Singapore — 5 September 2023 – Loaded Lions, the flagship NFT collection of Crypto.com, has launched its first-ever game – Loaded Lions: Mane City – on the Cronos chain. The launch represents Crypto.com’s latest initiative to further deploy its assets and infrastructure towards the gaming sector – a key growth area within Web3 for the company as it explores new use cases for crypto and blockchain technology.
Developed in close collaboration with Cronos Play’s SDK team, Loaded Lions: Mane City is a tycoon simulation game where players design and build their dream cities and mansions with gold and diamonds generated from the in-game land that they own, alongside businesses they build on them such as gyms, banks and music stores.
Exclusive early access via First Frontier Land NFTs
To play Loaded Lions’ Mane City game at launch, players only need to own a Land NFT from Crypto.com’s “Land – The First Frontier” NFT collection. This collection was sold out in December 2022, however, players can still join the game now by purchasing it in the secondary marketplace on Crypto.com NFT or Minted.
Each Land NFT translates to a plot of land in the game that players will use as the foundation to build their own city within Mane City. The First Frontier Land NFT collection is distributed across an equal number of deeds, with five rarity levels in total – Starter, Rare, Epic, Legendary and Mythical. Each rarity unlocks a different number of open sites to build the Businesses which reward players with Gold, and also affects the amount of Diamonds that can be passively generated.
If players own a Loaded Lions NFT, they will also enjoy exclusive perks such as in-game boosters that can speed up their in-game progression.
Expanding playability with new mechanisms
While the game is in its beta at launch, it is constantly evolving and there will be new mechanisms introduced that aim to increase playability and excitement for all Mane City players. This includes and is not limited to a competitive mode, new ways for players to invite friends without Land NFTs to join the fun, additional NFT integrations, and more. Quick hint: those that can’t join the beta now might want to start making friends with First Frontier Land NFT holders.
“We are thrilled to partner with Cronos on advancing Web3 gaming with the launch of Loaded Lions: Mane City on the Cronos Chain,” said Henrik Johansson, Global Head of Growth at Crypto.com. “This is the first-ever game for Loaded Lions, our flagship NFT collection, and we hope our community finds the experience exciting and engaging as we pioneer and evolve the technology. Blockchain gaming is an important and growing feature of the Web3 ecosystem, and we will continue to build and support innovations in our effort to expand our reach and improve our offerings.”
“Launching the Loaded Lions: Mane City game on the Cronos Chain has been an exciting project and one that has enabled collaboration with our Cronos Play SDK to good effect,” said Ken Timsit, Managing Director of Cronos Labs. “GameFi in particular is a high priority for our ecosystem development and it is important that we continue to diversify our dApp offerings in our quest to onboard the next billion users to Web3 and DeFi. I truly hope that all Loaded Lions and Crypto.com First Frontier NFT holders and other users can enjoy this new experience with the seamless support of our chain.”
Gameplay with a competitive twist
Mane City players are free to decide how to expand, multiply and upgrade their buildings. When the competitive mode is introduced, players will compete to be on top of the leaderboard as determined by the total amount of Gold that they generate during a season. Depending on game rules and policies, the higher their rank, the greater the players’ rewards, which may then be used to gain an edge in the next season or exchanged for Cronos’ native CRO token.
Other key unique features of the game include:
- Mansion personalisation: Players can personalise their Mane Mansions to express their unique character and flair. By decorating their mansions, it also influences their in-game progression – unlocking additional blueprints to build Businesses and generate Gold, plus character level-ups.
- Dynamic prize pool: The prize pool grows dynamically and is updated live throughout the season. Many players will be able to share in the prize pool, but only the best of the best will take home the lion’s share.
- Building placements: Instead of predefining Business placements, players are free to decide where to place Business on the Land Plots which opens up more opportunities for strategic and skilled players.
- Marketplace: Integrated within the game, players can buy and sell Businesses and Blueprints.
Learn more about the gameplay here.
About Loaded Lions
Loaded Lions are the debut NFT collection of Crypto.com. The collection was the very first platform-owned profile picture (PFP) project launched in the NFT space, consisting of 10,000 unique, algorithmically-generated PFPs.
Every single trait – from hairstyle, to costume, to accessories – is hand drawn by Crypto.com’s creative team. Each Loaded Lion NFT comprises a unique combination of 150 different traits, each of which have varying levels of rarity.
Owners of Loaded Lions NFTs gain exclusive membership to Crypto.com’s ‘Mane Net’, an elite community with tantalising benefits including VIP experiences, unique giveaways and priority access to other Crypto.com NFT drops and initiatives.
About Crypto.com
Founded in 2016, Crypto.com is trusted by more than 80 million customers worldwide and is the industry leader in regulatory compliance, security and privacy. Our vision is simple: Cryptocurrency in Every Wallet™. Crypto.com is committed to accelerating the adoption of cryptocurrency through innovation and empowering the next generation of builders, creators, and entrepreneurs to develop a fairer and more equitable digital ecosystem. Learn more at https://crypto.com.
About Cronos chain
Cronos is the first EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain network built on the Cosmos SDK, supported by Crypto.com and more than 500 app developers and partners.
Cronos is building an open ecosystem where developers can create their own DeFi and GameFi applications, targeting a base of 70+ million users globally. Earlier this year, Cronos Labs launched a $100M Accelerator program to help developers build new projects and the future of Web3 within the Cronos ecosystem.
When developers build on Cronos, they can leverage all Ethereum developer tools (i.e. Solidity, Truffle, Hardhat, OpenZeppelin, Web3.js, ethers.js, ChainSafe Gaming SDK); leading crypto wallets (i.e. MetaMask, Crypto.com Defi Wallet, Trust Wallet); wrapped versions of the world’s top 50 cryptocurrencies; Cronos Play, a suite of developer tools for Unity, C++ and Unreal engine; inter-blockchain communication (IBC) cross-chain connectivity to Cosmos chains; and a rich ecosystem of composable DeFi and GameFi dApps.
