Crypto funds Dialectic and Seven Seven Six back Bisonic's 'Forgotten Runiverse' fundraise

Game developer and publisher Bisonic Inc. and Magic Machine said on Wednesday they have closed a funding round for land tokens that will exist in the upcoming massive multiplayer online role-playing game Forgotten Runiverse.

Swiss crypto fund Dialectic — founded and directed by Ryan Zurrer, the recent buyer of Beeple’s Human One sculpture — is leading the  private land sale, Bisonic said in a release. Seven Seven Six, founded by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, also joined the initial investment round, alongside Libertus Capital, Kenetic Capital, Placeholder, 1confirmation, Wenew Labs, No Goat Milk (Future Corp) and crypto Twitter anons Fiskantes, Deeze and Soby.

Bisonic's co-founder, who goes by Jeldor, declined to give details of the size of the raise when asked. 

Development of the game, which is is based on Magic Machine’s NFT collection Forgotten Runes Wizard’s Cult, is under way and will host a public land sale in June, according to the roadmap. Tokenized land plots will be available at various sizes upon which landowners can build an array of structures, including customizable homes, guildhalls, mines, workshops, forges, galleries and battle arenas.

While non-property owners can enjoy a full game experience, ownership of land brings additional layers of utility, differentiating the Runiverse from other metaverse land tokens, Bisonic said.

Players can generate fees based off services provided on property, rent land to other users, harvest resources, and host events like skills competitions, mini game nights, poetry readings and concerts.

Jeldor said he hopes users that create value in the world will benefit from it too, as part of a "create-to-earn" economy.

"There’s a way for you to benefit from the value you bring to the world," he said, giving the example of an artist creating a pixel painting to sell to other players. 

When asked whether there would be an airdrop or something similar for current wizard holders, Jeldor said that the company "wants to make sure long-term wizards are taken care of."

The project is also exploring other avenues for the Forgotten Runes intellectual property, such as a comic book and TV show. 

According to data provider CryptoSlam, the Forgotten Runes collection currently ranks 125th in all time sales volume for NFT collections. 

The 'Runiverse' is the latest NFT project to say it is raising money via a land sale. In March, it was revealed that Yuga Labs, the business behind the heavily hyped Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, is hoping to raise hundreds of millions of dollars by selling virtual plots.