Introduction

Despite many gaming ecosystems operating on blockchain networks, Web 3.0 gaming still faces sustainability and scalability issues. Launched by Fusion Interactive, a top Web 3.0 gaming studio run by industry veterans, Fusionist was developed to improve the pertinent issues in blockchain gaming, plunging players into a universe of strategy, exploration, and digital collectibles. Being the first Launchpool project of the newest CEO of Binance, Richard Teng, after his appointment, Fusionist has caught the mainstream spotlight as a groundbreaking project that can revolutionize the Web 3.0 gaming industry.

This article explores Fusionist’s unique offerings for users in the gaming community, its use cases, key features, the project tokenomics, and how it positions to redefine the confluence of social interactions and gaming.

What is Fusionist?

Source: Fusionist

Fusionist is a blockchain-based gaming project that gained public attention after raising a $6.6 million seed fund in a round led by Binance Labs and FunPlus. Launched by Fusion Interactive, the developers took a unique approach to game development by creating Endurance blockchain instead of the conventional token and NFT collection. Fusionist’s mission is to deliver the most sustainable and scalable next-generation Web 3.0 games for players from all parts of the world.

The project combines a social infrastructure layer (Endurance) and a blockchain game (Fusionist). Endurance forms the backbone and blockchain technology behind Fusionist, powering the game’s economy, digital asset management, and transactions. This synergy between Fusionist and Endurance exemplifies how games can go beyond traditional entertainment to offer players a rich gaming ecosystem that fosters economic interaction and community engagement.

Brief History

Fusionists started with a centralized user engagement reward system called Alpha Prestige. Although Alpha Prestige was successful in gaming, gathering over 130k high-quality Web 3.0 users, the ecosystem faced boundaries and challenges diminishing the operation of blockchain games. Fusion Interactive then designed a state-of-the-art technology that solves these existing problems and promotes user experience.

The Fusionist mainnet, Endurance, was launched in January 2023 in response to the demand for a more consolidated and improved blockchain gaming technology. Although the team behind Fusionist is yet to be revealed, it is believed that the project is run by industry leaders with long-standing experience in e-gaming, having worked at top organizations like Electronic Arts, Moonton, and Tencent. It is because of this quality and expertise that the project raised $6.6 million from Binance Labs and FunPlus in January 2022 to develop the Endurance mainnet ecosystem.

Community Building and Governance

Fusionist places significant attention on community building and governance, fostering a strong sense of community among its users. By this, players not only participate in the games but also contribute to a decentralized governance mechanism where they vote on important decisions like token distribution, game updates, and feature integration. This participatory model has led to a vibrant community deeply invested in the project’s future and success.

Fusionist’s community-building efforts have been prosperous, as evidenced by the project’s social media following. Although not a sole yardstick for evaluating a project’s success, social media following can indicate recognition, participation, and engagement. Comparing Fusionist’s social media accounts to other active players in the industry, the project seems appealing to the Web 3.0 community. This engagement is also indicative of the viable strategies employed by the project leadership team, showing their knowledge and experience in business operations and community-building.

Source: Medium/@Coinmonks — Comparison of Social Media following of Fusionist and other gaming platforms as of December 11, 2023

Unique Attributes

Here are the notable attributes of Fusionist:

• Confluence of gaming and finance: Fusionist combines gaming with decentralized finance, allowing users to enjoy playing games while unlocking access to financial activities.
• Support from top investors and partners: The project has received accolades and support from top cryptocurrency participants and investors like Binance Labs. This is an indication of the project’s prospects and the capability of the team.
• NFT involvement: Fusionist has integrated NFTs into its offerings, allowing users to interact with virtual gaming assets. With this integration, Fusionist’s native token, ACE, can enjoy diverse use cases.
• Vibrant GameFi ecosystem: Powered by the Endurance blockchain, Fusionist has various features and games, offering users various and unique gaming experiences.
• Strong gamer community: As earlier stated, community building is at the heart of Fusionist, and the project has progressively grown and maintained it. By organizing interactive programs and availing earning opportunities, Fusionist attracts meaningful participation within the Web 3.0 gaming ecosystem.

Advantages

The following are the benefits of using Fusionist:

• User experience: The main goal of Fusionist is to ensure user-friendly interaction with the platform. The integration of seamless gaming features and simple user interfaces is prioritized to make the games simple to operate by a diverse range of gamers.
• Inclusivity: Because users are a part of the project’s governance structure, Fusionist modifies the system based on the recommendation of its active users. This approach differentiates Fusionist from other industry alternatives and offers a point of entry for mainstream gamers into blockchain gaming.
• Specialized approach: Since it is powered by Endurance blockchain, Fusionist differs from general-purpose blockchain games and is optimized for gaming transactions, lower fees, and faster processing times. These features improve the real-time gaming experience and exalt Fusionist as the future of gaming.

