Illuvium Partners with Virtuals Protocol to Integrate AI-Powered NPCs in Blockchain Games

Illuvium partners with Virtuals, bringing autonomous AI NPCs to its games

Blockchain-based gaming franchise Illuvium is set to upgrade its in-game non-playable characters (NPCs) through a new partnership with Virtuals -- the protocol behind viral social AI agents on X, including AIXBT. The collaboration will see Virtual's G.A.M.E AI model framework power NPCs within Illuvium's trio of games (still in beta), giving them the ability to dynamically change up dialogue, quests or challenges depending on a player's actions. "Imagine this: You walk into a bar. The bartender agent dreams of being the most devoted husband. In a traditional game, your options might be to buy a drink or play a song. In an agent-driven world, you could insult his wife, sparking his anger, leading him to attack you," the team behind the Virtuals Protocol wrote in a Jan. 7 X post. The player's actions could also change their game experience depending on how they interact with the agents, which could include attacking agents to alter the dynamics of an area or treating them kindly, which could garner bespoke rewards or quests. "Multiply this emergent complexity across every agent, in every scenario, and you get a gaming experience filled with infinite stories." Illuvium said in an announcement that the tech would be rolled out on Overworld, a third-person exploration game set on an alien planet called Illuvium, where players (known as rangers) discover and collect creatures known as Illuvials -- which can be used in a separate battler game Illuvium: Arena. It added the AI tech can be expected across all three of its games, which also includes Illuvium Zero -- a base-building game where players generate resources and skins for use in Overworld and Arena. "We couldn't be more excited to collaborate with them on this transformative framework for our up-and-coming MMO Lite," said Illuvium co-founder and CEO Kieran Warwick. Related: Multicoin Capital eyeing AI agents, institutional 'frenzy' in 2025 "Earlier this year, while pioneering Agentic NPCs in Roblox, we envisioned a future where AAA games like Illuvium could harness this technology to fuel an explosion of dynamic content," said Virtuals Protocol co-founder Ether Mage. "Partnering with Illuvium as our first gaming collaboration marks a major milestone for Virtuals." Virtuals said AI agents can transcend individual games, remembering their interactions with a player across multiple platforms. "One moment, they're battling bosses with you in Elden Ring. The next, they're building shelters with you in Minecraft or assisting with tactics and commentating during your Dota matches." The Virtuals Protocol -- a project that enables users to launch AI agents -- surged in popularity toward the end of 2024, with its native token Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) rising almost 9,900% in the last two months to hit an all-time high of $5.07. One of the most popular AI agents on the platform is AIXBT, an AI influencer focused on the crypto trading space that provides market updates and insight.

Ethereum Game 'Illuvium' Reveals AI Agent Plans via Surging Virtuals Protocol - Decrypt

Ethereum game franchise Illuvium is set to leverage the viral AI agent Virtuals Protocol to enhance its non-playable characters, or NPCs. This comes after Virtuals has surged in popularity in recent weeks after it lowered the barrier for AI agent creation, leading to the creation of some of Crypto Twitter's favorite new characters. The Virtuals Protocol straps AI agents with its proprietary G.A.M.E large language model framework to power AI agents. AiXBT (AIXBT) is the most popular of all its creations thus far at a $489 million market cap, with over 320,000 followers on X (formerly known as Twitter). This same technology is set to be plugged into the Illuvium gaming franchise, which released three gaming titles in 2024. Illuvium's trio of games (Overworld, Arena, and Zero) span three distinctively different genres of an open-world survival multiplayer game, an auto-battler, and a city builder -- all of which will implement Virtuals tech, the developer said Tuesday. Put simply, using Virtuals' G.A.M.E framework aims to improve gameplay and interactions with NPCs, as they'll be powered using more effective artificial intelligence. This will manifest itself through more dynamic questing, storytelling, and deeper NPC relationships. While the partnership announcement claims that all three titles will eventually use the framework, it appears that Illuvium's evolving open-world survival game Overworld will use it first. This comes after Illuvium outlined plans to move the franchise forward, as co-founder Kieran Warwick admitted in a blog post that "concerns" about its gameplay were valid. As such, Warwick proposed various changes ahead for the franchise, including focusing on one game at a time rather than three, reducing microtransactions, and reworking its open-world game Overworld into a "streamlined, more accessible" experience akin to a massively multiplayer online game, or an "MMO lite." "lluvium's immersive world, combined with an agentic NPC framework, positions it to lead the next era of gaming innovation," Ether Mage, the pseudonymous co-founder of Virtuals Protocol, said in a statement. "We're thrilled to bring our proprietary framework to life in their upcoming 'MMO lite' and showcase the transformative potential of AI-driven gaming." The Virtuals token (VIRTUAL) runs on Ethereum, while AI agent tokens running on the protocol have been minted on layer-2 network Base. VIRTUAL has surged by 117% over the last 30 days, per data from CoinGecko, sitting at a current price of $3.74.