Xterio is one of the quiet but alluring up-and-comers in web3 gaming and after some previous success with a large funding round, Binance Labs has now invested a further $15 million.
Nearly a year ago, I first covered Xterio — a web3 gaming platform — because they completed a staggering $40m funding round, with the likes of Animoca Brands and Forte investing. Incidentally, FTX Ventures were also heavily involved, so perhaps it wasn’t exactly $40m.
After reading the platform’s whitepaper and intentions, I had mixed feelings that I’ll summarize: Firstly, they needed to drop the focus on Play-to-Earn and every variation of it, along with the god-awful term, “GameFi”. Secondly, as absurd as it sounded, $40m was unlikely to be sufficient to do what they wanted to do. Why? Well, thirdly, they were overambitious. I sound overly critical of Xterio, but I’ll end my summary with a quote from the end of the article from a year ago: “My only criticism so far (only after assessing their whitepaper and concept, admittedly) is it’s too ambitious. Prove me wrong, Xterio; I’ll cheer you on as you do it.”
https://twitter.com/ageofdino/status/1679483767407398913
Well, not only have they avoided perishing in the past 12 months — a real risk in web3 presently — but they’ve made a lot of ground. I’m pleased to see Xterio has pivoted slightly with its approach, now calling itself a “free-to-play-and-own” (we’ll have to workshop that description) game developer and publisher. They still are comprised of a smorgasbord of industry veterans from the likes of Blizzard, EA, and Krafton, among others, and they have inducted a number of new projects (like Age of Dino, as seen above). Some of the roster will be familiar to regular readers, such as a game we have followed for some time, Blocklords.
Binance Invests in Xterio to Expand Game Development Capabilities in AI and Web3
The investment from Binance Labs of $15m is of particular note due to what the funds are intended for. Xterio is looking at expanding its AI technology development, as well as AI-driven experiences. One element of Binance’s announcement of this investment that leaves me wondering, however, is the mention of resolving AI provenance issues in web3. I can’t make sense of that line, given much of web3’s benefit to gaming is digital provenance.
If a year ago I criticized Xterio for being too ambitious, I certainly am not about to row back now they have added AI technology to the company’s scope. What I will say is that 12 months later, I’m more confident the company can execute their plan, and I’m all the more hopeful they will.
