While the forced lockdowns of the pandemic led to isolation and loss of connection for many, gamers were already accustomed to building connections through screens. The pandemic also led to explosive growth in gaming for those who have never picked up a controller before. Singularity 6 is a game development studio that understands that the concept of socialization in games and its debut title, Palia, is a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game that focuses on building a community versus the typical attack, weapon-focused games. Founded by Riot Games veterans, Singularity 6 focuses on gameplay that emphasizes social connection and collaboration to progress. LA TechWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Anthony Leung to learn more about the inspiration for the game studio, the launch of Palia, strategic plans, latest round of funding from investors that include FunPlus Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and LVP, Transcend, Anthos Capital, and Mitch Lasky.
Gaming
Mythical Games Raises $75M to Marry NFTs and Gaming in One Platform
There has been a meteoric rise in the popularity of NFTs with creators scrambling to find novel use cases for the digital assets. Scarcity and hedonistic benefit are two of the fundamental core elements of game design that also align well with NFTs. Mythical Games is building a player-owned economic engine to seamlessly bring NFTs to games along with a marketplace where these assets can be transacted safely and securely. The company just launched early access for Blankos Block Party, its first title and an open-world multiplayer game, that allows users to earn, buy, and sell characters in its marketplace with plans to open up the marketplace technology to publishers, developers, and creators. LA TechWatch caught up with COO Jeff Poffenbarger to learn more about building an ecosystem for blockchain-based gaming, the company’s strategic plans, and latest round of funding from investors that includeWestCap Group, 01 Advisors, Gary Vaynerchuk’s VaynerFund, Galaxy Digital, Javelin Venture Partners, Alumni Ventures, and Stuck Capital.
ForeVR Raises $1.5M to Bring Popular Real Life Games to VR
The virtual reality gaming market is expected to reach $45B/yr by 2027. The increased affordability of VR sets like Oculus’s Quest 2 will contribute to this massive growth. ForeVR, founded by two ex-Zynga employees, is seeking to capitalize on this trend with its VR-focused gaming studio. Emerging recently from stealth, the company’s first title, launching in early 2021, is focused on bowling and ForeVR plans to build new games that are based on popular games in real life. LA TechWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Marcus Segal to learn more about the genesis of the company, its future product pipeline, first institutional round of funding from investors that include Galaxy Interactive Fund, Presence Capital, Emmett Shear, Justin Kan, Mark Pincus, and Justin Waldron.
TeachMe’s Math Games Uses Gaming to Teach Math to Students
“Teachers who build math and language games are our best experts in curriculum, but they don’t fully understand how children play. Developers who build games don’t understand how children learn. We wanted to combine these worlds of learning and play in a powerful new way that can transform the learning experience for kids around the world.” LA TechWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Bill Kara to learn more about Math Games, how the shift to online learning has impacted demand, and the company’s future plans.
Mobalytics Scores $11.25M for its Gaming Analytics Platform That Drives Performance
Esports revenues are expected to exceed a billion dollars per year for the first time and expected to increase rapidly as the industry continues to attract players, teams, and fans at an explosive pace. Competitive video gaming is a serious business with lucrative rewards for those that are the most skilled. Seeking a way to finetune their gaming skills, Amine Issa and his cofounders founded Mobalytics, the gaming analytics platform for competitive gamers to master their trade through player development, strategy, and tracking. Issa shares some insight on the state of the esports industry, the company’s future plans, and recent round of funding from investors that include HP Tech Ventures, General Catalyst, GGV Capital, RRE Ventures, Axiomatic, and T1 Esports.
What Brands Need to Know About Esports
As we navigate this new landscape of work and business post-corona, esports is one of the many industries that’s being heavily impacted. In my opinion, this is going to be a watershed moment for esports.
Carbonated Games Raises $8.5M To Bring Hardcore Competitive Gaming to Mobile Devices
Once a gamer, always a gamer – at least that’s what we gathered from our interview with industry veteran and cofounder, Travis Boatman, of Carbonated Games, the new game studio that designs intense, competitive games for mobile devices. Carbonated Games creates experiences for gamers that have a busy life but still miss the hardcore, competitive games they used to play on console and PC, taking a modern approach to these games by designing ultra-competitive, player vs. player (PVP) games that are meant to be played on mobile devices, abandoning the need for additional hardware. Boatman shares more about the team behind the studio, the company’s first title, MadWorld, and the company’s recent funding round led by by Andreessen Horowitz, Golden Ventures, and BITKFAFT Ventures.
DMarket Raises $6.6M to Power the Virtual Economy in Gaming
DMarket is an in-game item trading platform and a monetization technology for game developers, content creators, brands, and players. DMarket technology is an engine to power platforms and digital worlds, creating a virtual economy. CEO and Founder Vlad Panchenko shares more on how the company is using blockchain to make gaming profitable for brands, creators, players, and developers.
Treehouse Games $2.6M for its Gaming Studio Focused on Collective Experiences
With video games immersive and interactive experiences captivating audiences like never, Treehouse Games announced the launch of its gaming studio that designs interactive, cooperative games instead of narrative-based single-player games. Treehouse Games is currently building its first game and the team is hard at work to translate the feeling of doing something with/for others into the gameplay. At a time where society is longing for social connections, even if virtual, and with American video game usage increased by 75 percent during the quarantine, Treehouse Games is poised to make an impact.
CEO Michael Chu tells us more about building games that focus on cooperation rather than competition, the challenge of fundraising during COVID-19, and the company’s upcoming plans.
Kippo Raises $2M for its Dating App for Gamers
Cofounded by one of the early team members at Raya (the highly-exclusive dating app), Kippo is a dating app designed specifically for gamers. Kippo CEO and Cofounder David Park walks us through why there is a need for a dating app for gamers, the company’s future plans, and recent funding round.
Rogue Games, Inc. Raises Another $2M to Help Indie Game Developers Bring Games to Market
Gaming is a popular entertainment outlet, especially during the pandemic. In fact, DeLaet states, “Games are also actively supporting the WHO and CDC by encouraging players to stay home and support social distancing recommendations to help flatten the curve”. LA TechWatch sat down with Rogue Games, Inc. CEO Mike DeLaet to learn about how Rogue helps independent game developers push their titles to market.