👀 IMX + UBI?

Hey frens! We’re back with another edition of The Drop.

Top gaming tokens are up in the past week. Today, we’re talking about Immutable, Audius, Circle and more.

— Kate Irwin

Immutable teases ‘multibillion dollar’ news

Immutable cofounder Robbie Ferguson wrote on Tuesday morning: “Tomorrow we announce the outcome of a multibillion dollar partnership that's been in the works for 2+ years.” 

While we didn’t hear anything from Immutable by publication time, it could be about their game with Ubisoft.

Immutable’s partnership with Ubisoft’s Strategic Innovation Lab was first announced in November 2023.

During an on-record interview at the Game Developers Conference in March, Immutable Chief Studio Officer Justin Hulog told Blockworks that he has been “working on co-developing a game with Ubisoft that we’re going to announce next month” for the past two and a half years. He added that “it’s one where we’ve really worked with their dev team to take the best of their learnings around TCGs.”

“Gods Unchained has been running for four years, so that’s been really helping to combine those two learnings together,” Hulog said.

While more specific details about the new game have not yet been made public, it’ll likely have blockchain elements and may use Immutable’s zkEVM, which Immutable is leading game developers toward these days over its Immutable X chain.

Ubisoft is the studio behind the Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Tom Clancy game franchises, to name a few. The studio previously launched Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles using the Oasys blockchain back in October 2024. 

“I believe, really, that we should stay chain-agnostic,” Ubisoft’s Innovation Lab VP Nicolas Pouard said during a panel moderated by Blockworks during the Game Developers Conference. Pouard did not immediately respond to Blockworks’ request for comment.

Before Champions Tactics, Ubisoft unveiled its Ubisoft Quartz NFT platform and released NFTs on Tezos for its Tom Clancy game Ghost Recon: Breakpoint back in 2021.  

The IMX token pumped after Ferguson’s tweet, spiking 28% from $0.46 right before the post to $0.59 within two hours, per CoinGecko data. IMX is up about 34% in the past week.

PLAY tokens unfrozen

Play Network, a gaming-focused crypto firm, says some PLAY tokens have been unfrozen thanks to a new court order.

Two months ago, the Supreme Court of Gibraltar had issued an order that froze 542 million PLAY and impacted 19,000 wallets. Roughly 753.3 million PLAY is currently in circulation, per CoinGecko data, out of a possible 1 billion tokens.

“From day one, PLAY has operated with transparency and in the best interests of our community. The court’s judgment restores clarity for our community and partners. We are making this statement to correct the record and preserve the reputations of PLAY, our team, and myself after months of false and misleading statements made during the dispute. Our focus remains on building the PLAY ecosystem for developers, players, and creators,” Play Network CEO and founder Christina Macedo said in a statement.

Audius launches creative agency

Audius is a bit like the Spotify of crypto — and they’ve just announced a creative agency.

Audius Agency, led by Jesse Grushack, will work with musicians to launch new open-source products. Grushack previously worked on NFT projects for the likes of Wu-Tang Clan and Diplo and is also part of Audius’ grants team.

Audius says its team will work directly with artists to develop new tools and digital experiences. 

Could Circle’s payment network change banking?

If you’ve ever had to send a wire, you know how clunky, slow and manual traditional finance tools can feel. Circle announced Circle Payments Network on Monday, promising blockchain-powered remittances, invoice payments and other possibilities using dollar- and euro-backed stablecoins.

This sounds like it could be a big deal. I’m excited about the idea that this could help the US get better at the whole sending-money-internationally thing. It is the year 2025, after all.

Circle shared this graphic on how its CPN works:

• Juggling multiple crypto wallets? OpenSea added another feature for power users: wallet switching. 

• Sam Altman’s Worldcoin (aka World) is hosting an invite-only event in San Francisco on April 30. Will some news come out of this one? Probably. I’ll keep you posted.