Revolving Games has hit the market with four hybrid free-to-play/Web3 games and it has a fifth on the way. In doing so, the company believes it has found the right way to launch games with blockchain features.
Ammar Zaeem, co-CEO of Revolving Games, said he realizes that blockchain isn’t popular because many people associate it with scams or bad games. But he said in an exclusive interview with GamesBeat that the company is launching successful games first and then telling players about how to take advantage of Web3 features later.
He said the success of these games shows the company’s approach is paying off and is positioning the company for a foundation of a global publishing ecosystem.
“In our philosophy for Web3, we feel the layers of Web3 around ownership and decentralization should come after you’ve created the fun and the funnel of user acquisition, which we proved with War of Nova,” Ammar Zaeem said. “We’re trying to build more credibility, which is rare in these days.”
Zaeem, who runs San Francisco-based Revolving Games with his brother Saad, said the company has had a good success with the launch of the game War of Nova (on iOS and Android) over the past 45 days. It’s a free-to-play Web2 game with a real-time strategy gameplay and a sci-fi theme. The player gets to command a fleet of ships. This game has become Revolving Games’ fastest-growing title, with 40% of revenue coming from the Apple App Store and Google Play.
“The key is to go player-first with these games,” Ammar Zaeem said.
Over the past four years, Revolving Games invested $25 million in development for War of Nova, and now it’s one of the fastest-growing strategy games on the web and mobile devices. The 4X strategy MMORPG is on track toward $30 million in annualized revenue, Ammar Zaeem said.
He said that War of Nova has seen strong player retention and engagement with D1/D3/D7 (day one, day three and day seven) retention rates of 45%/38%/26%, respectively and 30-minute average session lengths. The game’s second season is coming August with new content.
On top of that, Revolving Games also launched a seasonal casual game on mobile and PC dubbed HatchKings. The game, which Ammar Zaeem said is like Coinmaster with a role-playing game element, has generated $1.4 million in revenue in 10 days. A related game, dubbed Hatchlings, is a collectible game akin to Tamagotchi. The Hatch games are on the web, though they could be adapted to Google Play and Apple.
The company also launched Skyborne: Genesis, but that game is not live now.
Overall, Revolving Games has had 700,000 game installs and it now has 40,000 paying customers. And it’s gearing up for its new flagship game, Skyborne: Phoenix Flight, a casual role-playing game which is like Zelda meets Animal Crossing, with a fantasy theme, Ammar Zaeem said. It’s an “invest and express” game, which is language familiar to Zynga players.
“The beauty is we’re generating revenue in Web3, which is great, and we haven’t scaled it yet,” he said. “We’re launching our blockchain, but I don’t want to talk a lot about blockchain because crypto has been very weird. And I want to talk about product. Blockchain is a layer. Our thesis is that blockchain matters when your product is relevant.”
A growing player community and publishing ecosystem
This growth will help Revolving Games move on to its next chapter in game publishing, where it aims to onboard intellectual property partnership, new games, live content, rewards and more.
“Revolving Games is entering its next phase of growth driven by player adoption, product-first development, and a growing global community,” Ammar Zaeem said. “These numbers are more than just proof points. They signal what many have questioned – that Web3 games can, in fact, break into the mainstream.”
With multiple launched games, a robust live service operation, and a loyal player base investing into its infrastructure, Revolving Games is laying the groundwork for a scalable, player-first publishing platform, Ammar Zaeem said.
The company’s upcoming roadmap includes the launch of Skyborne: Phoenix Flight later this year.
Revolving Games will also roll out its new Web3 token in the future. This is part of the rollout of the RCADE Network, a player-powered infrastructure layer designed to connect games, studios, and players through real rewards and shared growth.
“With the traction we’re seeing across our live games and Skyborne: Phoenix Flight on deck, we believe Revolving Games is positioned to reach $60 million in ARR by the end of the year,” said Ammar Zaeem. “It’s a reflection of years of quiet work and our belief that building for real players — not hype — is what drives long-term growth.”
Building for the long term
Ammar Zaeem noted the company got started in 2019 and took on $13.2 million in funding in 2022. It has pivoted along the way and is focused on this current slate of games.
Backed by industry giants Pantera Capital, Animoca Brands, Polygon, and Rockstar Games’ co-creator Dan Houser, Revolving Games has shown through its commercial success and rapid growth that it’s leading the way for next-gen gaming.
“Four years ago, we set out to build games that people actually want to play and it still remains the mission,” said Saad Zaeem, Co-CEO of Revolving Games, in a statement. “Seeing War of Nova and HatchKings take off proves that when you focus on gameplay and community first, everything else follows.”
The company has more than 150 people, with many of them based in Pakistan, where the Zaeem brothers are originally from. But the company is currently based in San Francisco.
The Zaeem brothers created Caramel Tech, one of Pakistan’s most recognized game companies years ago. They sold that one in 2017 and then moved on to Revolving Games a couple of years later. It enabled them to focus on Web3 and their own games.
To date, the company has raised nearly $50 million in multiple rounds. The company is building its own blockchain, dubbed Rcade. But in contrast to many other companies, they raised their money from investors, and didn’t do an early token launch selling Web3 trinkets to consumers. It has waited to do that until now, after its games have traction.
“With Web2, we contributed to games like building tech for Fruit Ninjas,” said Ammar Zaeem. “It made us very comfortable building games across platforms, but we didn’t do it ourselves. With Web3, we were able to build a company around our own IP.”
Ammar Zaeem said he recalled the lessons of free-to-play games, which also faced a lot of skepticism at the outset.
“The biggest lesson in free-to-play was to be data-driven. Monetization happened in certain genres. In hypercasual, monetization didn’t happen that well. But when it comes to RPG/RTS strategy, it’s real,” he said.
He added, “My thesis has always been to create a strong community around an IP in Web3. That is, Web3 is hard and it’s becoming harder. But we have really grinded with Revolving Games and our community is strong.”
Much of the growth is coming from different parts of the world, like Europe (Germany in particular), Turkey and the Middle East.
“That’s where we massively grew as a community,” he said.
Ammar Zaeem said that Revolving Games has been able to generate a social media following in the hundreds of thousands.
“It’s gonna take a lot of time to sustain ourselves, and maybe it’ll happen faster than I think, but the Supercell of Web3 is still to be built, and we’re hoping to be that team,” said Ammar Zaeem.
