Forte Raises $725 Million to Match Blockchain Gaming Platform

Forte has raised $725 million for its hidden blockchain gaming platform, which will allow gaming companies to create compatible and interoperable blockchain games. The deal with Forte came shortly after other NFT gaming companies such as Animoca Brands, Mythical Games, Dapper Labs, and Sky Mavis reached unicorn status (over $1 billion). All of these companies create games based on blockchain, a secure and transparent digital ledger that allows the use of cryptocurrencies and unique items such as single or non-fungible tokens (NFTs). One of the main investors here was C, the owner of the Garena company, which runs the huge free-to-play game Free Fire.

But since Forte is a two-year-old, I can't think of any other gaming startup that raised that much money so early in the company's history. CEO Josh Williams said in an email to GamesBeat that the company has more than 200 employees, including experts in gaming, blockchain technology, and compliance. Forte isn't just making games like this, it's an infrastructure company that uses blockchain technology to create a new kind of gaming economy.

It does the same thing as a cryptocurrency wallet that blockchain games use to store players' tokens. The wallet must be secure and be able to convert the currency you are using in the form of cryptocurrency tokens into various types of cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum or Bitcoin, which in turn can be converted into fiat currencies such as US Dollars. Forte's mission is to move this work to the gaming companies themselves and help them migrate to blockchain gaming.

This is mainly about the possibility of digital ownership of goods in the game. On the other hand, in today's traditional games, things that cannot be returned even if money is put into the game are like slaves who rent land and work for a lord who does not own it. For example, in free games, you can purchase items with real money. However, they cannot be removed from the game or sold to other players. It's like renting this item from the game publisher, rather than buying this item and getting an ownership advantage.

Forte's roots go back to 2019 when it was founded by Kevin Chow and Josh Williams. Chou raised mobile game publisher Kabam's annual sales to $400 million and 1,000 employees, then split it up to Netmarble and FoxNext Games (now owned by Scopely) for nearly $1 billion. He also co-founded the esports organization, Gen.G, with former Kabam COO Kent Wakeford and co-founders of Rally. Rally creates a blockchain-based token that allows creators and influencers to reward fans. Chow's credibility is one of the reasons Forte has gained that momentum and one of the reasons it works with several gaming companies. After Rally was created, Chow moved to Rally and Williams focused on driving the Forte.

In a past interview with GamesBeat, Zhou said that he and Williams founded the company to solve the problem of an industry that relies too much on a handful of players for free gaming revenue. For digital goods. This system doesn't work because game companies have to spend huge amounts of money on advertising their games to find  2% to make a profit. For premium games, players pay no more than $60 per game. But making a game can cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and TripleA developers are at serious risk, and many choose to focus on free or mobile games.

Zhou believed that blockchain could create a new framework for monetizing games, such as the peer-to-peer economy. He also saw it as a way to empower the community. In multiplayer games, players are often grouped together, such as clans or guilds. Clans can use rewards or items on the blockchain to encourage players to find their clan or do something. This means players can control what happens to elements of the blockchain as well as game developers. This is the business of  Rally,  one of Forte's customers and another company run by Chow.

One of the big issues is the “tracking” and transfer fees associated with NFT transactions from one player to another. Blockchain uses a large network of peer-to-peer computers to validate transactions. If data is lost or tampered with on one computer in the chain, it doesn't matter as all other computers on the network can see the data. However, the person operating the computer must be compensated, and the cost of the computer can be high. Therefore, gas or electricity bills are related to transactions on the blockchain. Companies like Forte will either have to pay these fees or rely on other blockchain companies to build low-cost networks that can run on top of cryptocurrency networks.

You can buy cryptocurrencies and other tokens in bulk, providing instant in-game liquidity to players looking to sell something. Instead of waiting for the buyer for the seller to show up, Forte will buy the item and give the buyer money immediately. Forte can then sell the item to others. In this process, Forte can make money by arbitrating for items, buying in bulk at a low price, and selling at a high price. This is an automated process. The most challenging but most important of the above is liquidity and compliance. Forte believes she's the only one focusing directly on these issues. However, if people can't always go out into real currency and do so according to regulatory requirements, there will be too much friction for blockchain gaming to succeed.

Forte has built a blockchain-independent platform to maximize liquidity. Partnering with multiple tier 1 blockchains (such as Ethereum or Bitcoin), obtaining the necessary remittance licenses, and educating policy makers so developers can create games that people can play and monetize. It also leverages companies that create layer 2 solutions where transactions can occur much faster and at a lower cost.

Finally, Forte focuses on liquid income. As a result, developers and players who are higher in the stack do not have to pay fees for using Forte technology. Automated market makers remove many of the pitfalls Forte sees in traditional financial and DeFi markets. It uses the Interledger Protocol, which provides liquidity to all blockchains. Internally, this is how transactions can run smoothly from the user's point of view. The Forte platform is available by invitation only and is currently undergoing closed testing. Affiliate Games has over 40 game development partners and over 15 million players. To date, Forte has raised over $900 million.