Xterio, a Web3 gaming publisher, has teamed up with BNB Chain to take its games to a new gaming-focused Layer 2 blockchain.
The chain will leverage BNB as a gas token and contribute to the infrastructure of the BNB Chain ecosystem. AltLayer is also supporting the effort by providing critical technical expertise.
This collaboration further reinforces Xterio’s strategic relationship with BNB and opens doors to harness the potential of the BNB ecosystem. And it helps Xterio find new players for its Web3 games, said Michael Tong, CEO of Xterio, in an interview with GamesBeat.
With the new partnership, developers can join the largest first party gaming catalog in Web3, tap into its base of six million users, get technical solutions, and help their players will get access to a gaming ecosystem that prioritizes high-quality games, Tong said.
The collaboration enables Xterio and BNB Chain to provide immersive gaming experiences enriched with AI and enhanced by digital ownership to millions of BNB users. BNB Chain will additionally provide critical marketing support to Xterio via join campaigns and end-user referral programs.
On the marketing side, there are advantages of being able to reach people across more blockchain protocols and get access to a wider market of players. It reduces friction for players when it comes to distributing their digital goods or paying for transactions, Tong said. It also improves the security of the users.
“At the end of the day, we want to launch as many first-party games as possible,” Tong said. “That can really set us apart. And we are all always adventurous in trying to use the Web3 technology.”
Xterio’s progress
Tong said Xterio stands at the forefront of the Web3 gaming ecosystem, offering top-tier development skills and distribution expertise. Xterio has five big first-party games in the works and a network of over 45 gaming partners. Right now, Xterio reaches a global gaming community of over six million users.
The project has had about $80 million in ecosystem funding for the Xterio Foundation, Xterio Labs and the game studios, Tong said.
Cofounded by industry veterans Tong and Jeremy Horn, COO, Xterio is committed to integrating Web3 technology into gaming and engaging gamers worldwide.
Tong said the team started working on Xterio in January 2022, and it has about 40 people. The company is making and selling its own first-party studio games. Altogether, more than 100 people are working for Xterio and its companies where it has substantial ownership. Most of the people are in Asia, in Singapore and Hong Kong, though the project was founded in Switzerland.
There are five first party games, including Age of Dino, which is a 4X strategy game for mobile devices. It is live in the U.S., though the company has not started doing user acquisition for it. It has hit 150,000 installations with zero marketing.
“We plan on maximizing that opportunity. So over the next KPI optimization phase, we plan on starting the marketing toward the end of April, hopefully, and then scaling from there,” Horn said. “So that’s a massive deal for us. And that’s going to be on the value chain and allow players to seamlessly hold NFTs, transact with NFTs from the mobile platform onto our marketplace.”
Early success
So far, things are going well.
“We launched the mainnet about two weeks ago, and in the last two weeks we have had over six million wallets connected to the Xterio chain,” said Jeremy Horn, cofounder of Xterio, in an interview with GamesBeat. “It’s an amazing record.”
Xterio has about 1.5 million daily active wallets, which means the number of times a day someone generates a wallet transaction on the chain. That activity makes Xterio the No. 4 chain in terms of transactions per day, Horn said.
“We spent the last two years building our brand and we have seen incredible success as a marketplace launch pad,” Horn said. “We’re the No. 1 launch pad per project in terms of total numbers generated. So we’ve really built a strong brand on Twitter especially.”
The company also has $3.2 billion worth of Eth (the Ethereum cryptocurrency) staked on the Xterio chain.
“That allows us to secure the network and it speeds up transactions,” Tong said. “I’m extremely grateful and happy. I did not expect us to grow this fast. We have a lot of those transactions, with players wanting to earn points and participate in our campaign. But it shows from a stress test case that we can scale to millions of transactions and be the number one L2 chain. And we’ve received no complaints in terms of speed of transactions in terms of gas fees and in terms of scaling.”
Deal with BNB Chain
The Xterio chain will be run and managed by AltLayer. It will operate as a Layer 2 settling on BNB Chain and utilize the OP Stack as the rollup framework
The rollup will focus on Web3 and AI-powered games, with plans to build an on-chain ecosystem around triple-A games leveraging the $XTER token.
