Shanghai, February 22, 2019 – Today, a team of founders of several veterans of the game industry officially announced the founding of Forte (pronounced FOR-TAY). They come from companies such as Kabam, GarageGames, Unity and Linden Lab, and the team has more than 100 years of experience in developing games and technology platforms. Forte aims to build an application platform for game developers to accelerate the implementation of blockchain technology to support the peer-to-peer economic system in existing and new games. The Forte team has developed several leading technology platforms for the gaming industry, and the games developed in the past have swept hundreds of millions of players around the world.
With features such as immutable transaction records and extremely low counterparty risk, blockchain technology enables large-scale operation of peer-to-peer economic systems. This will revolutionize almost all forms of digital interaction, especially those that attract 2.5 billion players to digitally transact, which are trading at $80 billion and account for 80% of global gaming market revenue.
Forte's mission is to accelerate the implementation of blockchain technology in the gaming industry by creating a range of decentralized products and solutions. Forte will bring these products to market by building, incubating and funding promising teams and projects.
Forte CEO Kevin Kevin Chou
Forte CEO Kevin Chou founded Kabam, the world's leading mobile gaming company. Kabam Beijing Studios, which employs nearly 300 people, has developed a number of highly successful mobile games, including Arthur's Kingdom: Battle of the North and Hobbit: Kingdom of Middle-earth. Alibaba invested $120 million in Kabam in 2014, valuing the company at $1 billion. Kabam has cooperated with Top Chinese game developers such as Youzu and Seventh Avenue to successfully promote domestic popular games such as "Goddess Alliance" and "Divine Comedy" to the world. In 2016, Kabam's most popular game, Marvel: Contest of Champions, topped the App Store's China download list as soon as it was launched in the Chinese market. Under Kevin's leadership, the company's annual revenue grew to more than $400 million and employs more than 1,000 people worldwide.
Kevin Chou said: "The game industry, driven by small in-app purchases, has matured enough and completed integration, and innovation has stagnated. Blockchain technology offers new growth vehicles and differentiated innovation opportunities. We are committed to providing blockchain technology to the mass market and work closely with developers to create a player-driven gaming economy that benefits both players and developers. ”
While the size of the gaming market continues to grow globally, the growth rate is slowing, and the continued consolidation of the market has left 77% of the global gaming market revenue owned by only 25 companies. Rising competitive pressure among free-to-play developers has led to more aggressive fee models that have left many players disappointed with the new product. Blockchain technology creates player-driven peer-to-peer economic systems, giving developers the opportunity to stand on the same front as their players.
Veteran game technologist Brett Seyler is Kevin's co-founder. Brett previously served as General Manager of GarageGames and Unity, where he developed the then-leading game development platform. Other co-founders include former Kabam executives Kent Wakeford and Weiwei Geng, who together created the hit games downloaded by more than 500 million players worldwide. The founding team also includes mahesh Vellanki, a technology investor who worked for Redpoint Ventures, one of Kabam's early investors.
Weiwei Geng, Managing Director of Forte China
Geng Weiwei, Managing Director of China, said: "China is one of the largest gaming markets in the world and the blockchain development community is very active. Blockchain games will become a phenomenon in the world, Chinese game developers have been at the forefront of game innovation, especially in the design of economic systems, we look forward to working with innovators in the Chinese market. ”
Brett Seyler, Chief Platform Officer, said: "Due to fraud and different interest claims, game developers have been facing huge difficulties and high costs in order to provide players with a good experience in the peer-to-peer economic system. The underlying logic and innovative characteristics of blockchain technology basically solve these problems and release great potential for new game economic systems. The free-to-play model has brought double-digit growth to the gaming industry over the past decade, and we expect the application of blockchain technology to revolutionize the entire gaming industry, just like the free-to-play model. ”
More information about Forte and the product will be announced in the coming months.
About Forte
Forte (pronounced FOR-TAY) is headquartered in San Francisco and aims to build a blockchain technology platform and related products for the gaming industry. By solving behind-the-scenes technical puzzles, Forte builds a consistent future for game developers and players alike. Forte's founding team consists of game platform development, game design and publishing experts from leading companies such as Kabam, GarageGames, Unity, Linden Lab and Gen.G. Esports.