Disadvantages

Despite its remarkable features and advantages, Fusionist faces the following setbacks—a notable concern to many blockchain protocols:

• Network congestion: Owing to the growing number of users, the system may be overwhelmed by increased transaction volumes that exceed the network capacity.
• Scalability: Since Fusionist was built on a specialized blockchain, there is a possibility of scalability concerns, questioning the ability of the network to handle a growing number of users and transactions.

To solve these, the project team continuously troubleshoots and optimizes the platform’s infrastructure. Sharding and layer-2 scaling are the solutions the team is exploring to reduce cost further and enhance scalability.

How Does Fusionist Work?

Fusionist is an independent game that offers three interconnected game modes for its players. Built with Unity WebGL and HDRP (High Definition Render Pipeline) technologies, Fusionist delivers an AAA quality experience compatible with mobile and PC, expanding its potential user base.

To minimize cheating, the platform uses backend-driven computation with flatbuffer and KCP protocols to achieve real-time synchronization. Furthermore, Fusionist is powered by Endurance, a fully EVM-compatible blockchain that embodies ‘Engage To Earn’ to ensure security, scalability, transparency, and earnings.

Source: @fusionistio/fusionist-beta-ii-galactic-duel-access-and-rewards-d34bc66d9655">Fusionist Medium

The gameplay of Fusionist revolves around “The Expedition,” where gamers wander into three different planets, each having its challenges. Split across three difficulty levels, gamers must navigate the obstacles to keep being in the game. They strategize by deploying their Mechs, in-game powerful entities with combat powers. Mechs can be assembled into squadrons to help navigate the journey across planets.

Fusionist Ecosystem

The Fusionist ecosystem aims to create a multi-game universe that takes gaming to the next level through its flagship utility projects.

Endurance Blockchain

Source: Endurance Explorer

Endurance is the leading network and infrastructure platform of Fusionist. Using BOAT (Bound On-Chain Achievement Token), it stores all user activities and achievements on the blockchain. Since its launch in January 2023, it has processed over 125 million transactions and accumulated over 1.98 million token-holding wallet addresses.

Endurance is an improvement of Fusion Interactive’s Alpha Prestige. By converting the user-focused interactive reward system (Alpha Prestige) into an entertainment-focused application chain (Endurance), Endurance ensures privacy, transparency, security, and connectivity of the entire system.

Endurance blockchain works with a multi-layer architecture comprising the infrastructure, network protocols, execution engines, and storage systems to seamlessly execute smart contracts.

Source: Endurance White Paper — The multi-layer architecture of Endurance

Games

Fusionist features three different visually stunning NFT games:

Colonize

Source: Fusionist

“Colonize” is a sci-fi AAA game where players navigate, explore, and settle on new planets. During the game, they encounter challenges, acquire resources, and build empires.

Conquer

Source: Fusionist

In the “Conquer” game, players fight to dominate new locations, seize lands to build their armies, conquer enemies, and dominate territories to become monarchs of their newly acquired kingdoms. This game is a P2E (play to earn) strategy game that may increase the economic incentive for gamers.

Unite

Source: Fusionist

“Unite” is a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game where players collaborate with peers to build a strong nation. The players interact and engage in social and combat activities to collectively achieve common goals.

ACE Domain

Source: ACE Domain

ACE Domain (ANS) is a decentralized domain project that allows users to interact with flagship products like websites, wallets, and blockchain. ANS offers simplicity by enabling users to use their ACE Domains directly rather than copying and pasting long wallet addresses. ANS are registered as hash functions and stored on the Endurance blockchain.

To register a .ace domain, users must have completed two transactions of the Endurance network. To remain active, users need to renew their ANS every year by paying annual renewal fees using ACE tokens. For domains with over five characters, the yearly renewal fee is 0.5 ACE per year, those with four characters cost 5 ACE per year, while ANS with three characters cost 17 ACE per year.

BOAT — Bound On-Chain Achievement Token

Source: @fusionistio/introducing-endurance-fusionists-mainnet-e816463e0dc5">Fusionist Medium

BOAT is a unique identifier that tracks user contributions within the Fusionist ecosystem. BOAT aims to increase the ACE earnings of users while providing them with gaming-related benefits. There are 36 types of soul-bound tokens, each having its BOAT allocation. These tokens are divided into 5 levels, and the users that meet the “Mint BOAT” condition at each level will be able to mint BOAT and receive BOAT-related benefits.

