The fire of NFT games is inseparable from the fuel of capital. Animoca Brands is one of the typical representatives. According to incomplete statistics, Animoca Brands has made more than 70 investments in the past three years, becoming the largest investor in the chain game field. Among them, Animoca Brands is the biggest investor behind Axie Infinity, which has created a wealth effect and the traffic of the whole network is second to none in recent months. In addition, projects invested by Animoca Brands include the well-known chain game The SandBox, the leading NFT trading platform OpenSea, and the NBA Top Shot development team Dapper Labs. In January of this year, Animoca Brands ranked fifth in BlockchainGamer.biz's 2020 Top 50 Blockchain Companies list.

As NFT games continue to go out of the circle, Animoca Brands, which is frequently sold in the encrypted world, has also attracted mainstream investment institutions. In early July, Animoca Brands completed a financing of up to 138.88 million US dollars, and Blue Pool Capital (Blue Pool Capital) was impressively listed in the list of investors. It is understood that Blue Pool Capital manages part of Ma Yun’s wealth and most of Cai Chongxin’s personal wealth of US$8 billion. This investment in Animoca Brands is its first foray into the blockchain industry.

Yat Siu, founder and chairman of Animoca Brands, has a lot of impressive resumes and achievements in his 20-plus years of Internet technology entrepreneurship. After settling in Hong Kong in 1995, he founded Asia's first free web and electronic service provider. In 1998, he founded Outblaze, a game development and network service business, which was acquired by IBM in 2009 after winning many awards. Afterwards, Xiao Yi put more energy into investing in cutting-edge new tracks.

As the NFT game track continues to heat up and has become a recent hot spot in the encryption world, Odaily had the honor to interview Xiao Yi, asking him to share his investment philosophy on this new track, as well as the recent major moves of Animoca Brands. The following is the essence of the interview, enjoy~

1. The 28-year technological journey from entrepreneurship to investment

Q1: Let me ask a digression first. According to reports, you once majored in music art and are an artist who has received professional training in classical music. What kind of opportunity did you choose to come to Hong Kong to start a business and invest in the IT industry?

Xiao Yi:I was born in Vienna, Austria, and my parents are both musicians. My choice of majoring in music can be regarded as following my parents' wishes, but my talent is not in it. Because I had a strong interest in code and programming when I was a teenager, I was better at making music with computer software, and this habit has remained until now. Before I was 18, I briefly started a business in the US, but eventually the company was acquired. Around the age of 18, I went back to Hong Kong because my father is from Hong Kong. Around 1993, suffering from the inability to provide e-mail services in Hong Kong, I was deeply unaccustomed to founding a network technology company - Hong Kong Online (Hong Kong Online), thus starting my entrepreneurial career. At that time, local people in Hong Kong looked at this project, just like people look at blockchain technology today. Let’s talk about investment again. Long-termism is my core investment philosophy. I will pay special attention to the growth and future value of the project.

Q2: We reviewed your resume and found that 2009 was a watershed year in your entrepreneurial and investment careers. Before that, your main direction was the traditional IT technology field, such as Outblaze, which was eventually sold to IBM, and then you will focus on entertainment, education, and encrypted assets, with more diversification, such as Animoca Brands and Dalton Learning Lab . What factors drove you to make these shifts? For this change, looking back now, is it the best choice?

Xiao Yi:In 1998, I founded Outblaze, a network service company. According to the current field division, its main business is cloud computing, but the concept of cloud computing did not exist at that time, so it seemed a bit advanced. But our team's philosophy is that if technology can make the world a better place, we'll do it. If someone can make the best use of our expertise, we will not hesitate to give the opportunity to the other party. So later we sold this business to IBM, which has more comprehensive R&D capabilities, just when they were in urgent need of a cloud computing email system. Sometimes I also wonder if we will become a giant like Google if we keep doing this, because we do have a deep accumulation in the technical field.

After completing the transaction with IBM in 2009, I was very interested in the mobile Internet that was emerging at that time, and the appearance of the iPhone made me very excited. So, I started to study APP, focusing on making games. The most popular of these is Pretty Pet Salon, launched in 2011, when its downloads exceeded 50 million. This number is not worth mentioning now, but that was in 2011 when the mobile Internet was in its infancy. This also paved the way for us to focus more on blockchain + games in the later stage.

For many entrepreneurs, satisfaction depends on wealth. But I value meaning more, so in the future I want to do more impactful things, which will enrich my sense of satisfaction in the entrepreneurial journey, not just make money.