In addition to being integrated across multiple Xterio titles, the Xterio chain will act as the backbone of the Xterio ecosystem, offering a gateway to a vibrant gaming ecosystem and empowering players to effortlessly collect, own, and trade digital assets in a safe and accessible environment and allowing developers to mint, distribute, and manage millions of assets seamlessly, Tong said.
The chain, alongside the comprehensive Xterio tech platform, intends to make on-chain elements almost invisible thanks to account abstracted wallets, seamless off-chain, and on-chain systems, cheap transactions, single-click purchases, flexible payment marketplace and launchpad, and more.
“In Web3, there’s still a lot of friction for the users to get on board. Setting up the wallet, bridging between different chains and we are also trying to fix this kind of problem,” Tong said.
In addition to facilitating transactions, the Xterio marketplace and NFT launchpad will embrace the Xterio token as a versatile payment method, accepted for both purchases and gas fees, ensuring a smooth and convenient user experience.
The Core Development Team at BNB Chain, said in a statement, “The strategic collaboration between BNB Chain and Xterio, a recognized leader in Web3 gaming and AI, will reinforce BNB Chain’s ecosystem and bring great on-chain experiences powered by digital ownership to millions of users globally. Xterio’s groundbreaking OPRollUp technology settling on BNB Chain establishes a pinnacle of excellence, boasting scalable transactions per second and fortified security. We look forward to furthering our work with Xterio and their gaming partners.”
Looking ahead, the Xterio chain will open its doors to game developers seeking a sophisticated yet user-friendly solution to power their creations. Through the Xterio chain, developers will have access to the most extensive first-party gaming catalog in Web3 and tap into its over six million user base, which is currently rapidly growing.
“Xterio is steadfast in its ambition to carve out a prominent position within the BNB Chain ecosystem but to emerge as the foremost chain and platform worldwide, setting the gold standard for on-chain gaming,” Tong said. “This strategic partnership with BNB, a globally known and proven chain, is poised to redefine the landscape of BNB adoption, fostering a thriving ecosystem to attract users from all corners of the globe. By harnessing the power of BNB and synergizing it with Xterio’s vision and expertise, we aspire to establish Xterio as the undeniable leader in the BNB Chain universe.”
This Binance Labs-backed platform is now building out its game and technology functions, including artificial intelligence (AI) integration and token launch.
Xterio Foundation in Switzerland was founded by a council and a team of technology and entertainment leaders with deep game development and publishing experience. Its mission is to develop, publish, and distribute high-quality Web2 and Web3 games and interactive entertainment.
Xterio is committed to accelerating the integration of Web3 technology into gaming and AI. Xterio operates the first gaming rollup with the latest MACH technology and one of the best launchpads for games and marketplaces. Recently, it has successfully launched NFT sales in Overworld, Age of Dino, and Persona.
Xterio is developing five first-party titles powered by $XTER. Each is led by genre experts and supported by talented teams from renowned entities like FunPlus, Riot, Tencent, and Epic.
Going for the mass market
As for the Web3 gaming mass market, Tong said it’s not here yet.
“We’re fairly unique in the Web3 space where you see a lot of unconvincing Web3 projects doubling down on Web3 natives,” Horn said. “Michael and I come from the Web2 world. We spent decades building highly successful free-to-play franchises. We want to be the largest company to deliver actual gaming experiences to the masses that are enhanced by Web3 components, by digital trading, by Web3 marketing where, pound for pound, I have to say in this post-IDFA world we have the power of Web3 to break through the noise.”
Horn said his team wants to deliver a game on mobile phones, on consoles, and on PCs that targets a broader audience.
We want to be the publisher, distributor and tech platform,” he said. “We’re not yet in a phase of mass adoption. Hopefully, games like Age of Dinos are going to be just the thing. It’s a very impressive game. I hope those games are going to show you can have a fantastic game that has fantastic retention and still leverages user acquisition.”
With the Web3 model, game companies will be able to generate better monetization and long tail revenues because players are so much more motivated in an ownership model based on Web3, he said.