press-release
Zilliqa Research Pte. Ltd., developers of the Zilliqa blockchain – a high-performance, high-security and low-fee layer-1 blockchain protocol, today announces that it has completed the spin-off of its gaming division into a new standalone business, Roll1ng Thund3rz (RTz).
The spin-off of Zilliqa’s gaming division into Roll1ng Thund3rz marks a significant milestone for the company, as it pursues a strategy of building and incubating internal businesses that demonstrate innovative use cases of Web3 and blockchain technologies, part of a multi-faceted approach to driving growth across all aspects of the Zilliqa ecosystem.
Roll1ng Thund3rz will be led by Zilliqa’s Head of Gaming Technology, Valentin Cobelea, who has spearheaded the establishment and development of Zilliqa’s gaming division over the past year. Cobelea will serve as co-founder and CTO at Roll1ng Thund3rz, while also continuing in his role with Zilliqa to develop the technical gaming capabilities of the company; the remainder of Zilliqa’s gaming division will transition to the new entity from today, which will commence operations immediately.
The new company will continue to work closely with Zilliqa’s core and technical teams to facilitate seamless integration with the Zilliqa blockchain, which underpins several of the vanguard capabilities set to feature in Roll1ng Thund3rz games, including the unique Skill2Earn system that rewards players for their in-game play, not how much they pay to participate.
Next month, on March 31, Roll1ng Thund3rz will release its first flagship title, Web3War – a free-to-play, cross-platform, first-person shooter. Currently in open beta, the game has attracted close to 7,000 players in its pre-release phase, as it has progressively rolled out new content and features to a growing user base ahead of its official launch.
For more information on Roll1ng Thund3rz, visit www.rtz.gg.
Speaking on today’s announcement, Zilliqa CEO Matt Dyer, said:
“All of us at Zilliqa are delighted to be able to announce the completion of the Roll1ng Thund3rz spin-off. Gaming in the blockchain and Web3 space has been a key area of focus for us at Zilliqa – representing an underserved and largely untapped market brimming with potential. Since joining Zilliqa, Valentin [Cobelea] has built a division that has gone from strength to strength, leveraging his significant experience to establish a foothold in a still-developing but highly competitive landscape. Today’s announcement is the culmination of a year of hard work by the whole team at Zilliqa, but just the first step on the journey for Roll1ng Thund3rz. We look forward to maintaining a close relationship with the team and contributing to their future success.”
Also commenting on today’s announcement, Roll1ng Thund3rz co-founder and CTO Valentin Cobelea, said:
“It is a great honour for me to be leading Roll1ng Thund3rz and be empowered to pursue a vision for Web3 gaming that truly puts gamers first. Our philosophy from day one has been to ‘build fun games first’ that leverage blockchain technology to provide genuine utility to the players, not create thinly-veiled financial products that masquerade as games. I’m confident that our approach, coupled with our talented team and technical backing, will see Roll1ng Thund3rz be the first business to truly crack the code of Web3 gaming and demonstrate not only the benefits of blockchain technology for this industry, but offer a window into what the future of gaming will look like.”
