Web3 gaming investors more ‘choosy’ in crypto winter — Animoca’s Robby Yung

Investing in Web3 gaming has required a greater level of due diligence through a testing cryptocurrency bear market, according to Animoca Brands CEO Robby Yung.

Yung, who is also co-founder of popular Metaverse platform The Sandbox, highlighted more robust check-boxes when considering Web3 gaming investments while speaking at the European Blockchain Convention in Barcelona.

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The Animoca Brands CEO said that investment propositions involve finding a mix of passionate teams with specific skill sets who are building product ideas that have a clear market fit:

“Now that we’re in a sort of crypto winter and an economic downturn, from the investor perspective, we can afford to be quite choosy because, obviously, capital is scarce.”

Yung added that the stage of development of prospective projects that Animoca Brands considers investing in is typically more mature when compared to the standards it had a couple of years ago. 

Investors are more demanding as a result, requiring tangible progress for projects that are seeking to raise capital:

“You have to have an alpha build. Ideally, you have some kind of user testing out there when you first go out and look for external capital. It’s very difficult to raise just on the basis of the business plan in this market.”

While investors may be more discerning, Yung also conceded that companies continue to raise money and that the second half of 2023 has been a testament to that, with a number of deals being done:

“It has improved a lot, but there has been a flight to quality.”

User acquisition also remains a hurdle for the Web3 gaming space, which Yung attributed to challenges around the distribution of games. He pointed to hesitance from mainstream gaming platforms to list games that have Web3 infrastructure:

“We’ve historically been unwelcome in most traditional gaming distribution platforms, whether that’s mobile app stores, Steam or console platforms.”

Yung believes that mainstream players remain uncertain about the implications of including Web3 infrastructure in their offerings, which has initially led to a knee-jerk reaction:

“I think that the idea of putting Web3 infrastructure in would bypass their business models, as in the fees that they take for distribution.”

The Animoca Brands CEO added that the conclusions drawn prevented players like Steam, EA and Epic Games from learning more about the possibilities and engaging with the Web3 community to find solutions that cater to the wider gaming market.

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