Partnerships

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Binance Labs, the venture capital arm and accelerator of Binance, and FunPlus, a Web 2.0 gaming giant, led a $6.6 million seed funding round for Fusionist in 2022. This investment will play a crucial role in promoting and developing Fusionist within the GameFi sector. On receipt of the funding, CEO of Fusion, Ike T, said: “We are thrilled to have Binance Labs on board as a strategic investor and partner. With the support of one of the industry leaders, we can further raise the bar for what Fusionist can accomplish in the future.”

Fusionist has also partnered with players in different fields, including CrossBell, FlameTechLabs, Hana Hana, and Space Animals. These collaborations will help consolidate the Endurance infrastructure and improve the Fusionist ecosystem to offer the highest-quality service to its users.

What is ACE Token?

ACE is the native cryptocurrency of the Endurance blockchain that serves as the utility and governance token of the ecosystem. It is a BEP-20 token on the Binance Smart Chain network and an ERC-20 smart contract token on the Ethereum blockchain. ACE aims to allow users to engage and earn on the Fusionist platform. It can be used for paying gas fees, staking, rewarding node operators, and purchasing items like NFTs within the gaming ecosystem. Qualified participants in the community may be eligible to earn free ACE tokens during certain conditions.

As published by the project team, 1.47 million ACE tokens will be released for the first 60 days after launch, and users will be able to earn ACE tokens through 7 ways. These include ACE Fountain, ACE Pump, Fusion, Alpha Prestige, Quartan Prime, Bi-Mech, and History of APs Spent.

Source: @fusionistio/introducing-endurance-fusionists-mainnet-e816463e0dc5">Fusionist Medium — 7 ways to earn ACE tokens

Tokenomics

Source: FMCPAY — ACE token release schedule

ACE’s total supply is 147 million, and only 1.47 million will be released in the first 60 days to prevent unforeseeable circumstances and market manipulations. Out of the total token supply, 15% will be reserved for the team, 22.5% for the investors, 11.6% will be used as an ecosystem fund, 27% for the incentive pool, 9% for treasury, and 3.5% for marketing. The initial circulating supply of the token is 21,969,520 ACE, which is 14.95% of the total supply.

Source: FMCPAY — ACE token allocation

ACE token holders can use their tokens to power decentralized applications (dApps) and services on the platform, including in-game transactions, ecosystem participation, staking, governance, and gas fee settlements. It is noteworthy that ACE tokens are not only usable by the primary Fusionists games but will also apply to the upcoming games developed by the Fusionist team and their collaborators.

Source: Endurance White Paper — Summary of ACE tokenomics

Project Roadmap

As the Endurance blockchain is approaching 2 million token-holding wallets and Fusionist airdrops listed on Steam, the project is kicking off well. The project team has outlined the following as their roadmap for 2024:

1. Q1 2024: The team plans to launch Endurance layer-2 and Optimism (OP) Endurance. This will also include chain launches, the listing of partners’ games, and exclusive game title releases.
2. Q2 2024: The team hopes to upgrade the Endurance blockchain to support zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs). This period will also feature the official launch of Fusionist.
3. Q3 2024: The team targets including over 20 new products in the Endurance gaming ecosystem.

Is ACE a Good Investment?

Basic fundamental analysis reveals the team’s experience in the gaming industry, attracting high-profile crypto players and investors. The project roadmap indicates a considerable prospect and commitment to improve the ecosystem and build solid products continuously. Furthermore, Fusionist’s adaptability, innovative approach to GameFi, and large social following suggest a strong connection with the Web 3.0 gaming community.

Thus, Fusionist’s future looks promising, with enormous prospects for good ROI, particularly during the bull market. However, it is important to understand that cryptocurrencies are incredibly volatile, unregulated, and highly speculative, with no consumer protection. Hence it is advisable to seek financial advice, effectively manage risks, and only affordably invest. It is also important to note that investing in ACE, or any other cryptocurrency, does not guarantee profit and could result in loss of capital.

How to Own ACE Token

You can buy ACE from a centralized cryptocurrency exchange. For example, Gate.io offers traders different trading pairs: ACE/USDT, and ACE/TRY. To own the token, create a Gate.io account, and complete the registration process. Also, you need to fund your spot trading account and go through the steps to buy ACE.

Take Action on ACE

Check out ACE price today and start trading your favorite currency pairs:

• ACE/USDT
• ACE/TRY