IQ Protocol launches rental marketplace with The Red Village to unlock seamless onboarding for play-to-earn gaming

Tallinn, Estonia, IQ Protocol, a digital asset rental technology, has announced a full integration with popular blockchain game, The Red Village, which will go live on the IQ Market on 19th June. 

The IQ Market will allow The Red Village players to list their in-game character NFTs (‘Champions’) for income, while allowing new users to rent and play without needing to own the underlying asset. IQ Protocol, the technology which underpins the marketplace, allows for customizable rental terms such as ‘reward split only’, meaning new players can rent, play, and earn without any initial payment needed and would split any rewards with the asset owner.

IQ Market includes a gas-less rental feature which, in combination with reward-split terms, means new players will have access to the full play-to-earn experience on The Red Village with only an empty wallet. IQ Market users will also have exclusive access to a $35,000 USD prize pool for rental-only tournaments.

Launch partners include CARV, KOD, BreederDAO, Rainmaker Games, KapitalDAO, Gamic, Rebel Bots, BitMetis, DAOsquare, Whale DAO, PIF Nation, TCG World, Universus, OlaGG, YeSports, Chainge Games, Froyo, Hooga Gaming, Unix, AMGDAO, CGU, Real Player DAO, Muzzle Run, Boomland, IKONIC, and EX Sports.

While non-fungible tokens have gained immense popularity in recent years, their mass adoption is nevertheless slow, partly due to their limited supply and high cost of ownership. To address this issue, IQ Labs has built this technology to  improve accessibility of digital assets creating new user-onboarding opportunities for blockchain gaming, ticketing, membership organizations, subscriptions, and NFT projects. The IQ Market enables users to experience NFTs for a limited time, generating additional revenue streams for projects and increasing the liquidity of the NFT market.

Since its formation in 2021, the startup has already established partnerships with more than 50 businesses worldwide to collaborate on GameFi, NFT and blockchain subscription projects. 

“A seamless asset rental experience has been a missing piece of the puzzle for this burgeoning sector. And we’re very pleased to team up with The Red Village and contribute this vital infrastructure to the gaming ecosystem,” Tom Tirman, CEO and co-founder of IQ Labs, said. 

Known for its championship fighting tournaments, The Red Village is a play-to-earn ecosystem built on Polygon, backed by prominent metaverse investors such as Animoca Brands and GameFi Ventures Fund. It is the first dark fantasy game on the blockchain that offers both fun and an opportunity to earn. In a bid to further expand the dark fantasy ecosystem, The Red Village is currently working with Blowfish Studios, the creators of AAA-rated Phantom Galaxies, to develop its upcoming game “The Red Village: Darklands,” inspired by traditional games such as “RuneScape”, “Diablo”, “Skyrim”, “Elden Ring” and “The Witcher”, which will also support asset rental utilizing to IQ Protocol.

“The team at The Red Village chose to work with IQ Protocol as a rental partner as their tech and team are second-to-none, and their enthusiasm to make the product successful is palpable. From sponsoring Rental Championships, to leveraging their huge network of media connections, working with IQ Protocol is a surefire way to shoot for success. TRV is super excited to show the gaming community how rental works, and continue building on the close relationship that it has developed with IQ.” said Brendan Robb, Founder and CCO of The Red Village.

The Red Village will be the first game to incorporate IQ Protocol’s NFT rental mechanism. As a result, gamers potentially earn rewards by leasing their in-game characters or items via the IQ Market. It’s an effective way to get around the cost barrier and open a game to a wider community, giving new players a chance to play and earn and giving asset owners a sustainable yield from their in-game assets.

About IQ Labs

IQ Market is a platform built for the Web3 sharing economy. Their p2p NFT rental technology allows users to unlock the full utility of scarce digital assets at a fraction of the purchasing cost, completely redefining on-chain ownership and access.  

The IQ Labs vision is to become the go-to partner for Web3 projects to showcase the utility of their digital assets to a global audience of active power-users – frictionless, trustless, on-chain.

In 2022, the company secured funding from leading investors, including Crypto.com Capital, Republic Capital, Kronos Research, Genblock Capital, Axia8, GSR and Genesis Block Ventures.

For more information about IQ Labs and the IQ Market, please visit: https://iq.space/

About The Red Village

The Red Village launched an autobattler strategic dark-fantasy blockchain game known as Tournaments in March, 2022, on the back of two sold-out NFT sales in November and January. 

Having traded over 4,000 ETH on secondary markets and with a thriving and active community, The Red Village has been the success story of blockchain gaming in 2022 and 2023, showing that it is possible to both have fun and earn at the same time in a sustainable ecosystem. Having paid out well over $2,000,000 USD in game earnings, The Red Village shows that combining a good community with good gameplay and a strong concept is a recipe for success. 

The game is based thematically on dark-fantasy titles such as Diablo, Elden Ring, The Witcher, and, of course, Runescape. Future game modes include Darklands, a multiplayer ARPG, which is under development in a multiyear partnership with Animoca Brands and their flagship game studio, Blowfish. Darklands is due for release in 2024.

To learn more about The Red Village, please visit:

https://www.theredvillage.com/

For any questions about this press release, please contact:

Francis Foster, Communications Lead,
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/iqlabs/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/iqlabs_official

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iqprotocol/

Telegram: https://t.me/iq_protocol

Website: https://iq.space/