Los Angeles-based Big Time Studios said it is preparing to raise $21 million across two funding rounds as it pushes to bring NFT-powered game assets into the broader gaming industry. The company was founded by Ari Meilich, the co-creator and former CEO of Ethereum metaverse project Decentraland, and is positioning itself around making blockchain-based items accessible to mainstream players.
Funding and investor lineup
The company disclosed that an initial round of $10.3 million included backing from FBG Capital, Alameda Research, Sound Ventures, Circle Financial, North Island Ventures, and Digital Currency Group. Big Time Studios said the full raise will be completed in two parts, with capital expected to support development of both the game and the technology stack behind it.
The studio’s team includes veterans from major gaming companies such as Blizzard, Epic Games, Riot Games, and Electronic Arts. Its first major project is a multiplayer action role-playing game centered on adventures across time and space, featuring a range of NFT collectibles. According to the company’s description, players will be able to team up with friends, explore ancient mysteries and futuristic civilizations, and collect rare and legendary NFT items for their avatars and personal in-game time machines.
Removing blockchain friction for players
Big Time Studios says its strategy goes beyond adding NFTs to a game. Meilich said the company is building technology intended to make NFT integration easier for major game developers as well. He argued that players with no prior blockchain experience should be able to collect NFT items with real-world value without needing to understand the underlying technology first.
Drawing on lessons from Decentraland, Meilich said earlier NFT products were largely limited to a smaller technical audience. He pointed to user-experience barriers such as wallet setup, asset customization, and the risk of permanently losing access through misplaced private keys. Big Time Studios is aiming to reduce those frictions in order to push blockchain gaming toward a much broader audience.
Game not yet live
At the time of the report, Big Time had not launched, and interested users could only sign up with an email address for future updates. No official release date had been announced for the multiplayer action RPG. The company said it plans to reveal more about the game and the team behind it in the coming weeks.
With a sizable planned raise, a development team drawn from major studios, and a focus on user-friendly NFT adoption, Big Time Studios is attempting to test whether blockchain-based game assets can move beyond crypto-native users and into the mainstream gaming market.