Original title: "From playing with others to the Web3 game revolution: A16Z leads a $30 million investment, a gamble on the future of the game platform Balance"

Original author: Alvis, MarsBit

In the game world, playing with others is no longer as simple as "accompanying". It is becoming a full-service that meets the diverse needs of players, especially in multiplayer online games such as MOBA, FPS, and MMORPG. Playing with others has gradually emerged as a huge market. Whether it is socializing, improving skills or simply entertaining, playing with others can find their own value.

Social needs

What is playing with others? Players of lonely games are like street rangers. After a long time, they will inevitably feel lonely. At this time, the companion becomes the stranger who makes your eyes light up - log in, play with friends - one sentence calls you to join the game and lets you escape from loneliness. The game is not just to kill time, you have to find people to come, you have to form gangs, to have a bit of style. Some people play games not to win, but to make themselves remembered, and companionship becomes their ticket to fame.

Skill improvement needs

Besides, companionship is not just about companionship, but also a coach at critical moments. You know, there are many ways to play competitive games, how can a newcomer understand those routines? "Companionship teaches you strategies, teaches you operations, and helps you uncover the secrets of the game layer by layer until you are no longer a rookie, but a figure standing at the peak of the master. This is especially important for competitive games (such as "League of Legends" and "DOTA 2", etc.), and companionship can help players break through the "bottleneck period" and reach a higher level or level.

Increase game participation and retention

From the perspective of game developers and operators, companionship is not just a simple interaction, it is a secret weapon to improve game participation and retention. Do you want players to leave? No way! Through companionship, players not only gain the pleasure of victory in the game, but also establish an emotional connection, fighting side by side like brothers, who can easily let go? Especially in those games that require team formation and coordination, companionship is like a teammate who completes your destiny and avoids the loneliness of fighting alone. Churn rate? That does not exist!

Economic and commercial needs

Speaking of the economy, the companionship industry is not just a hobby for players, it has become a way of making a living for many people - a battlefield, but also a business. Some companionship platforms make steady profits through commissions and service fees, and professional companionship can also make a lot of money with technology and reputation. What's more, the industry chain is getting longer and longer, from virtual goods to krypton gold systems, the presence of companions has increased in-game consumption, and step by step has become an indispensable role in the game economy.

Playing with others in Web3: The future is here

Playing with others has proven its value in the Web2 era, as evidenced by the rise of well-known platforms such as E-PAL, PlayV, and BiXin.

According to market research data, global playing with others services are gradually moving from a niche market to a mainstream market, and are expected to reach billions of dollars by 2025. Especially in e-sports, social games, and live streaming interactions, the demand for playing with others services is growing.

And now, in the wave of Web3 games and decentralized social networking, playing with others services also have great potential.

1. Stronger interactive experience:Web3 games emphasize decentralization and user ownership. Playing with others can enhance the player experience through social and in-game interactions. For example, in Web3 games, companionship can help novice players get familiar with decentralized game mechanisms more quickly, such as NFT trading and virtual asset management. In addition, in social games, companionship can promote interaction between players and build stronger community connections, which is in line with the open social principles of Web3.

2. Deep integration of token economy:Web3 games often combine token economy to motivate participants through token rewards. Companionship can be integrated into this economic model, where players can earn tokens by providing companionship services, and users can purchase companionship services through token payments. This mechanism creates a new income model for companionship and players, and promotes economic flows within the Web3 ecosystem.

3. Decentralized identity and trust mechanism:Web3 social and games focus on decentralized identity management, and blockchain-based identity authentication can help companionship build a more credible reputation system. This means that the historical performance of companionship players, user feedback, etc. can be transparently displayed on the chain, reducing trust issues in the traditional companionship market and promoting a safer trading environment.

E-PAL is a global online companion gaming platform that focuses on providing companion gaming services to gamers. Users can find companion gaming partners on the platform who can help players improve their gaming experience or provide social companionship based on their skills and game types. E-PAL not only covers a variety of mainstream games, such as League of Legends, Apex Legends, Valorant, etc., but also includes more social services such as chat, guidance, and community activities.

Through these mechanisms, companionship is no longer a simple entertainment, it has become a powerful engine to promote the popularity of Web3 games, and has also brought new economic opportunities and more exciting user experience to Web3 social networking. What we are going to talk about today is Balance, a Web3 comprehensive game platform that has emerged from the companionship platform E-pal.

Introduction to Balance

Balance was created by the E-PAL team as a key step in building a Web3 game ecosystem. It is a Web3 platform focused on blockchain games. Balance uses the traffic pool of 2.4 million Web2 users and aims to use blockchain and AI technology to bring revolutionary innovation and change to the game industry.

The core goal of Balance is to build an open, inclusive and fair game ecosystem. By integrating the additional dimensions and advantages of AI and blockchain technology, developers can more easily build and promote their games, while players can enjoy a more diverse and personalized gaming experience. This combination ultimately drives the growth and progress of the entire Web3 gaming industry.

