Why HV-MTL Ethereum Mechs Are Coming to Arena Shooter ‘Shatterline’

After a change of ownership this spring, the HV-MTL NFT mech suits minted on Ethereum—which were originally created by Bored Ape Yacht Club maker Yuga Labs—are set to be featured in a glossy, free-to-play arena shooter called Shatterline.

Faraway, a gaming startup that still works closely with Yuga and purchased the HV-MTL and Legends of the Mara IP in April, teased the collaboration this week on Twitter (aka X). The brief trailer showcases the pixel mechs transformed into flying 3D companions that can help your on-foot hero in the first-person shooter.

Shatterline is a PC-based shooter that’s been available in early access since 2022, and recently announced plans to shut down early access servers on August 1 in advance of a full-fledged game launch later this year. Faraway co-founder Alex Paley told Decrypt’s GG this week that an Epic Games Store launch is in the works.

According to Paley, Faraway had been chatting with Shatterline developer Frag Lab since 2022 about potentially implementing Web3 functionality. However, he said, Frag Lab wanted to get the gameplay polished and set before considering any such additions.

“We thought it looked absolutely incredible,” Paley said of early Shatterline playtests.

Faraway began discussions with Yuga Labs earlier this year about acquiring the HV-MTL and Mara IP in an effort to expand them across a potentially wide array of games. Yuga co-founder and CEO Greg “Garga” Solano had admitted that the Bored Ape maker had stretched itself thin with too many projects, and had “lost its way” as a result.

Paley said that being able to team up with Shatterline on this collaboration factored into its decision to go ahead with the Yuga deal, since there was a polished, competitive action game on the horizon that Faraway believed the IP would work well within. He also sees HV-MTL and Mara IP as a way to differentiate Shatterline from the crowded pack of shooters.

“That’s what pushed us over the edge to really go through with it,” Paley said.

Paley said to expect a Q4 2024 launch for Shatterline with its HV-MTL integration. He said that HV-MTL NFT owners will see “pretty significant power advantages” when using them as companions in the player-vs-environment expedition modes, and that Shatterline will offer both Web3 rewards (like tradable items) and traditional Web2 rewards for players.

After the initial launch, Faraway plans to integrate more HV-MTL classes—and then dip into the Legends of the Mara IP, as teased at the end of the trailer, with Koda Maras, Shattered Goliaths, and other characters and creatures originally created by Yuga Labs.

Frag Lab could have implemented NFTs in 2022 when they were originally discussing crypto integrations, Paley said, back before the market cooled. But he praised the team for instead focusing on polishing the gameplay and getting Shatterline ready to launch to a broad audience. That time is fast approaching, he suggested.

“I just want to throw kudos to that team for building during the bear [market],” he said, “and waiting until the time was right.”