NFT-based game Illuvium raises $72 million in digital land sales

Illuvium, a monster-battle roleplaying game that incorporates non-fungible tokens (NFTs), announced Sunday that it raised over $72 million in digital land sales. 

The land sale occurred between June 2 and June 5, 2022. Of the 20,000 plots of land available, 19,969 were sold, with the remaining 31 plots of land to be held for future giveaways. 

Illuvium also notes that there were no gas wars during the land sale, which is when Ethereum gas prices increase due to heightened demand for users to quickly complete transactions on the blockchain. This is because Illuvium incorporates the Immutable engine, built by scaling tech developer Immutable, to reduce NFT transaction fees and allow self-custody of NFTs. 

In the world of Illuvium, the player starts off having crashed on a foreign planet, Illuvium,  and encounters strange creatures, called Illuvials, that the player can then capture and used in battles. The player earns rewards and experience points through battling that allows them to progress into more dangerous terrains of Illuvium. 

Illuvium is set to launch on PC and macOS in the third quarter of 2022. Players can purchase weapons and armor as NFTs that can aid them throughout gameplay, which can later be resold on the in-game marketplace IlluviDEX, which also hasn’t launched yet.