Forte

Creating New Economic and Creative Opportunities for Billions of Gamers Around the World Through Blockchain

Announcement

PayID: An Open Payment Standard for All

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PayID

We created the Forte platform to empower game developers in creating more equitable and sustainable business models. Their player communities will benefit from the platform, too, through novel game designs, the ability to trade and sell digital goods on marketplaces, and more. A key part of this next generation of game experiences will be a payment system that allows money to be easily sent and received around the world. 

Today, we’re excited to announce our commitment to natively support PayID in the Forte platform. PayID allows you to send and receive money across any payment network using just a simple ID that’s easy to remember, versus a routing, credit card, or other unintuitive number. 

Importantly, PayID aligns with our vision of an open and interoperable future: it is free, open source, and works across any payment network. Moreover, PayID has the security, privacy, and compliance features necessary for a global payment system built into it. 

By streamlining the process of sending and receiving payments—and making it simple to integrate—game developers and players will be able to more easily reap the rewards of their efforts, and help community-driven game economies flourish. 

We look forward to sharing more on our support for PayID in the coming months. For more information go to payid.org.

Our Next Five Partners

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Forte Announces Next Five Developer Partners

“What does a blockchain game look like?” 

This is a question we often hear from a wide spectrum of people including players, developers, business people, blockchain enthusiasts, and more. The truth is, a modern game that uses blockchain technology looks like any existing game on the market today, regardless of genre or game platform. The multitude of technologies that power a game—blockchain included—are simply a means to an end: great player experiences.  

But there is a distinction to be made between games powered by blockchain technology versus those that aren’t. That distinction is largely an experiential one rooted in the alignment of incentives between players and game creators. This unprecedented shift in the player-developer dynamic will manifest in games in different ways as each game creator designs around the unique benefits blockchain technology brings to games, e.g., asset ownership, item provenance, the ability to integrate peripheral markets.

At Forte, we firmly believe that blockchain technology by itself is not enough. Engaging player experiences must accompany it and are paramount to bringing the benefits of blockchain technology to the mainstream. That’s why we’re partnering with the best game creators in the world—ones that have an intimate understanding of how to harness cutting-edge technology to create engrossing, rewarding, and innovative game experiences for their player communities. As experts of their craft, they will elevate modern games from pure entertainment experiences, to ones that will take on a new relevance in players’ lives through community economics. 

Today, we’re absolutely delighted to announce our next five game developer partners.

Based in Alpharetta, GA, Hi-Rez Studios is longtime leader in the games industry, with successful titles across every major game platform including PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android. As one of the first Western developers to recognize, embrace, and successfully implement free-to-play and games-as-a-service business models, the studio has shown it has a prescient eye when it comes to new trends and technologies in games. And most importantly, the studio puts great experiences first, as evidenced by the 70M people around the world that have played its games.

Netmarble is one of the world’s largest game organizations, consisting of nearly a dozen first-rate game development studios, and offices in eight different countries. The company epitomizes what it means to be a global games network by not only reaching millions of players around the world, but by also working with local developers in different regions, thoughtfully localizing and culturalizing its games, and even organizing education and mentorship programs. Netmarble is a true giant in the global games space.

A genuine aficionado when it comes to card and board games, Magmic has developed over 100 titles with nearly 250M total game downloads. The award-winning studio has worked with the biggest brand holders in the card and board game category including Hasbro and Mattel, and has developed its own portfolio of successful games as well. With nearly two decades of experience developing games for mobile that reach millions of players, Magmic has a degree of experience and wisdom in its domain that few others can match.

Composed of seasoned developers and leaders from some of the biggest and best game companies in the world, nWay has a clear vision of how new technology can be used to not only improve the player experience, but also the developer experience. The company specializes in building games and technology for competitive multiplayer games. Its laser focus over the years on one of the most exciting and popular genres / formats in games has helped nWay grow into a master of its realm.

Founded in 2016, DECA Games is an indie games publisher that focuses on building upon beloved games with loyal fan communities. DECA’s veteran team uses its extensive expertise in live services and operations to create ongoing, unique experiences that foster trust with its players, and keep its game communities active for years after launch. With more and more game communities staying active for 15+ years, DECA’s unique skill set is a boon for both developers and players.

