Fenix Games has successfully solicited funding in the amount of $150 million in order to establish a novel form of publisher for blockchain gaming.
The plan is to establish a publishing and platform company that will be instrumental in the distribution of blockchain-based games whenever they become available. Existing games, as well as blockchain games that will be developed in the future, are going to be acquired, invested in, and published by Fenix Games.
One of the investors is Phoenix Group, and another is Cypher Capital. The establishment of this new company lends credence to the hypothesis that the blockchain gaming industry, which has undergone something akin to a Cambrian explosion in the past few years, is moving in the direction of a consolidation in which large companies will emerge by acquiring or funding all strong startups.
In other words, Fenix Gaming wants to be in a favourable position to fold up a number of companies together into a single powerful company with a wide portfolio, one that is able to weather the current doldrums in the blockchain games industry.
In an interview with GamesBeat, Chris Ko, CEO and co-founder of Fenix Games, explained the company by saying, “You can think of us as similar to a VC fund” “The market is comparable to that of earlier [mobile gaming with the advent of free-to-play games], but it hasn’t discovered its Clash of Clans for blockchain games just yet.
The next generation of video games is being funded through our venture capital division. In point of fact, we are planning to launch our studio investments with a substantial amount of initial funding. In addition, in order to establish a portfolio, we are planning to make use of our balance sheet to purchase a large number of already existing games that are related to the Web2 industry. And that will serve as an excellent foundation for our portfolio.
Throughout its history, the gaming industry has been comprised of players who have served as a market or platform for both game players and game producers. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo were the three major platforms for video game consoles. And the platforms that dominate the mobile space are Apple and Google.
In both of those instances, a whole new market emerged, which in turn led to the development of an ecosystem that supported the consumption of material. However, according to Ko, this market is not there in the realm of blockchain gaming at the moment. The organization was established by a band of seasoned professionals with backgrounds in gaming, blockchain technology, and the financial markets.
According to Ko, “We plan to purchase, invest in, publish, and in certain cases operate game studios and game studios.” To put our concept into action, we will have several hundred million dollars at our disposal.
According to Ko, the chains do not appear to be focused on developing the market for gamers at this time despite the fact that they represent a potential platform that is comparable to previous gaming cycles.
According to Ko, “we feel that this is temporary as the key apps that are going to be on chains are going to be gaming.” The necessary infrastructure, tools, and support are just unavailable. We feel that there is an opportunity for the role of Publishing to expand and become more important within the ecosystem of gaming.
In the aftermath of Apple’s increased emphasis on player privacy in mobile games, more seasoned game creators are beginning to explore the potential of blockchain technology in the gaming industry. However, in the opinion of Fenix Games, there is now only a small selection of games being built for blockchain platforms.
“We believe that there is a structural gap – We aim to fill this gap with a redefined publishing group that leverages some of the traditional publishing functions, but with a new function,” Ko said. “We intend to fill this gap with a redefined publishing group that leverages some of the traditional publishing functions but with a new function.” “Just as there was a blending of analytics and the product management function to launch, grow, and operate live services in mobile free-to-play games, we anticipate blockchain gaming will see a similar ‘blending’ of activities in the near future.”
Fenix Games is looking to combine the talents of its employees in game publishing and product management as well as other areas. The functions will have their origin in product management but will take their disciplines and competencies mostly from asset management, which is found in financial services.
The organization refers to the confluence of these fields as “game market economies.” In its most basic form, this will result in the creation of a market for a game or games, hence increasing the number of possible players for a game. Scaling up the community in preparation for the launch of the game will be an important part of the role that the game’s market economies play.
Fenix Games is of the opinion that game market economics will play an important part in the months and even years before to the launch of a game. This is similar to the purpose of live operations, which was developed to support a game post-launch for an extended period of time. It is necessary to engage in this activity in order to fill the void left by the platform owners, who were previously responsible for doing so.
According to Ko, “It is a little bit of a roll-up, but it is also investing.”
To provide publishing services for all game models, including premium, free-to-play, and blockchain gaming on all platforms, Fenix Games will focus on the marriage of game market economies and live operations.
“I see a large gap right now with various developers experimenting with game infrastructure, middleware, and a lot of other things,” the speaker said. According to Ko, “there isn’t really someone performing the publisher function and attempting to figure out how you go to market successfully.” “By adopting a publishing strategy, we are able to isolate ourselves from the underlying technologies. When it comes to technology, we take a neutral stance, and we try to minimize any dangers.
Fenix Games will have access to supporters among investors who have a great deal more wealth, in the hundreds of millions of dollars range, in addition to being able to raise its own funds independently.
According to Ko, Fenix Games is a next-generation games publisher that is helping to ease the transition of the next billion gamers into a future that is interwoven with blockchain technology. Web3 does not yet have the infrastructure, tools, or support necessary to promote the widespread adoption of its games, in contrast to traditional Web2 games, which have developed distribution systems and markets that bring together billions of players and developers.
Ko stated that the company sees an opportunity for the role of publishing to enhance its value in the design, go-to-market, and operations of video games as a growing number of high-quality game developers incorporate blockchain technology and design concepts.
“And what that means is that we are not confined by a single technology, and we are not tethered to a single ecosystem,” Ko added. “And what that means is that we are not beholden to a single ecosystem.”
Before leaving his position at Mythical Games, Ko served as senior vice president of the company’s corporate development department. It’s been about 20 years since he started working in the gaming industry, and he’s held general manager positions at both Electronic Arts and Kabam. Prior to that, he worked at Blackrock as a portfolio manager and at JPMorgan as an equities research analyst.
Rudy Koch, chief business officer of Mythical Games and also a co-founder of Fenix Games, is one of the other founders of Fenix Games. Koch has 15 years of expertise in game production and has worked on some of the most well-known titles in the business, including World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Skylanders, and Club Penguin.
Antonio Hallack is both the CIO and CTO of the company, as well as the co-founder. Previous positions held by Hallack include worldwide head of electronic trading at Credit Suisse, head of prop trading, market making, chief technology officer, and other top responsibilities in investment banking (Citi, Merrill, Goldman, Salomon Smith Barney, Bridgewater, etc). Since 2017, he has been active in the cryptocurrency markets as a participant in prop trading, market creating, and asset management.
Co-founder and chief operating officer of Fenix Games, Matt Nutt is responsible for the company’s day-to-day operations. In the past, he worked at Mythical Games as both the chief operational officer and the head of games. Before he became a part of the Mythical team, he worked at EA Mobile as the vice president and group general manager. Previously, he led studios at Glu Mobile, ran the independent firm Cie Games (which he sold to Glu for $100 million in 2014), and had senior positions in business development at Blizzard Entertainment and Square Enix.
Ko stated that the four of them would be “stepping up to the company to extend the things that we’ve done from our prior lives to” blockchain gaming markets. “We are stepping up to the company,”
