andrew chen

Robin Guo

League of Legends: Wild Rift

League of Legends

announcement:
I'm investing in the $55M Series A of Believer, along with @zebird0 and our team at a16z's GAMES FUND ONE

Believer is a game studio led by legendary game devs Michael Chow and Steven Snow, the EPs of @wildrift and @LeagueOfLegends

https://t.co/44tbzxGXtV

Why?

- we love open world games (and gamers do, too!)
- the team is insanely amazing
- they're going to create something with amazing IP, amazing gameplay

Yup, we're believers :)

As the meteoric success of Genshin Impact demonstrates, there is vast player demand for new open-world Player vs. Environment (PvE) games focused on exploration, collection, and collaboration

Players love inhabiting these worlds, and that can lead to astounding cultural impact and business success, if executed well. Genshin Impact alone has 70M+ MAU and $1B+ annual revenue

However, the design and production complexity is immense, as is the cost. The Believer team is one of the best-equipped to tackle this grand vision, as they’re one of the few teams with the ambition, skills, capital, and unflinching player focus to innovate in this genre.

Congrats to the @Believer_Co team, and look forward to working with Steve, Michael and the amazing group there!

Mainframe Industries

👇 watch full screen, sound on!

new trailer drop! Congrats to the @mainfrme team - the folks who built EVE, World of Warcraft - on the announcement of their new game, a medieval sandbox MMO

Coming to PC/mobile/console cross-play soon! https://t.co/bBPuLzHz1A

Welcome to the world of #PaxDei. Here, myths are real, ghosts exist, and magic is not questioned.
What world will you make?
 
Sign-up today: https://t.co/uVcPVdPhpH https://t.co/J1E6VXvSDy

Build, explore, craft, conquer and pledge… Pick your goals and create your own stories. What world will you make?
#paxdei

Pax Dei

more screenshots here:
https://t.co/eGw1w8JxKi

Jack Soslow

haters have come out for VR/AR, the metaverse, etc - as we see what kinds of R&D is required to build these kinds of platforms

@JackSoslow has an amazing thread (charts attached) on the good trends: https://t.co/ZubWMtP2bi

I'm bullish too, and here's what I'm investing in👇 https://t.co/ToK5fElzVY

2021 was the year of VR, and I have one stat to show you why:

This year, Oculus has sold more headsets than Microsoft did Xboxs.

This marks the beginning of ARVR's predominance. 

A thread on ARVRs growth, use-cases, and future below: https://t.co/tQVlWMerp6

games, arvr, and ai @a16z

formerly @oculus and @pennfb

First, the breakthrough in VR/AR will be oriented around multiplayer, not single player experiences. Here's why:
- multiplayer creates varied, constantly hanging experiences
- it creates word of mouth
- big genres like FPS/MMOs/MOBAs all rely on this

There was a big mistake in the first gen of VR/AR to 
focus AAA single player experiences. They made these devices amazing things to demo for people, but it was all novelty value

The industry needs to rotate towards long-term retention, now initial wow factor

This is why we've backed companies like @Gymclassvr  - announcement below - which is on one hand a sports game, but really a social experience in disguise. But the vision is more towards casual, hangout play rather than hardcore competitive experiences

https://t.co/v0BF5pmjef

Another company, @SandboxVR, is similar. You are able to have multiplayer experiences with your friends, all in the same room, and have unique gameplay that keeps you coming back.

Example here:
https://t.co/gxghEzMn1F

Orthogonal to multiplayer is user-generated content. We know this is powerful from Roblox, Minecraft, and the modding movement (which produced DOTA/League, PUBG via Arma, etc)

The highly designed/stylized AAA experiences in VR don't enable the user to create as a form of play

The coming trend of generative AI combined with giving players powerful tooling will change the industry

Players create cool experiences with cubes today in minecraft, but am thrilled to see what happens when they can tell stories, animate characters, etc - all with gen AI

Yes, the ecosystem is early, yet I'm a believer in VR/AR as the next major computing platform

While it will take years for devices to sell, I think the mission-driven founders that believe in VR are building their products TODAY for big consumer pickup happening in 2023/2024

Again, take a look at @JackSoslow's epic thread on VR trends: https://t.co/ZubWMtP2bi

We are sort of in year 1 of a new video game console, and it takes time. But I'm a believer. We've done 4 investments - at various levels - in VR over the past year, and plan to do more

andrewchen

Doug McCracken 🐙

Lester

tons of updates on GAMES FUND ONE over the last few months - our new fund focused on gaming, avatars, metaverse:

- Omega Strikers launches!
- we hired @DougMcCracken @Chen from Supercell/YouTube Gaming
- we funded Theorycraft, Ready Player Me, and Gym Class VR

... thread👇

Omega Strikers by @OdysseyStudio launched their beta on steam, and dropped an amazing trailer:

https://t.co/qhWc9pGLDL

Welcome Lester, from YouTube Gaming. He's heading up all our partnerships with gaming creators:

https://t.co/nxmxXBXR3x

Plus, hello Doug McCracken from Supercell, who's joining us to head up our marketing team:

https://t.co/6lQQWXdBP2

From Scopely/Blizzard/Meta, we're excited to have Josh Lu (@JoshLu) 

https://t.co/fcwTtSeciA

We announced our seed round in @Gymclassvr, a new VR studio combining social and basketball :)

https://t.co/C6Nhpnt58Q

Along with a16z crypto, we also funded @readyplayerme:
https://t.co/DlYdl3RXvr

Today, we announced that we've funded @theorycraft_inc led by the amazing @newzerozeroone! One of the best new startups in the games industry:

https://t.co/aEjridMNXo

And finally, we're adding to the team :)

In particular, a new Analyst for the investment team - alongside many other roles - and we'd love to chat with y'all about it:
https://t.co/UsVmZ7YvZa

We also invested in @AzraGames and their new upcoming web3 game. We're excited to be working with a16z crypto on this:

https://t.co/vwzUyL5HFL

And another - @BitCraftOnline from Clockwork Labs. They are developing a gorgeous new MMO

https://t.co/xeA6IOKBoa

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