Our five new partners join our previously announced ones, Disruptor Beam, Other Ocean, and Kongregate. Beyond the sheer privilege of working with some of the best game creators in the industry, we’re thrilled to see so much diversity among the partners in terms of game platform experience, company size, and player communities. Expect to see the same level of diversity in the games themselves. We’ll be sharing game titles and details, additional partners, and more in the coming months so stay tuned. 

Be sure to follow Hi-Rez Studios, Netmarble, Magmic, nWay, DECA Games, and Forte for news on upcoming game announcements, platform updates, and more.

If you’re a game developer interested in working on the Forte platform, get in touch!

Kongregate

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Earlier this year, we announced a $100M developer fund to help accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology in games. We believe blockchain will unlock new economic and creative opportunities for the games community at large, and have been building easy-to-use tools using open protocols like Interledger so developers can properly — and effectively — harness the potential that blockchain offers games.

But we haven’t been doing it alone. We’ve been working closely with a diverse and immensely talented group of developer partners to help ensure that our platform technologies meet their needs, while also leveraging our experience in economy and game design to help them build the best experiences for their respective player communities. Kongregate is one of those developers.

Games have an incredible ability to move us: we feel ecstatic when finally topping a long-standing high score; we feel triumphant when finally beating a boss battle that, until the very moment of victory, seemed insurmountable; and we feel a deep sense of loss when a character we’re emotionally invested in perishes in an engrossing narrative. 

Games can also move us in a more literal way: they bring us together as players. We used to see it in the massive crowds at local arcades, then later at home during the console revolution of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Today, games bring us together online. Sometimes this is playing cooperatively with each other, and other times playing competitively against each other, like when we’re vying for the top spot in an esports competition. 

Sometimes, though, games bring us together through online communities. Kongregate is one such community. In 2006, the long-running gaming portal set out to provide independent developers with an open platform to host their games and engage directly with their player communities—a refreshingly progressive and prescient move at the time given today’s gaming landscape. Over a decade later, the portal’s become a resounding success, and currently hosts over 125K games, all free for players around the world to enjoy. 

Kongregate has grown to be much more than its enormously popular web portal, though. Today, they are also a game developer, publisher, and PC games platform responsible for over 250M game downloads, multiple Editor’s Choice titles, and a combined community of over 8M players—each a remarkable achievement on its own, but extraordinary together. 

A few of Kongregate’s award-winning titles. Source: Kongregate

While Kongregate’s track record speaks for itself, where we really connected with them was in their mission: to nurture the growth and health of independent game developers and player communities. 

At Forte, the tools and services we’re building for developers directly support this mission. It also aligns with our games history as well, as our team members spent the last two decades helping game developers by creating industry-standard tools, and fostering thriving player communities through deep player engagement. 

We’re building the Forte platform to jumpstart a new generation of games where the player-developer relationship is both healthier and more sustainable. As such, we intimately understand, genuinely appreciate, and fully support Kongregate’s mission. And it’s why they’re one of our first developer partners in bringing blockchain technology to the masses. 

Kongregate will be using the Forte platform to create an engaging community program that lets players earn rewards by completing unique challenges, playing games on their portal, and more. These blockchain-based rewards will be fully controlled by the players, and will help strengthen Kongregate’s developer and players communities in ways not possible until now. Expect to hear more details in the coming months. 

We’re absolutely delighted to be partnering with Kongregate, and look forward to seeing how blockchain technology will help bring their developers and players closer together than ever before. 

Be sure to follow Kongregate and Forte for upcoming partner news, platform updates, and more. 

Forte Joins the Blockchain Association

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When the video games industry was still in its infancy, games were primarily used as a form of entertainment. Today, games are entrenched in virtually every facet of society, from education to research to even fitness. Entirely new industries have emerged from games, including competitive esports and online game streaming.

In addition, whether serving as a new medium in an established industry, or as the cornerstone to a new one, games play an integral part in the economy and in the livelihoods of an ever-growing population. Hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. alone are employed by companies in the game industry, with millions more having an economic connection to games in one form or another.

At Forte, we believe blockchain technology will unlock a new wave of economic and creative opportunities for players, developers, and entrepreneurs. The technology’s unique properties map perfectly to the digital nature of games and enable the secure ownership of in-game digital assets, thereby laying the foundation for groundbreaking blockchain- and crypto-native marketplaces and services for the games industry.

