Bitcoin Stolen From ‘Call of Duty’ Cheaters, ‘Notcoin’ Airdrop Nears

Luckily, Decrypt’s GG is all over it. And if you need a quick way to get caught up on the latest moves around crypto video games, we’re debuting This Week in Crypto Games.

Our weekend roundup serves up the biggest news from the past week, along with a few other tidbits you might have missed. We also showcase a few of our original stories from the week.

Biggest news

Cheaters learn a tough lesson: Call of Duty players who downloaded certain “cheat” software instead installed malware—and some reportedly had their Bitcoin wallets drained as a result, according to cybersecurity firm VX Underground. Nearly 5 million gaming accounts may have been impacted by the malware, according to the firm, though the number who actually had crypto swiped from their wallets is unknown. Cheating doesn’t pay, at least in this case.

Notcoin to end mining: Notcoin, the viral Telegram-based clicker game, is winding down its “mining phase” on April 1 ahead of the upcoming token airdrop on The Open Network (TON). More than 34 million Telegram users have played the game so far, and the next phase is about to begin. What that looks like isn’t entirely clear, but the game’s team is now asking players to consider donating a share of their earnings to an ecosystem fund.

Nyan Heroes demo: Solana-based team shooter Nyan Heroes launched its pre-alpha demo on the Epic Games Store last week, and it’ll be available until April 9 on PC. The cats-in-mechs game is running a play-to-airdrop campaign around the demo, rewarding players with “MEOW” points for completing in-game missions. Those points will grant players an allocation of the upcoming NYAN token on Solana. It’s a double-points weekend through Monday, too, so you’ll earn more for playing.

Parallel raises $35M: Parallel Studios, the team behind Ethereum NFT card game Parallel (GG’s 2023 game of the year), announced that it has raised $35 million in fresh funding from a variety of backers, including VanEck and Solana Ventures. The studio told Decrypt’s GG that the funding will help fuel expansion of the game into new storefronts and eventually onto mobile, plus it will support development on the upcoming Solana-based AI game, Colony.

ICYMI

• Gunzilla Games, the studio behind anticipated battle royale shooter Off the Grid on Avalanche, revealed a $30 million raise last week.
• Munchables, an NFT game running on Ethereum scaling network Blast, saw $62 million worth of funds swiped last week—but they were returned.
• Anticipated Ethereum game franchise Illuvium announced a $12 million funding round last week, with a Q2 2024 release target in sight and an airdrop planned too.
• Azuki NFT project creator Chiru Labs is collaborating on an AnimeChain built on Ethereum scaling tech from Arbitrum, with games and content planned.

• AI analytics firm Helika announced an accelerator program for crypto gaming studios, with venture capital partners offering up to $50 million in investment alongside.
• Amazon Web Services has revealed a deal with the WAX blockchain to integrate its tools, making it easier for AWS customers to deploy crypto gaming features.
• Ethereum game Nifty Island rolled out the next phase of its play-to-airdrop campaign last week, launching a speedrunning competition for both level builders and players alike.
• Final Fantasy maker Square Enix and the Solana Foundation are among the backers of crypto gaming launcher Elixir, which raised $14 million ahead of its token launch.

GG spotlight

Here are a few of our original stories from this past week that we think are well worth a weekend read: