LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Following a round of seed investments by The Sandbox, Com2uS, CRIT Ventures, and Formless Capital, Firefly Games CEO Michael Zhang has announced the formation of a new venture called MetaWorld Entertainment. Key partners in this new metaverse company include The Sandbox, the leading decentralized virtual gaming world and subsidiary of Animoca Brands, and Com2uS, a global multi-content platform leading the way in the blockchain gaming space.
This announcement of MetaWorld Entertainment's formation comes at a pivotal time in the evolution of the Web3 space. Michael Zhang has described MetaWorld’s vision of Web3 as “the venue for entertainment in the new digital age. The metaverse is where audiences will play, engage, and interact with new levels of immersion, unlike anything we have seen before.” Michael, who will serve MetaWorld as its CEO said, “We have the advantage of leveraging great technology and our know-how of creating engaging and meaningful experiences for people. This allows us to think more from the user’s perspective: what meaningful experiences can we bring to them and what value will this give them.”
MetaWorld Entertainment will be an all-encompassing entertainment company, bringing concerts, events, and games to the global market through metaverse platforms, including The Sandbox. MetaWorld will serve as both a developer and publisher of multiple experiences and games, empowering audiences around the world to interact with the metaverse like never before. MetaWorld will maximize the immersive experience using the support of key partners such as Agora and their real-time audio technology. MetaWorld will also utilize the Web2 game publishing experience of its partners to target a massive gaming audience while using the "play-and-earn" model that offers high-quality and engaging games through which players can also earn virtual currencies. By combining and utilizing its unique gaming resources, platform advantages, and business cooperation in technology and entertainment, MetaWorld plans to bring brand-new play-and-earn entertainment experiences to the Web3 era to drive broader adoption.
“The Sandbox is pleased to support the entry of veteran gaming entrepreneur Michael Zhang into the metaverse by establishing his next gaming venture as a metaverse builder studio,” said Sébastien BORGET, COO and Co-Founder of The Sandbox. “We believe he will leverage his experience and team creativity to build fun, engaging, multiplayer games and diversified experiences on The Sandbox platform, starting with Atari games available in Alpha Season 3 and with more brand names soon to be announced.”
Com2uS President Kyu Lee was similarly optimistic, “The next wave of Web3 builders will be more focused on the content and experience that are built on the platforms. Michael and his team have both the strong vision and the track record of working with top tier brands to scale and deliver.” Com2uS has a long history of bullish growth in bleeding edge markets around the world.
"Brands are looking for impactful ways to participate in the Web3 ecosystem," said Scott Levy, MetaWorld Advisor and former Managing Director of NBA Asia. "Michael has a proven track record of creating successful content and MetaWorld will become a resource for brands and consumers to meaningfully engage in the metaverse."
MetaWorld Entertainment, a revolutionary Web3 company to create unique experiences that allows users to engage with Web3 in a completely new and immersive way while enabling the world to connect through entertainment.
The Sandbox, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, is one of the decentralized virtual worlds that have been fueling the recent growth of virtual real estate demand, having partnered with major IPs and brands including Warner Music Group, Ubisoft, The Rabbids, Gucci Vault, The Walking Dead, Snoop Dogg, Adidas, Deadmau5, Steve Aoki, Richie Hawtin, The Smurfs, Care Bears, Atari, ZEPETO, CryptoKitties, and more. Building on existing The Sandbox IP that has more than 40 million global installs on mobile, The Sandbox metaverse offers players and creators a decentralized and intuitive platform to create immersive 3D worlds and game experiences and to safely store, trade, and monetize their creations.
Com2uS is a South Korean mobile and online game development and publishing company established in 1998. Com2uS develops games for Android, iOS, and other platforms, and has been targeting the global market for almost 10 years, even before the introduction of smartphones. Based on their vast pool of know-how gained from their establishment of foreign offices and experience in the NA and EU markets, Com2uS has become a very competitive company. The company's corporate offices are located in the United States, Korea, Japan, and China. In 2007, Com2uS was listed on the Korea Stock Exchange (KOSDAQ: 078340).
Firefly Games excels in development, globalization, and localization for mobile games, with rich experience in game production and distribution. Firefly has cooperated with Hollywood studios to develop many mobile games based on popular IP, including DreamWorks' Universe of Legends, Skydance's Terminator: Dark Fate, and MGA Entertainment's match-three mobile game LoL Surprise! Room Maker, among others. Firefly also represents the North American distribution of Asian mobile games such as My Name is MT2.
