Twitch co-founder develops a game on Ethereum

Twitch co-founder and former COO Kevin Lin has founded a new company, of which he is CEO, to create games on Ethereum. 

Twitch’s former COO taps into new gaming standards developed on Ethereum

The new company is called Metatheory and its first project is an interactive universe inspired by science fiction called DuskBreakers. 

The company recently raised $24 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from crypto companies Pantera Capital and FTX Ventures. 

Metatheory was launched less than a year ago and is specifically focused on creating Web3 games and virtual worlds. 

A16z, Andreessen Horowitz’s company, claims that in the next decade the next big creative franchise will be built from the ground up through Web3 games.

In this regard they write that: 

“At scale, these games are next-generation social networks and cultural powerhouses–from Fortnite dances to Among Us memes to The Witcher topping Netflix charts year after year”.

Kevin Lin is a personal friend of Andreessen Horowitz’s team and was also their consultant. Over the past year, together with his partners Adam Bao, Dave Barthwell and JT Gleason, they have put together a team that includes many of the veterans of the Twitch development team. 

DuskBreakers, Metatheory’s new project

DuskBreakers is Metatheory’s first game franchise and was released in December 2021. It is a sci-fi-inspired metaverse, with illustrations designed by former Twitch Lead Illustrator Geersart. 

It is based on the player community and the Metatheory team is focusing solely on providing value to the community. 

To reward players, the team has created a play-to-earn game based on mint slots: a new standard called play-to-mint. The DuskBreakers community already numbers over 20,000 people and will offer NFTs and tokens with a user-owned economy.

The first 10,000 NFTs issued, so-called Genesis DuskBreakers, sold out in just six days.

Kevin Lin stated: 

“Building immersive digital experiences has always been a passion of mine, and after stepping away from Twitch to explore what’s next in the industry, I truly believe blockchain will open the door to even more possibilities and have a major impact in the gaming, storytelling and community building space. At Metatheory, we’ve built a team of industry vets who are focused on embracing blockchain across multiple media categories with a focus on elevating standards of customer experience and shared ownership”.

Jonathan Lai of Andreessen Horowitz added: 

“Metatheory is redefining how games and stories are told from the bottom up using web3 primitives, and we couldn’t be more excited to partner with CEO Kevin Lin, a proven leader and company builder”.