Battlebound Is Shutting Down, Pausing Development of Anterris

Web3 game developer Battlebound has announced that they are officially shutting down, meaning that development of their creature collecting game Anterris is being paused indefinitely.

Why Is Battlebound Shutting Down?

According to the official X announcement, Battlebound tried to extend their runway as much as they could in order try and secure a new funding round, but unfortunately they no longer had funds remaining to keep their team afloat, and because of “remarkably challenging market dynamics” had to close its doors.

This blockchain game developer, which previously created Evaverse, is sadly one of many gaming studios, both in web2 and web3, to shut down due to lack of funding. Over the years, many teams have had to either scale down or completely close in a global economy that has been quite difficult for many to navigate through. While we don’t have the exact employee numbers of this company, their announcement suggests that it was a “small yet mighty team” trying to build a web3 game that was focused on delivering quality, fun gameplay. They’ve been building this blockchain game for the past 4 years, and despite the success and positive feedback from the last playtest, which actually took place last month and had “thousands of players showing so much excitement and love for the game,” it looks like the studio could no longer keep everything financially running.

“Despite the recent traction, we've been building for four years with a lean, scrappy team, extending our runway as far as possible while trying to secure our next funding round. We excelled at doing more with less and staying afloat while developing above our weight. Ultimately, we're in the same position as many studios before us, closing our doors due to remarkably challenging market dynamics. We want to extend a massive thank you to our community, players, and everyone who's been part of our journey. It would not have been the same without you.”

I wish everyone affected by this closure all the best in moving forward and finding greener pastures.

What Will Happen to Anterris?

Considering the studio behind Anterris has closed down, this likely means that we won’t see this game up and running in the future. However, if the wording from the official announcement is anything to go by, it’s stated that the team is “pausing the development of Anterris,” which perhaps could mean that there may be a chance we eventually see the game come to life once again. There have been cases where projects would be put on hold due to lack of funding, and then they would eventually be revived thanks to new backing. That being said, maybe there is a potential chance development on this game continues on in the future, but whether that will somehow happen or not is currently unclear.

Anterris was a third-person creature collecting game in which players would collect Pokémon-like 3D creatures as NFTs by battling them using their own collection of varied creatures in action-packed gameplay. Players would explore a colorful 3D open world and switch to controlling a creature they own when battling a wild one they’d like to capture. There would be many different types of creatures to fight and capture, each with their own distinct abilities. It's been listed on Steam for playtesting, with no official release date included.

When the layer 1 blockchain Monad went live in testnet last month, so did Anterris, giving everyone a chance to playtest and collect testnet NFTs from February 19th until February 23rd. If you’re curious what this game looked like in action, here is some gameplay footage from early February, and some more from late January.