Uniswap Acquires Crypto: The Game In On-Chain Gaming Play – The Defiant

Uniswap Labs, the team behind the top decentralized exchange, Uniswap, is expanding its tendrils into web3 gaming.

On June 10, Uniswap Labs announced it had acquired Crypto: The Game (CTG), a Survivor-styled game on the Base Layer 2 network in which the last of 800 contestants voted off the platform wins a prize pool of ETH.

The announcement said that CTG’s team is joining Uniswap Labs, and will be tasked with both building out the game’s third season and “cooking up on-chain experiments for the Uniswap community.”

“We’ll bring our experience building one of the most popular on-chain apps to take Season 3 to the next level,” Uniswap Labs said. “Get ready for new themes, new twists, and even more on-chain drama.”

The terms of the deal were not disclosed. However, Mary-Catherine Lader, the chief operating officer of Uniswap Labs, told Fortune that CTG will receive a mixture of cash, tokens, and equity.

“We’ve seen CTG generate a ton of excitement and Uniswap is focused on making on-chain experiences more human and fun,” Lader said.

CTG burst onto the web3 gaming scene with the launch of its first season in January. Contestants buy in to compete with 0.1 ETH, join one of ten tribes spanning 80 people, and then vote each other off until a single winner emerges victorious and 80 ETH richer.

In April, entries to CTG’s second season sold out in just 13 minutes as thousands of fans raced to buy a ticket to participate. CTG’s seasons are streamed via social media platforms including X and Farcaster.

Engaging non-crypto audiences

Dylan Abruscato, one of CTG’s co-founders, estimated that between 10% and 15% of viewers were “normies” from outside of the crypto space. He added that CTG’s website hosted 50,000 unique visitors across a 10-day period during season 2.

“It’s ballooned into this 24/7 crypto reality show where there are villain arcs, drama, and fan favorites, and it’s kind of become this spectacle in the crypto community,” Abruscato said.

Major companies from both inside and outside of web3 took notice of CTG Season 2. Uniswap Labs sponsored one of the challenges featured in the season, while Adidas, the popular clothing brand, created branded tracksuits for each player that took the form of non-fungible tokens.

Lader said that participating as a sponsor gave Uniswap Labs a behind-the-scenes look into how CTG had “cracked this code for bringing new users into crypto.”

The price of Uniswap’s UNI token is down 5% over the past 24 hours amid a broader digital asset pullback, according to CoinGecko.

Related: Uniswap Foundation Delays Fee Switch Vote