Q3: In your opinion, which project has you invested in which is the most successful? Briefly introduce the background and reasons.

Xiao Yi:This question is not easy to answer, just like you ask which of my children I like the most. Let me mention two special ones, Axie Infinity and The SandBox. The former is difficult to raise funds in the international market because the development team is all Vietnamese. The latter's team headquarters and R&D center are located in Argentina. They are far from the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial team recognized by the public, but what happened later was beyond everyone's expectations. Both of these games have attracted countless fans with their exquisite creative designs.

In addition, you may be curious why we were able to unearth these two unnamed chain games among many projects. It is worth revealing that in 2018, our circle was small and narrow, with only 200 people, and we were already well-known in the industry at that time, so it was not difficult to find us proactively, not to mention that the epidemic had not yet broken out, and there were cross-border exchange activities Very convenient. In 2019, we held the first Blockchain Gamer Connects in Hong Kong, and the international response was good.

In addition to the above two games, we have also invested in dozens of chain games, and incubated the REVV Motorsport racing game ecosystem combined with super IP, which currently includes IP authorizedF1® Delta Time、MotoGP™ Ignitionand the upcomingFormula E: High Voltageand an original REVV racing gameREVV Racing。

2. The value of NFT chain games is not just about making money

Q4: Animoca Brands has been investing in blockchain and chain game projects since the end of 2018 and early 2019. At that time, blockchain and chain games had not attracted much attention. What features of blockchain and chain games attracted you to invest in this industry earlier than others?

Xiao Yi:The reason why we are optimistic about this track is that it truly achieves decentralization. As we all know, on a centralized game platform, the rights and interests of players cannot be guaranteed. A platform that single-handedly controls the power of life and death can irresponsibly infringe on the privacy and asset ownership of players, but in the decentralized chain world, everything The program is executed by the smart contract, completely independent of the will of the platform. And I believe that when the blockchain technology becomes the infrastructure in the future, the popularity of blockchain games will continue to refresh the public's perception.

In investment, I think it is very important to seize the opportunity, but it is difficult to judge the opportunity, especially something that has unlimited potential in the future but has not fully demonstrated its value at the moment, so you must enter the game as soon as possible, and the cost will be higher if you come later high.

Both NFT and chain games represent the future, but it is still uncertain when it will really explode or become the infrastructure of the Internet society, but we hope to find someone who can promote this process together, so we have been sparing no effort to invest in high-quality projects. In addition, we invest at our own expense, so we can always adhere to long-termism without being trapped by short-term return requirements.

Q5: Animoca Brands has made more than 70 investments in the past 3 years, becoming the largest investor in the chain game field. What elements do you value when investing in chain game projects? In addition, Animoca Brands frequently invests in the field of blockchain games. Does it have a more far-reaching layout and consideration?

Xiao Yi:Early on, we valued the team the most. If the early team has no profitability, we will look at the future potential. There are three criteria for judging: business logic, delivery capabilities, and whether we believe that freedom and openness are the future. The sign of the third point is whether the user's data assets can be NFTized. We have also encountered teams that say they are open, but actually want to control user data and assets. This kind of team must not vote.

Another important thing is the history of the team and why you joined this industry. Because the Axie Infinity team is based in Vietnam and has a deep understanding of Southeast Asian users and markets, we were favored from the very beginning.

For these invested projects, in addition to financial support, we also provide a full range of services. A series of project incubation services including more than 300 well-known IP resources, brand public relations, mechanism design and technical support. This is due to my 20 years of venture capital experience in the Internet circle, which will be transformed into the assistance of this group of young entrepreneurs.

Q6: Will the recent hot Play to Earn mode accelerate the bursting of the NFT game bubble? If one day the player's Earn is no longer available, will it still be retained for Play?

Xiao Yi:Both the team and I believe that chain games are the future, but the situation you mentioned cannot be ruled out. Users can transfer or upgrade weapon assets while playing, but they may not necessarily earn money.

In my opinion, there are many levels of value that NFT games can bring to the industry and users, among which "earn while playing" is just a label. Play can also own and trade, not necessarily earn. Value has many dimensions, not just making money. P2E is also just a label. It may be a good way to quickly attract players, but if the game design only makes a fuss about this point and does not have other advantages, or cannot be balanced with other advantages, it will soon fall into silence.

Q7: In your opinion, what are the obvious pain points in the emerging chain game industry? What are the solutions? What efforts will Animoca Brands make in this regard?

