While we all love to play games, over time, the same game playing style can become less entertaining. This has driven game developers to continuously seek new ways to provide players with whole new gaming experiences. Game designers have often been the first ones to embrace the latest technologies, from personal computers and home entertainment systems to 3D rendering, the internet, mobile platforms, and AR/VR.
While we got a glimpse of what blockchain can offer gamers—such as ownership of digital items and the ability to monetize them—the first iteration of blockchain games, infamous dubbed ‘play-to-earn,’ ultimately failed to find a sustainable model. However, other blockchain properties that could bring more interesting experiences, such as composability and provenance, have so far been largely ignored.
But not anymore! We are excited to support Tony and Wyeth, the co-founders of Random Games, as they focus on bringing the fun parts of blockchain into gaming to create new experiences. Their vision allows players to not only own their digital items and characters but also traverse with their items to different games and realms to forge their own eternal legacy.
Doing something new instead of the old
Tony’s career in the video game industry began in 1989 when he walked through the front doors of Nintendo of America and asked to sweep the floors in exchange for a job. After being tasked with localizing numerous games from Japan and seeing mediocre results, Tony was eager to try his hand at creating a game tailored for the US market as Nintendo competed head-to-head with SEGA for the leading position.
By writing his own manifesto on how to create a hit game to draw the attention of the legendary game creators at Nintendo, Tony persuaded the president of Nintendo Japan to grant him a US$3M budget and the IP for Donkey Kong. This pivotal moment laid the foundation for Nintendo’s success in the US market. Donkey Kong Country stole the show at its CES launch in 1994 and became the #3 highest-grossing SNES game of all time, generating US$400M in revenue and selling over 9 million copies in its first holiday season.
Tony later contributed to many other hit titles such as the original Star Fox, Grand Theft Auto, and Crackdown, and most recently sold nWay, a game company he co-founded, to Animoca Brands in 2019. He attributes his success to a motto he picked up while working alongside some of the best game developers in the world: “If you copy what’s working today, by the time you are done you are yesterday’s news.”
Wyeth, the co-founder and CTO, is also a force to be reckoned with. With an intense interest in technology and gaming, Wyeth co-founded Leviathan Games in 1998 shortly after graduation. He and his team have been the secret weapon in delivering games on the latest generation of gaming platforms for leading IPs, from the iPod to Wii, to the latest PlayStations. They have worked with household-named IPs such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Star Trek, and many more.
The duo are both based in Denver and would regularly catch up over beers to discuss the latest in gaming. After witnessing multiple web3 games fail spectacularly, Tony and Wyeth believe that most of these web3 games overlooked the fun aspects of blockchain that can elevate gaming. So, they decided to found Random Games Company to bring that vision to life.
Non Fungible Tokens as the base of expansive worlds
Up until the end of 2023, most web3 games have only introduced NFTs mainly as collectibles. Although these collectibles were playable in web-based games, the core experience was limited to individual games.
The Random Games team is leveling up the experience by bringing NFT playable items directly into 3D game environments. The infrastructure build for their “Unioverse” franchise allows users to create their own NFT items within the game and publish them directly on the blockchain, accessible instantly through leading NFT marketplaces such as Opensea.
Leveraging blockchain’s provenance, Unioverse NFTs will also have their own history and battle scars, making them more unique over time. Slaying legendary monsters or completing special quests will add to the item or hero’s rarity, which can be rewarded with in-game bonuses. This design transposes the play-to-earn experience into a play-to-rare experience, allowing for an even more diverse range of uniqueness to items within meaningful context.
The revenue generated from trading and selling these NFTs will be used to fund additional games within the Unioverse. This will lead to more games implementing existing NFTs and their play-to-rare properties, expanding the storylines and experiences for all players.
“PUSH START” and let the fun begin!
Tony and Wyeth have both been in the game industry for most of their lives and have dedicated their careers to pushing forward what is possible in the next phase of gaming, both ideologically and technologically. We believe that blockchain can elevate gaming as a whole by breaking down silos traditionally constructed by monetization tied to intellectual properties. By leveraging NFTs and blockchain ledger to streamline monetization, we see a future where a borderless gaming universe can exist with interoperability and composability witnessed in Decentralized Finance.
We are excited to be able to support founders who are forward-looking and dedicated to their mission to push industries forward. We can’t wait to get our hands on the latest games in the Unioverse. Under the leadership of Tony and Wyeth, Unioverse is writing the next chapter in gaming that we’ve all been waiting for.
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