The new economic opportunities in games that will surface from blockchain technology have the potential to transform the industry in powerful, positive ways through more open infrastructure, more equitable business models, and the inherent security that the technology offers. That’s why Forte is building a comprehensive suite of community-focused tools and services for game developers that enables them to easily integrate the benefits of blockchain technology into their games.

But to fully realize the potential that blockchain technology offers, the games industry needs clear and, importantly, well-informed regulatory guidelines. With the proper level of regulatory clarity and understanding, game developers can implement blockchain technology and associated economic frameworks in ways that benefit all participants in the games industry — and ancillary ones — in a secure and compliant manner. This is an end we’re fully committed to reaching. To help us get there, we’re thrilled to announce that Forte has joined the Blockchain Association as its first member directly representing the games industry.

The Blockchain Association helps to educate and inform policymakers on the benefits of blockchain technology, and advocate for policy that addresses regulatory priorities while also cultivating and embracing technological innovation — all through a unified voice that represents the blockchain industry as a whole. By being a member of the association, Forte can help ensure that the games industry is represented authentically, the player community has the proper consumer protections in place, and individuals will have the freedom to positively impact their lives through digital asset ownership and participation in breakthrough marketplaces and blockchain networks.

The days are early, but we’re deeply committed to collaborating with policymakers for the long-term to help ensure that a vibrant, sustainable, and secure blockchain ecosystem will emerge for the games industry — and our society at large.

Other Ocean

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Earlier this year, we announced a $100M developer fund to help accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology in games. We believe blockchain will unlock new economic and creative opportunities for the games community at large, and have been building easy-to-use tools using open protocols like Interledger so developers can properly — and effectively — harness the potential that blockchain offers games.

But we haven’t been doing it alone. We’ve been working closely with a diverse and immensely talented group of developer partners to help ensure that our platform technologies meet their needs, while also leveraging our experience in economy and game design to help them build the best experiences for their respective player communities. Other Ocean is one of those developers.

There’s a unique breed of game developers that doesn’t shy away from new technologies, and instead have an innate curiosity to explore, embrace, and effectuate them — not simply for technology’s sake, but to push game experiences forward. Other Ocean is the epitome of this class of developer.

Their impulse to break new ground is part of what makes Other Ocean one of a select few developers in the industry that has deep experience in virtually every major games platform, from traditional consoles to mobile to VR, and everything in-between. Suffice it to say, safely sticking to the status quo simply isn’t in their DNA.

Other Ocean’s rich development experience is why game studios and entertainment companies around the world bring them on as a developer partner. To date, Other Ocean has partnered with renowned companies such as Microsoft Game Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment, Capcom, Electronic Arts, and Disney. And today, we’re beyond excited to announce Other Ocean as Forte’s next developer partner.

A small sampling of the games that Other Ocean has worked on.

What we really love about Other Ocean is that they aren’t bound by existing game platforms — they have an uncanny ability to create engaging game experiences in the most unexpected ways. Case in point: they created #IDARB, a competitive online arena game that was the first to enable spectator interactions via Twitter and Twitch. This is a game that WIRED called the “best new multiplayer game in years” upon release, and characterized it as “unlike anything you’ve ever played.”

Other Ocean’s proficiency in fusing new technologies with compelling game experiences makes them an ideal partner for Forte. The studio’s Atlantic Canadian team is currently integrating our platform technologies into Season 3 of its addicting 2D browser-based game,Battle Royale: Unsung Heroes, more commonly known as BRUH.IO. Millions of people have played the game since its initial launch, with over 30M matches played to date. The Season 3 update will include a host of new features that we think existing fans and new players alike will absolutely love.

BRUH.IO’s Season 3 update will include a host of new game features and blockchain integration.

BRUH.IO is a great fit for the Forte platform because of a trifecta of elements: the incredible popularity of battle royale games (e.g., Fortnite, Apex Legends, PUBG), the massive reach and low barrier to entry of browser-based game experiences, and the player accessibility afforded to the game by its simple yet deep gameplay mechanics. With a team as well-versed in game development and new technologies as Other Ocean, expect the upcoming game update to elevate the player experience while keeping the gameplay true to its roots.

We’ll have more details to share in the coming months regarding the game’s new season — including how it’s leveraging the Forte platform and blockchain technology for the benefit of its players and creators. Stay tuned!

Be sure to follow Other Ocean and Forte for news on upcoming game announcements, platform updates, and more.