A blockchain-based games platform where players can do whatever they want, including jumping to another marketplace. This is the idea behind Infinity Games, an ecosystem created by a Serbian team that aims to offer a fun and convenient solution for players and developers. To find out more, we spoke to Ante Medic, the company’s co-founder.
Hello Ante, could you introduce yourself and Infinity Games: what is it about, and how and when did the idea that led to the company’s foundation come about?
I have a degree in computer science and have been working as a freelancer for more than ten years. I have been around blockchain since 2017, and in 2018 I created my first website in the blockchain niche. It was one of the first crypto airdrop portals. During that period, I examined more than 20 blockchain projects per day.
Soon after, I met Srdjan Vukmirovic, a full professor at the Faculty of Technical Science in Novi Sad. Srdjan also had an IT company. We very soon created our first blockchain project called Prometheus, a data aggregator for the blockchain. Recently, we pivoted it to the copyright NFT marketplace and got a grant for the Serbian Innovation Fond in cooperation with the EU.
One night, Srdjan and I talked and decided to create a blockchain game. I, as a gamer, was delighted and, the next day, came up with an idea for our first game Infinity Heros. It will be one of the blockchain’s most advanced tactical auto battlers.
Infinity Games were created with Srdjan as a founder and me as a co-founder. The easiest way to describe Infinity Games is as a combination of Unity store and Steam on the blockchain. Our idea was that players would like to play with their assets in different games, but their assets will keep the same feeling and look across all the games. We then realized that we wanted to create more than just a game; we needed a whole gaming ecosystem on the blockchain.
How many of you are in the company, and how do you divide the tasks?
Srdjan and I are more focused on securing the funding for the next stage. We are focusing on finishing the alpha of our first game. It should be ready for December 2022. Currently, we have in total seven developers and game designers.
You are beginning a long and ambitious journey: how do you plan to make yourself known and spread the Infy ecosystem?
We have strong connections in the blockchain space. That will surely ease the process of establishing Infinity Games on the market. But, we are starting from the basics, solid foundations. There needs to be more quality and enjoyable games on the blockchain. We want to create a quality and fun game with the blockchain component as an additional new feature.
Similar is with the ecosystem. We want to create an ecosystem that will mostly, at first, benefit indy studios. We can build on that to create an entirely new game development environment using the blockchain component.
The Infinity Games project is based on blockchain: why this choice, and what advantages does it bring you and the users?
Blockchain is such a simple yet astonishing and wonderful technology. Today, in the Web3 environment, users are in control of their data for the first time. That means big Internet corporations and game publishers are not keen to implement this new technology. While selling your data or users’ gaming assets, they are making all the profits.
In the Web3 economy, things are working differently. Users will decide if they want to sell their data or for what purposes it can be used. With gaming assets, users will see how rare some item is. Or they can re-sell it, gift it or borrow it from someone.
The last one is the crucial part of the games in our ecosystem. Users will be able to do with their assets as they wish. They can use it on our marketplace or a 3rd party marketplace.
Talking about the players: how do you plan to convince them to opt for Infinity Heroes and your other future games in a landscape that is filling up with alternatives?
Our paradigm is that games should be fun and that players, first and foremost, have to enjoy them. Otherwise, they are not playing the games but at a job of grinding the games. Players earn by winning the assets and developing them. My philosophy is that earning is a byproduct of a healthy gaming ecosystem.
Infinity Games will have its INFY token for logistical support of the whole ecosystem. Its primary role is to power the ecosystem by servicing the logistical support to onboarding gaming studios and awarding the community for supporting the network with the Infinity Nodes. It will be the primary currency across our whole ecosystem and in our marketplace.
In the end, play to earn rewards is also planned, especially for our first game Infinity Heroes, and to be at the disposal of new games in the ecosystem. But, the future community will decide if the new gaming studios applying for the entering ecosystem have a good business model through DAO.
Let’s move on to game developers. I read that you will offer them funding: what modalities have you established?
We are not only offering them funding but full logistical support. Those gaming studios that join our ecosystem will get all 3D models and libraries in the ecosystem. Also, they will need to provide their created assets to the participants in the ecosystem. Our main goal with this model is that all assets (NFTs) in the ecosystem have the same or similar look.
We will also provide publishing for the studios that join our ecosystem. We must mention that we provide them with an already established player base. And in the end, we will provide them with funding in the form of an INFY token. But, it is important to mention that they need a good game and a solid business plan because the community (DAO) will decide if they will be accepted into the Infinity Games ecosystem.
Also, we are creating the SDK, so studios can use our assets without joining our ecosystem. But in that case, they will need to pay a fee for using them and will not have the benefits mentioned above.
In your litepaper, you write: “Infinity Games metaverse will be an ever-growing metaverse with which users can connect and identify.” Can you explain the point further?
With NFTs, we have a premise that anybody can use the data stored on the blockchain and, in this case, build games around it. But, on the blockchain, only metadata is stored. Independent studios don’t have 3D (or 2D) models for those assets.
What we are creating is that we want all assets across all games in our ecosystem to have a similar look. Players will then identify and familiarize themselves with assets they own, which they can use in multiple games.
Our premise is that with independent studios building various games around assets from our ecosystem, we will have an organically growing metaverse connected with all games in our ecosystem. In the end, limitations are the creativity of the gaming studios, and the DAO will govern all.
Is there someone or something that inspired you to develop Infinity Games?
Yes, of course. Gala Games and Vulcan Forged are good examples of excellent gaming blockchain ecosystems. But they both need the feature that other gaming studios can use their assets and participate in creating a connected and significant metaverse.
The lack of that feature inspired us to create an ecosystem where the new concept of developing games will lead to the possibility of developing an ever-growing metaverse.
You have the support of the Serbian government. Still, you are looking for investors: Have you received any expressions of interest from anyone?
We are very proud that we have support from the Serbian government. It allows us to fully concentrate on developing the Infinity Games ecosystem and Infinity Heroes game.
But, we are open to private investments also, and we have an exciting development in that field. I cannot discuss them now, but we will announce them on our social media as soon as the deals are closed.
Infinity Games is a wide-ranging project which needs patience, money, and perseverance: when do you expect to start recording revenues?
We plan to finish the alpha version of the Infinity Heroes game in December 2022. The alpha version of the portal for the gaming studios will be completed in Q1 2023. The platform will go live in Q3 2023, and that is when we are expecting the first revenue
