PLAYSTUDIOS, the creator of the playAWARDS loyalty platform and an award-winning developer of free-to-play mobile and social games that offer real-world rewards to players, has announced the launch of its new blockchain division, playBLOCKS.
playBLOCKS will extend PLAYSTUDIOS’ leadership in “rewarded play” by leveraging blockchain technologies and economic models that will deliver more engaging and rewarding experiences to players across its portfolio of games, provide new capabilities to rewards partners, and offer a more secure marketplace for both players and rewards partners to connect. PLAYSTUDIOS also announced its intention to invest in innovative companies shaping the future of rewarded play. The company refers to its plans as the “Future Fund,” and has seeded it with an initial sum of $10 million.
PLAYSTUDIOS’ new playBLOCKS division is built upon the acquisition of WonderBlocks, a blockchain-based loyalty platform for games; an alliance with Forte; and strategic investments in innovative companies at the intersection of gaming and blockchain reward models that will be used to advance PLAYSTUDIOS strategic position, like Forte and The Kryptomon Company, its two earlier investments.
“Each of these strategic initiatives is focused on fully realizing our vision for our playAWARDS platform and rewarded play model, and will solidify our leadership as the richest and most rewarding entertainment ecosystem in gaming today.They will help us further our proven ‘rewarded play’ gaming experience in a way that gives our players more ways to earn, provides rewards partners exposure to our community of players that is trustworthy and secure, and ensures that everything we offer our players has discernible, measurable, real-world value,” said PLAYSTUDIOS founder and CEO Andrew Pascal.
The following will form the foundation of PLAYSTUDIOS’ growth in Web3:
- Forte’s blockchain infrastructure enables PLAYSTUDIOS to efficiently integrate blockchain technologies into its loyalty platform and games to create rich, player-first experiences built specifically for token economies and the management of digital assets. “We share a vision about the transformational opportunity of blockchain gaming, one that creates massive new creative and economic opportunities centered around utility, trust and authenticity,” said PLAYSTUDIOS corporate and business development EVP Jason Hahn.
- WonderBlocks, an innovative gaming technology startup founded by gaming and retail veteran, Linda Lee, brings to PLAYSTUDIOS a suite of products and services that will enable PLAYSTUDIOS to quickly and efficiently deploy blockchain loyalty mechanics. “We believe that by joining forces with PLAYSTUDIOS, WonderBlocks can realize its vision at a much larger scale and help accelerate PLAYSTUDIOS’ plan of building the largest and most innovative rewarded play ecosystem, delivering value to consumers, game publishers, and rewards partners,” said playBLOCKS new head Linda Lee.
- Through its “Future Fund,” PLAYSTUDIOS will partner with next generation Web3 companies building advanced capabilities at the intersection of gaming, loyalty marketing, and blockchain rewards. The fund’s initial strategic investments in Forte and The Kryptomon Company provide PLAYSTUDIOS with access to expertise in Web3 technology, marketing, and community building that it can leverage as it deepens its capabilities in the space.
PLAYSTUDIOS has developed a portfolio of beautifully designed, top-ranked free-to-play games that have attracted a loyal following due, in large part, to the company’s unmatched playAWARDS Loyalty Program. The program enables players to earn real-world rewards from a curated collection of over 275 entertainment, retail, travel, leisure, and casino brands. To date, the PLAYSTUDIOS community has used its in-app loyalty points to purchase over 10 million rewards. The company has been named a Top Developer by App Annie, the gaming industry’s leader in app analytics and aggregated app performance data.
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