Solana Shooter 'Nyan Heroes' Nearing Early Access With Airdrop Rewards

Singapore-based game studio 9 Lives Interactive announced Thursday that it has secured $3 million in funding to support the global launch of Nyan Heroes, a "hero shooter" game with assets minted on the Solana blockchain. And players will have a chance to test it out very soon.

The investment round was led by Mechanism Capital, with participation from Sfermion, Momentum 6, 3Commas Capital, Devmons GG, Kosmos Ventures, and CSP DAO. 9 Lives Interactive previously raised $7.5 million in 2022.

Nyan Heroes will be available in a limited early access testing period from March 26 to April 9 via the Epic Games Store, letting players get their first taste of the team-based shooter game.

As announced earlier this year, 9 Lives Interactive is running a play-to-airdrop campaign around the early access rollout, letting players earn rewards in the upcoming NYAN token drop. The token was previously referred to as “NYN” rather than “NYAN.”

The team launched the first wave of that airdrop campaign earlier this week, letting interested players sign up and start earning “MEOW” points by completing missions on the game website. On Friday, Nyan Heroes said that over 200,000 people have signed up for the campaign, spanning more than 120,000 unique Solana wallets.

Nyan Heroes is a team-based, objective “hero shooter” akin to Blizzard’s hit series Overwatch—but featuring colorful cats who pilot powerful mechs in competitive battles. Players select from eight guardian classes and use unique abilities and agile, feline-inspired movement to secure objectives and defeat opponents.

"We're thrilled to lead an investment round for Nyan Heroes, a project that will redefine standards for Web3 shooters," said Mechanism co-founder and partner Andrew Kang, in a release. "The creativity of the IP and the unique gameplay mechanics are what we believe sets it apart."

Editor’s note: This article was written with the assistance of AI. Edited and fact-checked by Andrew Hayward.