TheXPlace has announced a closed beta to its professional and recruitment network, with select global talent, game studios, and publishers invited to join.

The purpose of the network is to enable talent to develop connections and build a digital identity, whilst gaming companies will be matched with talent based on their needs.

To ensure TheXPlace is able to be a trusted community, companies, talent and credits are all vetted and verified.

AAA and indie developers are involved in the private early access, with names including Ubisoft, Zynga, Playtika, Tencent, and Activision Blizzard. Both companies and select talent were specifically invited to take part beginning today, March 3 2022.

"We’re building TheXPlace for people working in the rapidly growing video games industry," said TheXPlace founder and CEO Maya Rand.

"The nature of work is changing, we believe there should be a better way to work and TheXPlace is the solution."

Finding support

Due to an increase in demand for the networking platform, venture funds are coming from XFactor Ventures, Two Lanterns Venture Partners, Angel Ventures, Hustle Fund, and more.

Meanwhile, individuals looking to back TheXPlace include Alex Rigopulos and Chris Rigopulos from Harmonix Music Systems (acquired by Epic Games), Activision-acquired RedOctane’s Kai Huang, and Gabi Shalel of Plarium, among others.

"I welcomed the opportunity to support TheXPlace because I believe this is exactly the solution the industry needs, and the tremendous early response from not only AAA studios but prominent talent is proof of that," Guitar Hero creator Kai Huang said.

Update: Maya speaks

Rand spoke with PocketGamer.biz on the necessity of TheXPlace network, and digitising and moving beyond an old-fashioned word-of-mouth approach.

Can you tell us more about the structure of TheXPlace community?

We’re building TheXPlace as a trusted community with a high level of transparency to instill much-needed trust. Where vetted companies and professionals and verified credits give peace of mind to all parties.

We offer a platform with features that are uniquely designed for video games industry talent to showcase their portfolio, take credit for their work, and build a trusted network. Professionals can then highlight their body-of-work with our intuitive, gaming-specific tagging system so that they can be discovered and hired for suitable opportunities.

For video game companies, TheXPlace smart matches proven specialised professionals from over 20 disciplines to project needs. Our tagging system helps companies find the best match within our network of global professionals.

Further, we offer diversified and vetted talent. Our vetting heuristics combines industry insight with the latest tech to prevent false profiles and portfolios’ plagiarism. We also verify portfolio work samples, vetted credits, and get a glimpse into the talent’s personality, communication style, and insights as they discuss their body-of-work.

You have already attracted substantial AAA entities. What does TheXPlace offer talented individuals who are just starting their journey in the games industry?

During our stealth phase, we also supported top tier indie studios as well as individual games industry talent looking to expand their workstreams or find the next career opportunity.

For new talent just starting their journey in the games industry, we offer a powerful tool to feature their past work and current skills, and also show some personality, in a way you won’t find anywhere else in the market today.

As these professionals expand their work in the video games industry, they can then add credits for games they’ve worked on into their portfolio, and build up their professional network with people they’ve actually worked with. These “collaborators” vouch and serve as a reference for that particular experience and create the basis for the talent’s trusted professional network on TheXPlace: in a way digitising the “offline” word-of-mouth referral and back-channel network that is so prevalent in our industry.

What regions are currently supported by TheXPlace, and where are you hoping to expand in the near future?

We’re a global platform and our closed beta offering can support video game talent and companies in every corner of the globe (in compliance with US Government Law and Regulation).

In terms of our own team, we are globally distributed, and spread across 10 locations. Our team members span diverse experiences in video games development and publishing across mobile, console, and PC gaming.