As more and more blockchain-infused games are releasing and receiving sizable playerbases, a new race has begun: to create a rewarding web3 gaming platform. One organization at the front of the pack is Forge.gg, and they now have $11 million in investment. And yet, there is something else in this announcement that caught my eye.
What Is Forge.gg?
Forge.gg is a web3 gaming platform that aims to reward players for playing the games they enjoy. The rewards will come in the form of game items, unlocks, Amazon gift cards, and even real-world prizes. The premise of the Forge.gg, as I see it, is this: a unifying account that acts as a multi-game battlepass and cross-game identity layer. This will exist in some form or another in the near future and whichever platform wins the race will be one of the most powerful entities in gaming.
We wanted to create a platform that finally rewards gamers for being who they are, through their profile and history as a gamer, through their passion, engagement, and community participation […] We feel very strongly that players should be able to control their gaming life. While Forge is just now entering beta, we already have an incredible lineup of dozens of games and partners who are looking to grow with us by giving gamers something special for joining their community.
— Kun Gao, Co-Founder of Forge.gg
Forge.gg Announces $11M in Seed Funding From Major Gaming Industry Players
In a recent press release, Forge.gg announced a successful seed round of $11 million. As you can see in the above graphic, the caliber of investors is significantly more interesting than the amount invested. KRAFTON, famed for publishing PUBG, has been active in the web3 space for some time, with their own Create-to-Earn metaverse, Overdare, looking promising. Riot Games, known for esports giants, League of Legends and Valorant, has been far quieter on the blockchain front outside of ex-employees joining web3 companies.
From an investment perspective, the round was led in part by Bitkraft, a highly prevalent VC in the web3 gaming space. There is then a selection of investment arms of major organizations both inside and outside of web3, with some familiar names in the mix.
What sets Forge apart is its unique flywheel approach, starting with carefully curated games and questing incentives to support community growth. This strategy creates an enriched user experience, driving more traffic to the platform and attracting games, studios, and publishers to join, resulting in a diverse selection of high-quality games expertly curated by Forge. Forge is not just a platform; it’s a catalyst for the next generation of player engagement and community growth.
— Carlos Pereira, Partner at BITKRAFT
One company that co-led the round, Animoca Brands, might be the most active investor in the web3 space. If you search Animoca Brands on Token Gamer you will see pages and pages of articles about them and their many projects. For Forge.gg, one major benefit of Animoca’s involvement is how much access to web3 games it grants them. If you look at Animoca’s list of gaming projects they are connected to (and it’s far from an exhaustive list), you will see just how many games could be onboarded to Forge.gg; an invaluable ally.
Final Thoughts
Gaming has been a landscape of walled gardens for some time. The closest we have ever managed to a cohesive, near-complete ecosystem of games is Steam, but many of the big publishers were hell-bent on taking a piece of that pie for themselves, launching rival clients. This has led to multiple clients housing our games, which while irritating, has left open an opportunity.
A gamer’s identity is a fragile thing, typically tied together only with a repeat username. This is one of the problems blockchain is positioned to solve, but it can be more than mere on-chain identity, it can be a rewarding experience in and of it self. This is where Forge.gg enters the fray.
