Playstudios, a publicly traded mobile game developer and platform, is venturing into the web3 world with a new blockchain division and investment fund.
The gaming entity, which has popular mobile apps like Tetris, is now launching a new blockchain-focused sector, which will use “rewarded gaming” to leverage blockchain technology and provide more rewarding experiences for users across its gaming portfolio. He also announced a $10 million investment, Future Fund, to support companies creating award-winning gaming options.
In the past, the game studio has accumulated a large portfolio of free games – like MGM Slots Live, myVEGAS Slots and others – that offer players the chance to earn real rewards through its loyalty program. To date, its community has used its in-app loyalty points to purchase more than 10 million rewards, the company said.
“As we enter the web3 space, we’ve kind of been playing to win for 10 years, so I’d say we’re the pioneers in the gaming world,” Andrew Pascal, Founder and CEO of Playstudios, tells TechCrunch. . “We spent a lot of energy thinking about how to reward players in our games.
The new division will build on the acquisition of blockchain-based loyalty platform for games WonderBlocks, as well as a strategic alliance with blockchain infrastructure game developer Forte.
“A lot has been done in the promise of web3 games“, said Pascal. “The fact that people can acquire assets that are no longer specific to a game, it’s really huge that it can grow richer over time because this asset can be integrated and exploited at across games Interoperability is one of the most exciting dimensions of what Web3 gaming can unlock.
His fund has previously invested in blockchain gaming technology like Forte and will be used to scale its strategic innovation through blockchain loyalty and reward models, Pascal said.
Last month, industry players said that the web3 game industry is one of the few sectors seemingly less affected by current crypto market conditions due to the fact that gamers are looking for entertainment regardless of volatility, although overall sales volumes in the industry are still largely down. The blockchain gaming space has continued to garner attention over the past year as developers and similar funds continue to build on the industry with new capital and innovation.
“We intend to continue to grow, adopt and diversify our games and our audiences and the things we offer our players,” Pascal said. “With the emergence of blockchain models and the web3 space, we have certainly seen how it has evolved in all of its different guises. We believe we will take a unique approach in our approach to tokenizing our loyalty programs to continue to enrich player benefits.