SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Forte, an organization building a blockchain-based economic platform for video games, today announced it has raised $185M in Series A funding led by Griffin Gaming Partners. New and existing investors including Union Grove Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, and Canaan also participated in the round. The Series A funding values the organization at $1B. The funds will be used to accelerate the development of its end-to-end blockchain platform, which lets developers create fungible and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and build scalable token-based game economies.
“Video games play a vital part in billions of people’s lives, yet fairly monetizing them is harder than ever,” said Josh Williams, Forte’s Cofounder and CEO. “We envision a sustainable and equitable ecosystem for games, and are building the necessary infrastructure to make it possible. We’re incredibly fortunate to work with Griffin Gaming Partners and others who share our vision, and are helping us more quickly bring our technology to game developers, players, and fans around the world.”
“We focus on investing in businesses in the massive and growing digital economy and have spent significant time analyzing disruptive technologies such as blockchain,” said Nicholas Tuosto, Co-Founder of Griffin Gaming Partners and Managing Director of LionTree. “Having met with dozens of companies at the intersection of blockchain and games, we believe Forte’s unique technology platform, go-to-market strategy, and deep expertise in both games and blockchain enables their authentic approach, and distinguishes them as a trustworthy partner for developers for this exciting journey.”
Forte’s economic technology aims to address the growing misalignment between game developers, players, and fans. It enables the creation of new gameplay and world designs that directly support the long-term health of a game through cooperative token-based economics, or what Forte calls “community economics.”
Forte platform status:
Currently invite-only and in private testing. 25+ game developer partners. 5M+ NFTs minted and used in games. 8M+ players across partner games. Game projects in active development include new experiences from industry pioneers such as Will Wright, creator of The Sims, and Jeff Tunnell, founder of Dynamix, the studio behind Starsiege: Tribes. Previously announced developer partners include Hi-Rez Studios, Penrose, nWay, GC Turbo, Other Ocean, Kongregate, Magmic, and DECA Games.
About Forte
Forte is building economic technology for games. Its end-to-end platform enables the emergence of community economics, a system where the interests of game developers and players are aligned, leading to healthier, sustainable game communities. The team is composed of longtime industry members (Unity, ngmoco, Riot Games, Electronic Arts, Sony, and Rockstar Games, among others), and is currently working with over 20 acclaimed game developers from across the industry to reimagine the economics of games. www.forte.io
About Griffin Gaming Partners
Griffin Gaming Partners was founded in 2019 by Nick Tuosto, Managing Director and Head of Gaming at LionTree; Peter Levin, Co-founder of Nerdist Industries and former President of Interactive Ventures, Games, and Digital Strategy at Lionsgate; and Phil Sanderson, a venture capitalist with over two decades of experience in game investing. The firm recently raised north of $250 million in its first fund to invest in game companies and related technologies around the world. www.griffingp.com