Introduction:
Forte raises $185 million at a $1 billion evaluation for its behind-the-scenes blockchain platform. Griffin Gaming Partners led the investment in the last unicorn to shoot up in the blockchain gaming market. The Forte deal shows up a week after Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands raises $88 million at a $1 billion valuation. They will build games based on the blockchain. Blockchain is a secure and transparent digital ledger that enables cryptocurrencies. It is a unique, one-of-a-kind item, or nonfungible tokens (NFT).
About Forte:
San Francisco-based Forte is an infrastructure company. They will use blockchain tech to enable new gaming economies. It builds things like cryptocurrency wallets that blockchain uses. It stores the tokens for the players. Wallets are supposed to be secure and ready to transform a currency into cryptocurrency tokens in a game. It should be able to handle various kinds of cryptocurrencies. These include Ethereum, Bitcoin, which are difficult to change into US dollars.
Statement from Josh Williams, CEO of Forte:
“We set out to create a platform that makes it easy for game developers of any size, including the world’s largest publishers, to incorporate blockchain technology into their games, to enable players to own digital goods and currencies, and trade with each other, have true property rights and, and create thriving economies that both players and publishers can benefit from,” said Forte CEO Josh Williams in an exclusive interview with GamesBeat.
He also added that “We just launched our beta platform almost exactly a year ago, with our first games. And we’ve been growing really quickly over the last year where we created our 10 millionth wallet — a crypto wallet that’s used in games where real players in games hold token assets, including virtual currencies and NFTs. In the space of the year, we’ve grown really quickly with 10 live games now.”
William also adds that the company has built cryptocurrency wallets to help game developers and gamers. The game developers and gamers can transition to a blockchain very easily.
Helping game developers and gamers:
“We love the notion of new games being created around blockchain technologies, and we think they’ll be explosive successes, like new applications of blockchain technology that make things that are truly unprecedented possible,” said Nick Tuosto, the cofounder of Griffin Gaming Partners and managing director of LionTree, in an interview with GamesBeat. “It’s like I could take Magic: The Gathering cards of my youth and make a trade that is more like an investment. I can see that investment appreciates over time, and I could go out on eBay and sell those cards and recoup that investment or maybe make a profit.”
As compared to the traditional gaming world, you invest money into a game but cannot get it back. In a free game, you can buy stuff with real money. But you cannot get it back, give it to someone else or sell it to another player. It is like you rent the item from the publisher instead of buying it and getting the benefits.
