Providing gamers with a platform to create their video game accessories, while studios can audit these creations. This is essentially the proposal of Playmakers, a company founded in 2022 by Ilan Nabeth, Costantino Carrega (both working at the booming Homa studio) and Maxime Niankouri. “We want to engage a game’s existing community by letting them suggest content to improve the game, potentially attracting many players who can become creators themselves. This naturally creates a virtuous circle.says Ilan Nabeth, CEO of Playmakers.
A proposal that quickly gained the upper hand since the company’s announcement Capital a pre-seed fundraising of 1.5 million dollars (1.38 million euros) from the Rockaway of Paris Blockchain Week) and business angels Sébastien Borget (co-founder of The Sandbox), Bilal El Alamy (Pyratz Labs) and Hugues Ouvrard (ex-director of XBox).
The largest cultural industry in the world, with a market estimated by the PwC company to reach $227 billion in 2023, larger than that of music and film combined, video games are gradually opening up to UGC, in French content created by the players generated. Creations whose impact is enormous for this industry: for example the newsletter Real third web noted that by 2023, more than 750 million user-made accessories will be exchanged within the Roblox game. 20,000 of the creators have made more than $750 from selling and using their content.
Already about fifteen partner studios
For video games, this content generates more engagement and extends its lifespan, as players tend to stay more in their environment. However, the difficulty is to ensure the compatibility of this content. A challenge that Playmakers would like to take on for video game studios. “We try to involve players in game design by giving them the right tools and allowing developers to moderate and implement this content. The content is also approved by the voting community and we take care of checking and correcting any incompatibility issues., adds Ilan Nabeth. The company has already signed partnerships with about fifteen video game studios and will be able to deploy a first version of its platform at the beginning of the second quarter of 2024.
The company is also in talks with international studios and publishers and according to our information, the founders’ ties with the Homa studio and Sébastien Borget could lead to opportunities with the Parisian studio and the Sandbox platform. As such, the platform will be able to work with studios on content created in NFT, as well as content released through traditional channels, depending on the studios’ needs.
In its strategy, Playmakers pays between 10 and 20% of the revenue generated from the sale of this content. For the first year, the company wants to distribute a total of approximately 50,000 euros to makers. “Our goal is for this target to grow very quickly, depending on the number of customers”continues Ilan Nabeth, who also notes that publishers are very interested in UGC “a cost reduction strategy”.