Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), which last year unveiled a $600 million fund for game investments, led the round, while other investors included NFX, Coinbase Ventures, Play Ventures, and Franklin Templeton. Mark Otero, the founder and CEO of Azra, declined to comment on his company’s valuation.

Games that incorporate NFTs into gameplay are now a dime a dozen; however, the financial backing for Azra, led by Otero, a former general manager at gaming giant Electronic Arts (EA), signals that veterans from the video game industry are now weaving Web3 concepts into big-ticket games. Titans like Ubisoft, for example, have already incorporated, or talked about incorporating, NFTs into games they have released.

Otero added that NFTs won’t be the foundation of gameplay for Legions & Legends, which will be released initially on PC and mobile devices, but he and his team plan to include the tokens as in-game collectibles. They also released prelaunch passes as NFTs, whose holders get early sneak peeks of concept art, beta access to the game, and other benefits.Otero said that Azra plans to release the first version of Legions & Legends later this year.