Mech Shooter 'MetalCore' Ditches Ethereum and Immutable for Solana

Mech shooter game MetalCore will migrate from Ethereum layer-2 gaming network Immutable zkEVM to Solana, developer Studio 369 announced Thursday. The move is set to take place alongside the start of the game’s second season set for sometime in November.

Studio 369 cited Solana’s “exceptional” ability to process a large number of transactions and growing ecosystem as to why it’s making the move.

“Solana continues to show impressive growth and stability, being able to process billions of dollars in transactions while maintaining 99.95% uptime,” Matt Candler, president and CEO of Studio 369, told Decrypt. He also cited Solana games like Star Atlas and Aurory, suggesting “countless opportunities for cross-promotion and collaboration.”

Image: Studio 369

MetalCore was initially set to launch in late 2023 on Immutable zkEVM, an Ethereum layer-2 focused on gaming. But the network’s mainnet was delayed, prompting Studio 369 to scale down its team. Candler previously told Decrypt in March that the zkEVM mainnet delay “prohibited us from being more vocal about our situation.”

In March, the studio announced that it had raised an additional $5 million to help launch the game following the unexpected network delay. The game launched into open beta via the Epic Games Store in September, and has released its MCG token alongside a number of NFTs on the Immutable zkEVM chain.

When Decrypt asked about the team’s experience on the Ethereum scaling network, Studio 369 declined to comment.

“We’ve seen a lot of positive traction and feedback following the launch,” Candler told Decrypt. “We had a very successful Season 1 with strong KPIs indicating that a healthy in-game economy is already taking shape. We’ve also seen interest from non-crypto-native users who purchased over $100,000 worth of assets through the Web2 store.”

Image: Studio 369

Alongside the open beta release, MetalCore’s first in-game season—called MetalPunks Rhapsody—started in September, adding a handful of features while upgrading the game to Unreal Engine 5 and delivering various performance and visual enhancements as a result.

Additionally, the update saw MetalCore reduce the level of crypto knowledge required to engage with the game, for example, by removing the need to create a wallet. The upcoming migration will also see MetalCore utilize Solana Labs’ GameShift platform, which helps reduce crypto-related friction for users when engaging with the game’s economy.

Although no official date is set, Studio 369 expects to launch on Solana sometime in November alongside the start of its second season. When this happens, players will have to migrate their NFTs and tokens from Immutable zkEVM to Solana, with more details to come ahead of the move.

Edited by Andrew Hayward