Web3-based gaming continues to attract big investment companies, but little effort is being made to fill the enormous gap of missing publishers to aid in the commercialisation of games. Now there is Fenix Games that has raised $150 million in funding to become one. The investment was led by Dubai-based venture capital firm Cypher Capital and Phoenix Group.
Fenix Games was founded in 2022 by Chris Ko, ex-EA and Mythical Games, and Rudy Koch, ex-Blizzard and Mythical Games, and it seeks to build a portfolio of projects across the spectrum of Web 2.0 to Web 2.5 to Web 3.0 by publishing, acquiring, and investing in a variety of game genres from racing to lifestyle. Basically, a bunch of guys with years of experience in traditional gaming want to find a way to cater to the expectations of both traditional gamers, crypto crowd and those who haven’t yet adopted any kind of blockchain technology, fuelled by the UAE investors.
The company positions itself not only as a publisher, but also a VC fund for blockchain gaming and plans to take blockchain gaming to the next phase of consolidation. According to Fenix Games, blockchain gaming lacks the blending function that mobile free-to-play has. For a game to launch, scale up, and provide live services, it must combine analytics and product management functions. Fenix Games aims to create a similar blend and fill in the gaps for the blockchain gaming industry.
Just like the after-sale live operations and services of traditional games, blockchain games will need game market economies to operate. So, the key here for Fenix Games is to capitalise on the combination of market economies and live operations to help publish all sorts of games. Fenix Games also plans to facilitate the transition of gamers from Web2-based traditional games to Web3. But at the moment Web3 games are lacking the necessary tools, infrastructure, and support to achieve widespread adoption, and the company is ready to look for a solution.
Another important point they raise is about government regulations. The company is already in talks with government officials and agencies explaining how the Web3 industry works and what they in particular want to do with it. The Western regulations are way too conservative, that’s why they have much hope in the UAE’s enthusiasm for innovation and development.
All problems Fenix Games see and intend to solve are really there, so, valid points. We continue to observe how their story will evolve.