Xiao Yi:Because it is difficult to have an accurate understanding of this new thing, our education costs for the market are too high, which is the most obvious pain point. Specifically, players first need to use their wallets to store their digital assets, but it is difficult for them to understand this, and it is easy to become a sensitive issue when money is involved. Of course, this involves another problem. The threshold for using digital wallets is high and the user experience is poor. This is like ordinary people who want to save money in the bank, but have to face the cumbersome process of opening an account; it is also difficult for new users to have an objective and comprehensive understanding of NFT and digital assets. Some of them regard chain games as a tool to make money. This is also one-sided.

At present, we will strengthen the interaction with users and increase investment in market education. In addition, in order to maximize the user experience, the games on REVV Motorsport will be deployed on Polygon this week to reduce costs and increase speed. Under these dual functions, the games we develop and launch may play a positive role in the education market.

(Additional introduction by Odaily: The REVV Motorsport platform, authorized by the IPs of the two major super events of F1 and MotoGP, generally uses NFT to provide game content, including racing cars, drivers and equipment, etc., so that users can experience the benefits brought by "ownership" hapiness.

To this end, REVV Motorsport issued the in-game application token REVV, whose smart contracts are fully audited by CertiK, and its uses include but are not limited to:

1. Used to purchase game props (various NFTs);

2. Payment of tickets to participate in the competition: as the entry fee for Grand Prix and Time Trial;

3. Game rewards: participating players will get corresponding rewards according to their performance;

4. Pledge: In special events, players can stake REVV to get REVV rewards or NFT directly.

Readers who are interested in gameplay and incentives are welcome to click: "Turning the F1 racing game into NFT will not only attract players to the realistic experience...》）

3. In the future, all assets in the game will be owned by players

Q8: Does Animoca Brands have any new projects in the near future? Can you introduce the online arrangement and reward activities of REVV Racing?

Xiao Yi:The recent Tokyo Olympics is very popular, and we have already planned for next year's Beijing Winter Olympics in advance. Previously a subsidiary of Animoca BrandsnWayAnnounced the development of NFT badges officially authorized by the Olympic Games, as well as an Olympic-themed cross-platform multiplayer competition video game. The game will be released ahead of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

In addition, Animoca Brands' blockchain game REVV RacingThe first release of the closed beta version, will offer prizes worth $150,000 to 1,000 winners, and the event will take place from August 11-17, 2021. We have given away NFT racing cars to players in multiple events, and they can make money because they already own these assets. For specific reward rules, please refer to the announcement.

In the later stage, we will also launch more interesting and rewarding activities, and everyone is welcome to participate. There will be a lot of airdrop activities, and not only for top players. The NFT airdrops that everyone grabs can be traded in the market.

Q9: What is the progress of another game, Formula E: High Voltage? Will NFTs be launched?

Xiao Yi:Formula E, our Formula E blockchain game, will also be announced soon. It belongs to the REVV Motorsport ecosystem with F1®Delta Time and MotoGP Ignition, and uses REVV as an in-game application token. In this game, the player can play the role of a team leader, and whether he can lead the team to the championship will depend on the strategy the player adopts. At the same time, this game will further fit the experience of traditional games and improve the fun and intensity of the game. Welcome your attention and participation.

official websiteofficial websiteand social accounts to keep abreast of the latest developments in real time.

Q10: This year, Animoca Brands has completed two rounds of large-scale financing, with a total amount of nearly 140 million US dollars, among which investors include Blue Pool Capital. In your opinion, which characteristics of Animoca Brands have attracted the attention and investment of these institutions. In terms of capital and operating routes, which traditional game publisher will you bid?

Xiao Yi:We raised $138,888,888 to be exact because culturally we wanted that number to be symbolic for the company. First of all, we are on the most imaginative track, and we have already carried out extensive layout. Secondly, the several chain games we invest in or develop are all top-notch in the industry, such as Axie Infinity. Finally, our profitability is also good. Even during the worst period of the epidemic last year, our unaudited revenue in the first 4 months reached 7.34 million US dollars. Based on these elements, Blue Pool Capital invested in us with a relatively large amount.

Every big game development company has something we can learn from. They understand users’ tastes and preferences better, and they also know how to operate games, but they may not be ready to meet the general trend of NFT games. In the future, I believe that all assets in the game will be owned by the players. This is the consensus and direction. Of course, it needs to be realized through blockchain and NFT, and we will also work towards this to give players more choices.