Former Head of Gaming at TikTok’s Jason Fung is set to start a new blockchain game startup called Meta0. He is launching it as one of two co-founders as the buzz around the blockchain game grows, he told Reuters in an interview.
After spending two years with TikTok, he left the firm last month and the exit follows TikTok and ByteDance – its Chinese owner has been expanding into the global gaming market taking on rival Tencent Holdings.
This reflects the growing interest in blockchain games among entrepreneurs and investors. Blockchain technology games allow players to trade items in form of NFTs while playing.
Fung disclosed that he left TikTok when he found an opportunity to present a solution to the current partitioned nature of support options available to developers looking to dive into the growing industry, of building these games.
Speaking to Reuters in Hong Kong, he said:
“Right now, if you look at any developer when they implement NFTs or blockchain in their games, they have to choose a single blockchain, be it Polygon or Solana or Binance Smart Chain. But imagine a more interoperable option. So we decided, let’s do it. Let’s co-found this company. Let’s give up my cushy corporate life at TikTok and take a giant risk.”
Related: Blockchain: What is Blockchain Technology And How Does it Work?
The founding team for the new Meta0 company comprises 6 members including the two co-founders and they have finished their first round of funding according to Fung.
He also disclosed that the company is looking to raise funding by giving out tokens and also from “venture capitalists and strategic investors.” Furthermore, he refused to disclose the identity of the rest of the team.
While working at TikTok, Fung was tasked with testing new features and also expanding gaming content. When asked who would replace him at TikTok, Fung declined to comment. Before working at TikTok, Fung worked as the leader of e-sports units in Alibaba Group Holding and Electronic Arts.
Blockchain Games As A Hot New Investment Trend
Blockchain games in recent times have become one of the hottest investment trends pulling the attention of crypto tycoons.
Before the current crypto market crash, the blockchain gaming industry already raised over $1.2 billion in the first quarter, as reported by investment banking firm Drake Star Partners in April. A whopping $3.6 billion was raised for the sector as of last year.
Fung, discussing the future expectation of blockchain gaming, said:
“We’ve built a protocol for game developers, and we take a flexible, blockchain-agnostic approach to their game development. With a protocol that we’re developing, developers can easily build their game-leveraging strengths of different blockchains, and allow the user the flexibility of transferring their NFTs cross-chain.”
