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InfiniteWorld takes Web3 and the metaverse seriously, which is why it acquired game studio Super Bit Machine for an undisclosed price.
The goal is to use the independent game studio, creator of Armajet, to build games that will drive consumer engagement for InfiniteWorld, an infrastructure company that aims to empower brands to create, monetize and interact with digital content. to go.
“We are bringing communities from Web2 to Web3, and we believe that gaming is the key to that,” said Brad Allen, CEO of InfiniteWorld, in an interview with GamesBeat. “This is about bringing in next-level engagement and experiences, and that’s what Web3 and the metaverse are all about. Super Bit Machine has a scalable technology around gaming and gaming infrastructure that will allow us to be really fast to market with this next level of engagement.”
I interviewed Allen and Alexander Krivicich, founder of Super Bit Machine, who are still optimistic about Web3, gaming and the metaverse despite the difficult economy.
Super Bit Machine is a mobile game studio founded by veterans who have experience running top-10 profitable multiplayer games on iOS and Android.
Web3, gaming and the metaverse
The acquisition aims to strengthen InfiniteWorld’s ability to bring metaverse and Web3 experiences to brands, with the addition of real-time multiplayer game development capabilities, which will now be part of its core offering portfolio.
The deal also signals the ongoing crossover between blockchain and gaming platforms, connecting traditional gamer experiences currently delivered across mobile devices, PCs and consoles with dynamic Web3 functionality, Allen said.
“By partnering with experienced game developers who have made significant strides in the game industry, we are taking a natural step forward to become the one-stop shop for brands and creators looking to enter the web3 space,” he said. all. “We look forward to continuing to push the boundaries of what is possible by strengthening the expertise and vision of our new Super Bit Machine team members.”
InfiniteWorld hopes to go public through a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), which has been a streamlined way to go public without the regulatory process of IPOs. But it’s getting harder and harder to be successful because of the choppy stock market. InfiniteWorld plans to do its SPAC with Aries I Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq:RAM) and raise $145 million.
“We believe that gaming is central to scaling mass adoption of Web3,” said Alexander Krivicich, founder of Super Bit Machine. “We have been at the forefront of creating cross-platform, cross-play competitive gaming experiences, and we understand that the future of these interactions will take place in the metaverse.”
Krivicich, who will become chief strategy officer at InfiniteWorld, said InfiniteWorld continues to solidify itself as a leader in metaverse technologies by integrating gaming as a core pillar of its branding and internal intellectual property strategy.
Krivicich started making mobile and social games at Electronic Arts in 2009. He co-founded Buffalo Studios, maker of the popular game Bingo Blitz, in 2010, which he sold to Caesars Interactive/Playtika.
“We’ve built some pretty advanced platform architecture to support the scale of those games,” he said.
He brought that knowledge to Super Bit Machine, which he co-founded in 2015. He is still the executive chairman and the studio remains small with just eight people. InfiniteWorld has over 100 people.
Super Bit Machine focused on bringing fast-paced, competitive multiplayer experiences to the mobile gaming ecosystem. It launched its flagship game Armajet on Steam and iOS as an arcade action game. It proved that the company could create proprietary real-time multiplayer netcode with low latency and create cross-platform play across mobile, PC and console at scale, Krivicich said. The title debuted in beta form in 2016 and launched its final version in 2019.
“It was a completely cross-platform game because we always believed that games should be played everywhere,” he said. “We wanted our games to be accessible wherever players wanted to play them.”
The Super Bit Machine team has been working together in multiple studios for over ten years. The leaders own and run game studios acquired by Playtika, Caesars Interactive Entertainment and Zynga.
“We will be scaling up to support InfiniteWorld’s new nascent games division,” Krivicich said. “We’ll be expanding soon, but we really believe in making products with smaller game cells.”
The company started talking to InfiniteWorld because it was working on a game with Web3 elements. The technology seemed to be a good fit with the companies, and so it escalated into takeover talks.
“Creating multiplayer experiences is our wheelhouse,” Krivicich said. “When we started talking to InfiniteWorld, it became clear that their vision of building this and scaling it up to make great game products, not only for some of their partners but also for internal IP, was very exciting for us.”
spin out
Allen joined as CEO in May, having served as a senior advisor for three months. InfiniteWorld started about 18 months ago, emerging from the Citizens Reserve holding company run by Addison McKenzie, who helped launch a blockchain technology called Suku. When non-fungible tokens (NFTs) caught fire last year, the company decided to roll out InfiniteWorld to take advantage of the opportunity.
By going public, Allen hopes to differentiate InfiniteWorld from the scams and overhyped blockchain startups that have given Web3 a bad reputation.
“As a publicly traded company, the scrutiny of regulatory and legal issues and everything else will be high,” Allen said. “I’ve been through the doctom era and social media and virtual reality. In these early days, people can’t agree on a definition of Web3 and its metaverse. So you’re going to get all kinds of people, good and bad, some just jump on the train because all this money is being made.”
With a financial background as an investment banker and startup CEO, Allen said he believes it will now create more opportunities during the crypto winter and NFT shakeout as it will clean up the bad actors.
“And then we go to the stock market,” he said. “This is the path to Web3.”
Allen is optimistic that good products will hit the market from the likes of Apple, which has invested heavily in AR/VR and will one day get its own expected pair of glasses. But Allen said the company is not yet showing its maps with internal IP and other projects.
Krivicich said none of the early technologies resulted in a well-designed and thought-out experience, which is why it’s important to lead with a good experience and a high-quality game.
“We’re putting together a team of creators with a lot of experience and we’re coming up with resources,” he said. “You have to build something that isn’t just reactive or based on speculation. I think it’s great that there’s this correction in the market because I think it’s really starting to separate the wheat from the chaff.”
I asked Krivicich about the resistance of hardcore gamers to NFT games. He said there is still a lot of work to be done to invent technologies and find usability for things like NFTs.
“I think it’s been redone in a way that has been very detrimental to gamers in general up until now,” he said. “We still have a long way to go. We build with experience first.”
I noted that I think this recession means this shift to quality will have to happen sooner, and Krivicich agreed.
He said the company will focus on Web3 games that aren’t exclusive or terribly complicated. Instead, Krivicich wants to focus on games that are accessible and egalitarian.
“We want this to be fun for all players and we want to use this as an opportunity to scale up to Web3,” he said.
Content is king
The combined companies are optimistic about coming out at the right time.
“We want to be the first to bring a number of initiatives to market, including gaming,” said Allen. “Content is still king, and with the metaverse and Web3, you need to have compelling content.”
He said the products are aimed at the new generation, Gen Z, who are more familiar with technology, creators and digital assets. He noted that the company has made many deals with partners from Chibi to McLaren.
“A lot of new technologies are coming,” he said. “Then there is the ownership part of blockchain itself. All these pieces come together. It’s a fascinating time.”
The recession is also a time when the company can operate more cheaply and take the time to build something right.
“We are excited to do this,” Krivicich said. “I’ve never seen anything bigger than this frontier. And after going through that transition from early PC and console to mobile gaming myself, I think gamers have a lot of resistance in the beginning. But now we’re seeing games like Diablo Immortal appear that are just incredible. And so we’re at another one of those inflection points. I think it will be super interesting to see where it takes us with player ownership of digital assets.”
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