on-site activities planned for NFT.NYC, so get ready for wall takeovers, epic art, and other activations that we have in store for you at the event and other side events. You won’t want to miss out on the action!

The Guild’s Treasure — $GOG active staking update

In October, we committed to five million $GOG in rewards to early supporters. Today, we’re exploring where we can take The Guild’s Treasure next and are determining what treasures await the GOG community, following the conclusion of the initial program. Rest assured, though, we’re laser-focused on making sure that there’s treasure to go around until closer to the launch of the game. Stay tuned for more information!

We’re incredibly grateful to have such talented partners like Mineloader and dedicated players like you on this journey. We’re humbled by the support we’ve received so far, and we promise to keep working hard to deliver a game that will define the industry. We can’t wait to share Guild of Guardians with all of you!

Until next time, Guardians.

LFGOG!!