Machine Zone alumnus Gabe Leydon has founded Limit Break, a new blockchain gaming company.

The company aims to stand out from other games through what Leydon calls a “free mint game.” Whereas other games on the blockchain presell NFTs before the game’s launch, Limit Break will give away NFTs to fans.

Due to the cost of NFTs, it can be a struggle for players to gain an initial foothold in the game due to the financial requirements. Several companies in the blockchain space have attempted to remedy this, making the genre more accessible to newcomers.

Leydon hopes to avoid a problematic pattern of behaviour within the industry, where companies sell NFTs in advance of a game’s release, and then fail to deliver a game. By giving away the NFTs, Leydon believes that the fans themselves will be more engaged in its eventual release and that the model could eventually overtake the free-to-play and NFT presales.

Speaking to GamesBeat, Leydon stated “Our focus is on a what I believe is going to replace ‘free to play’ with something I call ‘free to own’ games.”

What does the future have in store?

Leydon isn’t sharing his full plans for the company, but the approach he’s taking led to the company raising $200 million in 2021, with investors including Buckley Ventures, Paradigm, and Anthos Capital.

“Web3 gaming has enormous potential, yet remains misunderstood especially in the gaming space. Paradigm is excited to back Limitbreak to help realize that potential,” said Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang, in an email to GamesBeat. “Gabe, Hal, and the rest of the team are truly deep, orthogonal thinkers who have a unique vision for the potential of Web3 gaming. Their track record in mobile gaming speaks for itself, and we believe they’ll make a similar mark in Web3.”

The approach Limit Break has taken is off to a promising start. Last month, the company gave away 2022 NFTs on crypto trading platform OpenSea, as part of the DigiDaigaku collection. These NFTs are selling on the marketplace for around 4 ETH, or $1490. This suggests that gamers are already enthusiastic about Limit Break’s potential, and the value of these NFTs could increase if the company’s games prove to be successful.

Despite Leydon's enthusiasm for the future of NFTs, they remain controversial within mainstream gaming. We recently reported that Minecraft have chosen to ban NFTs on its platform.