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Former King team raises $3 million to bring Bitcoin to mobile gaming

Casual mobile studio pnkfrg studios aims to merge video UGC with Bitcoin and the Lightning network into mobile gaming experiences

Former King team raises $3 million to bring Bitcoin to mobile gaming

The recently-formed pnkfrg studios – pronounced pink frog studios – founded by former King team leads, has raised $3 million in seed funding to create mobile gaming experiences through the blockchain network.

The company was co-founded by Philipp Lanik, former executive producer on Candy Crush Saga; Ferran Puñet Soriano, former senior business performance manager at King; Alexander Chroust, former King senior producer; and Tanja Turunen, formerly of IT consultancy Netlight.

The team possesses considerable expertise in F2P and mobile casual gaming on one of the biggest mobile franchises. However, the remit of pnkfrg studios – aiming to “creat[e] a new casual mobile experience by transforming user generated video content into an interactive gaming experience supported by Bitcoin and the Lightning network” – remains loosely defined.

“A paradigm shift in casual mobile gaming”

Lanik, CEO of pnkfrg studios, stated: “We founded pnkfrg studios because we believe in a paradigm shift in casual mobile gaming as well as in a new way of digital financial transactions. Players and creators seek to be rewarded for their time, want to own and trade digital assets, and expect to gain value for their skills and contribution while having a fun time.

“With our product we are addressing the needs of the generation of mobile natives and social creators. We want them to play our games on their daily commute or break, obtain crypto rewards for their engagement and give them the opportunity to spend, save, or donate it in real life – direct, frictionless, rewarding. The Bitcoin lightning network with its low fee microtransaction is a perfect solution to support our vision”

Despite the considerable lows experiences with the NFT, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain gaming markets, the mobile games industry is still hedging considerable bets on blockchain gaming and play-to-earn, with blockchain gaming driving $3.2 billion – 50 per cent – of private investment deals across 2021.


Editor

Former editor of PocketGamer.biz, Khai can also be found on Vice, Star Trek, and in numerous scientific journals and publications.