Shroud of the Avatar Turns To Cryptocurrency For Funding

Earlier today Portalarium, the studio behind Shroud of the Avatar, announced their partnership with Neverdie Studios and their Initial Coin Offering (ICO).

Neverdie Studios is led by Jon 'NEVERDIE' Jacobs, a virtual real estate magnate in the sandbox MMORPG Entropia Universe. He is best known for his Club NEVERDIE which he built on virtual land purchased for $100,000 in 2005. He eventually sold the club and its surrounding territories for over $600,000 in 2010.

Mr Jacobs clearly sees the partnership between Lord British, founder of Portalarium, and himself as an auspicious sign:

“This is a historic accord between two iconic avatars aligning to champion avatar rights. With the wise council of Richard “Lord British” Garriott, a legendary avatar, adventurer and world builder providing priceless insight into the development of the gamified virtual reality infrastructure to unite MMORPGS and virtual worlds, I’m confident that our noble ambitions will remain virtuous and have the greatest chance to succeed. Richard’s council on the structure and balance of universal gaming tokens will be invaluable.”

Shroud of the Avatar is the first third party game to partner with Neverdie Studios in their hyper ambitious project. The premise behind the ICO is that 'investors' trade their Ethereum cryptocurrency coins for 'tokens' created by Neverdie Studios. Somehow this process is supposed to get investors in on a $1 trillion virtual goods market and help generate 1 billion VR jobs. A modest proposal to say the least!

THE NEVERDIE ICO WILL FINANCE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MULTI-PLATFORM API FOR A MONETIZED GAMING INFRASTRUCTURE TO SUPPORT A TRILLION DOLLAR VIRTUAL GOODS ECONOMY

There's even a handy chart to explain how it all works in the 24 page pdf provided on the Neverdie website:

I applaud the ambition of pioneers like Lord British and NEVERDIE in moving the industry forward, but leave it to each reader to rely on their own judgement before investing. Luckily, those who don't understand cryptocurrencies have a more traditional means of investing in Shroud of the Avatar. The company's crowdfunded series b round is still active on Seed Invest. For a $499 minimum, anyone can be a bonafied shareholder in Portalarium!

Shroud of the Avatar - Official Forsaken Virtues Trailer

Further Reading: Partnering with Neverdie Studios, Neverdie ICO Page, Full Press Release