Knights of the Ether LTIPP Council Recommended Proposal

Link to Application

https://forum.arbitrum.foundation/t/knights-of-the-ether-ltipp-application-draft/21905

Council - 2/4 Yes Votes

Feedback

GFX Feedback) We appreciate the well-considered reasoning for this grant plan. The main objection is the size – around half a million dollars in ARB. We would prefer to see data on cost of acquiring new users or past campaigns that significantly increased the interaction of existing users with the chain. We recommend this applicant revise and resubmit in a future grants cycle with a smaller request that can be comfortably allocated to more experimental grant plans.

GMX Feedback) Onchain gaming has huge potential but has yet to find a field-validated PMF which demonstrates that blockchain can mesh neatly with the business cycle of the gaming industry. Perhaps I’m being too skeptical about the prospects of onchain gaming, but it would be to Arbitrum’s benefit if they succeed. We would be supporting this proposal for several reasons. Firstly, the team behind Knights of the Ether has a strong track record of experience in game development, with notable achievements in both web2 and web3 gaming spaces. Their past successes in engaging and retaining users demonstrate their capability to execute and deliver results. Secondly, the proposed incentives program is well-structured and strategically designed to drive user acquisition, retention, and engagement within the Arbitrum ecosystem. By leveraging Battle Passes, Loot Boxes, Leaderboard Events, and targeted community onboarding, Knights of the Ether aims to attract a significant number of new users to Arbitrum while incentivizing existing users to stay engaged. Furthermore, the clear roadmap and milestones outlined in the proposal provide a tangible framework for measuring the success of the grant. By focusing on key performance indicators such as MAU, WAU, DAU, marketplace volume, and on-chain transactions, the team aims to demonstrate tangible growth and impact on the Arbitrum ecosystem.

404 Feedback)

Knights of the Ether scored decent across the rubric. While their request is fairly large, we like the Battle Pass incentive design enabling both a free and paid component to hopefully increase retention. They have also shown an ability to bring in new users to the Arbitrum ecosystem. While we would’ve appreciated more specific details for how ARB would’ve been distributed through the Loot Boxes & Battle Pass, we will be supporting this grant due to the long-standing commitment to Arbitrum, strength in being an onboarding agent for Arbitrum gaming, and the second order effects that come from incentivizing their gameplay rollout.

Wintermute Feedback) This application presented solid milestones, KPIs, goals, and a decent execution plan. However, we found the application missed the key calculations and justifications of their requested grant size. We would’ve liked to have seen customer acquisition calculations and a breakdown of why certain buckets were being allocated X amount of ARB and why. Furthermore, there was very little data provided, of which most was given an in excel sheet which was hard to verify onchain. Their adoption seems to be moderate given the age of the game, but using their MAGIC marketplace volume as a proxy of activity their requested grant size is ~2x larger. Unfortunately, we cannot justify the request grant size but would encourage them to resubmit under a smaller grant size.

Karel Feedback) - Conflict of interest