Video game platform Forge has announced the raising of $11 million through its seed funding round, with a sweeping range of big names now backing the platform's ambitions.
The round was led jointly by gaming and Web3 investor Bitkraft Ventures, Makers Fund and Animoca Brands. Additional participation came from Hashkey Capital, Polygon Ventures, Formless Capital and Adaverse.
Even before the round, Forge already had a strong lineup of early investors including Riot Games, Sony Innovation Fund and Griffin Gaming Partners. And as for angel investors, the platform has seen support from Riot Games founder Marc Merrill, Twitch founders Emmett Shear and Kevin Lin, TSM founder Dan Dinh, Kabam founders Kevin Chou and Holly Liu, YouTube founder Steve Chen, Krafton CEO CH Kim, former Discord CMO Eros Resmini (The Mini Fund), and ESL founder Ralf Reichart.
Incentivised play
Forge is aiming to stand apart from other video game platforms by focusing on rewarding players for contributing to gaming communities. The company was formed by Crunchyroll founder Kun Gao, Cyence founder George Ng and gaming pioneer Dennis “Thresh” Fong.
Forge has now been opened to the public in beta form, with users able to link online gaming and social media accounts to a Forge profile. Quests will be available to complete in partner games through a season pass and cosmetics, characters, currency and more will be obtainable through Forge XP.
"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," said Gao.
"We expect Forge to become a critical part of the gaming ecosystem for players and developers alike. Developers can offer deeper engagement around their games, and provide rewards systems that benefit gamers and strengthen their relationships with the games they love," Makers Fund partner Andrew Willson said.
Among the games Forge has already secured partnerships with are Genopets, Mojo Melee, Pixelmon, Portal Fantasy, Rushdown Revolt and The Sandbox. By incentivising players to support community growth, Forge hopes to drive traffic to partner games and its platform while enhancing gamers’ experiences.
"At Bitkraft, we are firm believers in Dennis Fong, Kun Gao, George Ng, and their vision to allow gamers to aggregate their gaming life and achievements into a single profile, and earn rewards based on their participation," said Bitkraft Ventures partner Carlos Pereira. "Forge is not just a platform; it's a catalyst for the next generation of player engagement and community growth."
Animoca Brands co-founder and executive chairman Yat Siu added: "We like Forge because it provides game developers with an authentic way to reach real gamers with an interest in their products. Forge aligns well with the community-centric ethos of Animoca Brands, and we’re excited to be a part of its development."
Last month, Animoca Brands raised $20 million itself towards a new metaverse project.
