Power to the Players
How Mythical Games is working to create player-owned economies by building video games on blockchain
Video games are big business. In 2019, esports (competitive gaming) saw revenues exceeding $1 billion globally and audiences of more than 443 million – that’s a larger following than rugby and American football combined.
The video game industry in general is experiencing explosive growth with the rise of mobile phones as a gaming platform and integration of groundbreaking technologies like AI, AR, and VR. AVG portfolio company Mythical Games is using cutting-edge technology to build the next generation of video games.
We participated in Mythical Games’ 2019 Series A-2 round of financing, led by Javelin Venture Partners. Alumni Ventures Group’s participation was led by Castor Ventures, and included sibling funds Bascom Ventures, Strawberry Creek Ventures, Nassau Street Ventures, AVG’s Select Fund, as well as members of the AVG Syndication.
A Content Economy
Founded in 2018 and based in Los Angeles, Mythical Games is building a next-generation game technology studio. The company is currently developing a line of PC, mobile, and console games on the EOSIO blockchain and using its decentralized digital ledger technology to allow players to build and verifiably own pieces of the game. Essentially, players would be able to create and sell content both inside and outside of a given game. The Mythical Games platform will also be open to developers to build games and creators to produce content to help give rise to “player-owned economies.”
>> Check out the teaser trailer for Mythical Games’ first title.
Continuing the Quest for Excellence
The Mythical Games leadership team is a veritable roster of top gaming industry veterans. Founder John Linden is a former studio head at Activision and president of the Niantic-acquired Seismic Games. COO Jeff Poffenbarger was previously a studio head at Oculus VR and former senior executive producer at Activision. Chief Product Officer Stephan Cunningham is a former director of product management at Yahoo, and Head of Blockchain Rudy Koch is a former senior producer at Blizzard, an Activision subsidiary. Collectively, these team members have worked on proven global gaming phenomenons such as World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, Marvel Strike Force, Skylanders, and the Tony Hawk franchise, among others.
This depth of experience makes the Mythical Games team well positioned to build the game studio of the future. We aim to support the company’s vision of true ownership of digital assets, verifiable scarcity, and integrated secondary markets bringing players, developers, and content creators closer to the games they love.