The Karrat Foundation, which is linked to the battle royale game My Pet Hooligan, announced Thursday that it is collaborating with the Arbitrum Foundation to launch a gaming-focused chain called Studio Chain, which is aimed at fostering Web3-native capabilities in entertainment and video games.
The collaboration places the KARRAT token at the forefront of the chain built with Arbitrum’s Ethereum layer-2 scaling tech, and makes My Pet Hooligan (MPH)—which is available via the Epic Games Store—the flagship game of the budding ecosystem.
“Studio Chain and the My Pet Hooligan franchise bring with them a rich source of content and culture that we’re thrilled to add to the Arbitrum ecosystem,” Jack Fitzpatrick, Partnerships Manager at Offchain Labs, said in a statement. “We’re excited to see how this collaboration will enable truly innovative player and creator experiences.”
To deliver those experiences the blockchain will look to My Pet Hooligan creator AMGI Studios, which counts entertainment icons Paris Hilton and Coldplay as early investors, to deliver AAA gaming experiences, tokenized IP and content rights, and new democratized funding channels.
“By leveraging Arbitrum’s powerful infrastructure, we’re able to create gaming experiences that were previously impossible,” said Luke Paglia, co-founder and COO of AMGI Studios. “My Pet Hooligan is just the beginning—this collaboration enables seamless in-game asset ownership, true player-driven interactive extensions, and enhanced interoperability that will transform how audiences engage with entertainment.”
That interoperability will help extend the chain’s headline game to Xbox game consoles and additional PC gaming launchpads in the coming months.
The Web3 components of the game will be controlled by relays between the game and the backend infrastructure which connects to the My Pet Hooligan web portal. In other words, interacting with crypto assets will take place via the website, not within the Xbox game itself.
“That means Web3 fungible and non-fungible assets can be reflected in the Web3 environment and any changes to asset states or balances communicated across platforms,” a representative for the game told Decrypt. A combination of AMGI’s proprietary architecture and the KARRAT protocol will “enable Web3 activations without disrupting the core gameplay experience,” they added.
Other notable crypto games are headed to Xbox and PlayStation consoles, though with mixed approaches—and still a lot of questions in some cases.
Ethereum-based game Moonray will launch on consoles without crypto elements built in, the developer previously said. Meanwhile, Off the Grid—which is currently available in early access on Xbox and PS5—still has yet to launch its Avalanche L1 mainnet to power on-chain trading and token use. But developer Gunzilla has conceded that the crypto elements will be “handled differently” on consoles compared to PC.
While details of Studio Chain’s official launch are still outstanding, when it comes, it will need to fight for users with other entertainment and consumer-focused blockchains like Ethereum scaling networks Ronin and Abstract.
But a representative for the Karrat Foundation said they aren’t thinking about competing with other existing chains, but rather complementing them.
“This isn’t a ‘My chain is quicker than yours’ argument,” they told Decrypt. “The aim is to carve out a distinct lane as the go-to blockchain for entertainment innovation—complementing rather than directly rivaling—what other great industry solutions and chains are doing.”
“The traditional entertainment industry is in crunch time, with studios shutting down, frequent layoffs, difficult barriers to entry, red tape, and more as IPs are looking for funding and new paths forward,” they continued. “As the Web3 space continues to mature and offer new opportunities for IP, Studio Chain will be there to facilitate those early adopters.”
Edited by Andrew Hayward