Revolving Games Raises $13.2 Million to Develop ‘AAA Quality’ Web3 Games

The mobile free-to-play game publisher Revolving Games has gone Web3. The company announced Friday it has raised an additional $13.2 million in seed funding from a range of investors, bringing its total funding to $25 million thus far. 

The latest round was led by Pantera Capital, with Animoca Brands, Polygon, Dapper Labs, and Rockstar Games founder Dan Houser among those participating. 

Houser is an experienced game producer and was a writer for Rockstar’s “Red Dead Redemption” and “Grand Theft Auto” games. Now, he’s joined Revolving Games’ advisory board as an advisor and investor.

In a statement, both Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu and Pantera Capital’s Paul Veradittakit expressed that they were “proud” to be investors in Revolving Games.

Revolving Games—founded by three brothers Saad, Ammar, and Shayan Zaeem—will use the freshly-raised funds to create “decentralized” games, according to a press release. 

“Our vision is clear: to build AAA quality games that turn heads amongst the best launches at the top gaming forums like Gamescom and E3!” said Revolving Games co-CEO Saad Zaeem.

“We will be able to bolster our technology and create a more scalable and fully decentralized gaming-focused future,” added co-CEO Ammar Zaeem in a statement.

Revolving Games already has two confirmed titles in the works. The first is a “Battlestar Galactica” 4X strategy MMO blockchain game being produced in partnership with Gala Games and NBCUniversal. It was first announced at the Galaverse conference earlier this year. 

The second is “Skyborne Legacy,” a Nintendo-inspired cooperative RPG on Polygon. While it technically won’t be announced until October, Skyborne’s Twitter feed has been active with some quirky posts from what presumably will be a mascot for or character in the upcoming blockchain game.

When asked on who their target audience will be, the Revolving Games co-CEOs Saad and Ammar told Decrypt that their main focus is attracting “traditional gamers.”

But these co-CEOs aren’t hardcore crypto “Moonboys.” 

“Not every game will or should implement NFTs,” the Zaeem brothers told Decrypt via email. “Moreover, if you build NFTs into your game, it needs to do so in a way that compliments the user experience rather than simply serving the benefit of monetization.”

So what should traditional gamers know before diving into a Revolving Games title? For one, the founders want their games to be free-to-play with an opt-in economic system.

“The general misconception is that Web3 gaming requires an investment to get in,” they said, adding that “the industry has largely flipped from what was successful in Web2 free-to-play (frictionless awareness-to-discovery) to gated access requirements (paywalls, wallets, and investments).”

Instead of requiring upfront payments or “scholar” systems, the Zaeem brothers want to offer AAA titles with less commitment required from players. 

“We believe that players should be able to experience our games for free, invest their time into learning our world, and ultimately decide whether or not we've provided the experience they were looking for before committing their hard earned dollars into supporting our games.”