At the Game Developers Conference on Tuesday, layer-1 blockchain network Saga announced the creation of a new game publishing division called Saga Origins. It also revealed a new mainnet launch target as the recent airdrop claim continues.
The publishing arm will offer a "full service and collaborative approach" to bringing games to market, including support for user acquisition, community building, and promotional efforts. No games have been announced for the label yet, though Saga is showcasing network games like Rogue Nation and Another World at GDC this week.
The company says that Saga Origins is the "first and only layer-1 Web3 game publisher," according to a release, though there have been layer-2 publishers like Immutable in the Ethereum ecosystem.
“Saga Origins is our love letter to the developers building games in Web3,” said Saga co-founder and CEO Rebecca Liao, in a release. “While the onus of bringing users to the platforms often falls on the game developers, we want to buck that convention and use our platform to bring users to the games instead.”
“Saga Origins will allow developers to bring provocative, expansive, and uncompromising games to consumers that will revolutionize how we will all view games,” she added.
The company also revealed that the Saga mainnet is set to launch sometime in April. Saga recently launched an airdrop claim following months of play-to-airdrop competitions for various games—not only for games building on the Saga testnet, but also on chains like Avalanche and Polygon.
Saga Mainnet. April 2024. pic.twitter.com/eqfpybExUb
— Saga ⛋ (@Sagaxyz__) March 20, 2024
The airdrop also benefits DeFi token stakers on various networks, along with holders of NFTs like the Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks. While eligible wallets can claim their airdrop allocations right now, the token isn’t actually live yet. This is expected to happen once the Saga mainnet is live in April.
Editor’s note: This article was written with the assistance of AI. Edited and fact-checked by Andrew Hayward.