The times of CryptoKitties and Axie Infinity are long gone. In 2024, data sovereignty and Play-to-Earn alone are not enough to attract the audience’s attention. Meet Eldarune — a software developer company that aims to disrupt the status quo in Web3 gaming. The company’s journey is paved by the vision to create a new fantasy gaming ecosystem — compelling, decentralized, and seamlessly cross-chain.
Eldarune’s proven track record stands out among the other new projects trying to capitalize on the current bull market. Established in 2021, the company has the early mover advantage that allows Eldarune to provide its customers with time-tested true interoperability: from the common token and interconnected NFTs and in-game assets to the robust infrastructure.
Eldarune has an ecosystem of four games and development infrastructure on Polygon, Ethereum, and the BNB Chain, with plans to integrate Avalanche. The platform has achieved a significant milestone of the native ELDA token listed on Bybit and MEXC. Currently negotiating with Playstation regarding the cross-platform deployment of its projects, Eldarune’s team is confidently reemerging from the previous bear market to lead the current industry growth cycle.
Eldarune: Taking the Early Steps
Three years ago, the parent company of Eldarune — DIGA Labs team — united six partners with a simple yet powerful vision: to build an actually good game on blockchain. They quickly realized they embarked on a much more ambitious journey that couldn’t be completed by creating a single game. Back then, Web3 gaming infrastructure was unreliable, isolated to a single network, and suffering from on-chain congestion, rendering NFT trades or in-game transactions unbearable for an average user. That had to change.
After receiving the first investment in March 2022, DIGA Labs began to work on Digard, an infrastructure-centered project providing a combination of a community-building SDK and a technology layer for blockchain interoperability. A month later, the MVP game was connected to the Avalanche Fuji Testnet, and a separate subnet was ready for operations. The product was live. Such fast-paced progress couldn’t go unnoticed: at the beginning of April, DIGA Labs secured a soft commitment of $4M from multiple Avalanche on-chain prominent VCs.
A Comeback Amid the Bear Market
However, the circumstances were far from perfect. With the just-signed collaboration between Avalanche and Terra-Luna, investors’ vision was fogged with confidence, so UST became the staple for on-chain VC reserves. When Terra collapsed in May, DIGA Labs suddenly realized that its pledged assets had become worthless.
The contribution of Seedify revitalized the company and brought forward the concept of Eldarune — a medieval fantasy cross-chain gaming universe. Half a year of development later, Eldarune’s native token was launched on Seedify, Gamefi.org, Decubate, Enjinstarter, Redkite, and even Bybit. Sales were over in 8 seconds.
From a period of semi-stealth bootstrap development to a multiplatform token sold out, Eldarune’s impressive comeback continues to gain momentum. Placing an early bet on infrastructure and interoperability allowed Eldarune to solidify its position ahead of the other GameFi developers that are only beginning to address these issues. Instead of targeting a niche sector or offering an ad hoc dApp, the business model of Eldarune is focused on building a self-sufficient ecosystem that maintains sovereignty over the marketplace, community platforms, and even the technical layer. In doing so, the project unlocks immense future scaling potential, as the new games are integrated modularly, maintaining the seamless coherence of lore, in-game economics, and the technical aspect.
Growth, Rejuvenated: the Future of Eldarune
Eldarune in 2024 is a sprouting ecosystem of four games in parallel development. Relying on the Layer One X technology and the proprietary Digard solutions, Eldarune ensures seamless cross-chain interoperability. At the same time, the ELDA native token and in-game NFTs, as well as the common marketplace and lore, allow the company to leverage its main advantage — true interoperability across all levels. In early January, the markets recognized Eldarune’s potential, allowing the ELDA token to reach its all-time high price of $0.62 — a stunning ten-fold increase over just six days of trading.
The studio isn’t afraid to experiment with the genre. In one session, your Militia Archer NFT can support your dungeon-raiding squad in World of Elymnias — an isometric Diablo-like idle game with dungeons, grinding, clans, and an arena for PvP battles. In the following session, you can take him to the cutscene in Eldarune: Journey — a text-based adventure game, where players are making difficult choices to help their troops survive a perilous journey. In another game, you might trade it for a sought-after card to include in your deck in Heroes of Eldarune — the studio’s take on cross-platform trading card games. And there is also ELDA Rush — a PvP MOBA that somewhat resembles League of Legends.
The majority of the Eldarune’s games are still in the early stages of development. Yet, the studio overall definitely has what it takes to claim its grounds — a solid genre framework to cater to all members of the prospective audience, technological know-how, and steadily accelerating investor traction. The team’s spectacular experience and the holistic approach to ecosystem interoperability were likely the reason behind the high valuation figures: in December 2023, DIGA Labs raised its seed round at a valuation of $15 million, with L1X taking the lead role in the deal. Having a time-tested business model and a unique first-mover advantage propels Eldarune and its scaling capability ahead of its industry’s competitors.Eldarune is a rare example of a GameFi studio that isn’t just riding the hype wave but is truly introducing a robust operational advantage. With the 2024 GameFi market garnering more and more attention, Eldarune’s next breakthrough feels extremely near.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