The technical framework of the Balance platform will enable cross-chain interoperability, enabling game developers and players on different blockchain networks to connect seamlessly and build a unified Web3 gaming ecosystem. It provides game distribution and promotion services for developers, enabling them to publish games on the platform for cross-chain distribution. In addition, it provides players with one-stop gaming services, including game access, purchases, asset trading, social interactions, airdrops, and game camaraderie.

Game Access

The Balance platform will integrate all leading Web3 games and provide each user with a unified identity through Balance Passport to simplify the registration and login process across different blockchain networks. This enables users to easily access, rate, and vote on these games. This helps game developers understand user preferences and continuously improve the quality of their games. We will also provide promotion services for selected outstanding games to accelerate user acquisition for developers.

Game Purchases

Games integrated into the Balance platform will accept EKP as one of the payment options for in-game or market-related transactions. Users can use EKP to purchase games or in-game items directly on the platform, beyond Web3 games. Based on the previous successful cooperation between the Balance platform and Web2 game developers, players can also use EKP to purchase virtual products in popular Web2 games, such as items and skins in "League of Legends", "Overwatch 2", "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" and "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive".

Asset Trading

The Balance platform will build a decentralized trading market to simplify the trading of in-game NFT assets. The Balance platform facilitates cross-chain asset trading through a cross-chain interoperability protocol, enabling users to freely exchange game assets across different blockchain networks without worrying about network restrictions. All assets in the market will be priced in EKP tokens, thereby promoting central liquidity for all game assets and bringing economic benefits to the Balance ecosystem.

Virtual Social

Through Balance Passport, each player will have a unique identity that integrates user information, game data, assets, achievement badges, social media, etc. Balance also uses artificial intelligence technology to create virtual characters in the Balance ecosystem for social interaction, helping players build social networks, enhance social interaction, and improve the playability and fun of the game.

Team Background

According to official information, the four co-founders of E-PAL all have deep experience in Web2 or Web3 entrepreneurship. The CEO founded the visual novel platform "Wuxiameng" and continued to exert his entrepreneurial talent after being acquired by Tencent. The COO is one of the co-founders of Oasis Pastoral. The other two co-founders have accumulated rich experience in capital management and operations of US listed companies and Web3 fields such as DeFi and GameFi. This team has not only laid a solid foundation in the traditional Internet field, but also made a difference in the forefront of Web3.

Investment Background

On September 5, E-PAL successfully completed two rounds of financing led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Galaxy Interactive.This round of financing also received support from many well-known investors, including Animoca Brands, K5, CLF Partners, MBK Capital, New Heights Fund, AMBER, MarbleX, Sky Mantra, Tuna, Aptos Labs, IOBC, Leland, Halcyon Capital, Uphonest, Taisu Ventures, Gate Labs, DWF Ventures, BING, WAGMI, as well as YouTube co-founder Steve Chen, Riot Games CEO Marc Merrill and League of Legends Director Thomas Vu. The total financing amount is as high as 30 million US dollars, which not only reflects the strong confidence of investors in the future development of E-PAL, but also provides strong financial support for its further expansion in the Web3 field.

Roadmap

· March 2020: E-PAL launches version 1.0 of the website.

· September 2020: Completed $3 million seed financing led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).

· July 2021: Completed Series A financing, led by Galaxy Interactive and participated by a16z.

· December 2022: Started exploring Web3 technology.

· March 2023: Established a Web3 team to develop Balance zkEVM.

· March 2024: Launch the Balance zkEVM testnet and start developing the Balance platform at the same time.

· May 2024: Release the Balance platform version 1.0, which is compatible with all EVM networks and allows users to manage game assets through the platform.

· May 2024: Release the Balance platform version 1.1, introducing the bounty task function, where users can receive reward points every day, which can be exchanged for EPT tokens in the future.

· May 2024: Start selling and minting Balance IDs.

· June 2024: Start a round of financing with key opinion leaders (KOLs).

· June 2024: Start the sale of Balance nodes.

· June 2024: Launch Balance Passport to provide unified identity authentication for users.

· July 2024: Launch Balance Wallet Chrome extension to facilitate access to the Web3 world.

· July 2024: Launch open market on the Balance platform to provide one-stop trading of game assets.

· August 2024: Balance zkEVM mainnet is launched to simplify blockchain game development.

· September 2024: Cooperate with more than 500 games.

· October 2024: Integrate AI functionality into the Balance platform, enabling users to create AI gaming partners.

· November 2024: Introduce AI components in Balance zkEVM, enabling developers to generate smart contract code directly from documentation.

· December 2024: Continue to expand the compatibility of the Balance platform to include networks such as Solana, Avalanche, and Clayton.

Balance zkEVM

Balance zkEVM is a second-layer zk-rollup-based gaming chain that is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). It provides a scaling solution that offers instant transactions, massive scalability, and zero gas fees. As a variant of the EVM, Balance zkEVM leverages smart contracts to allow game developers to introduce customized digital ownership and Web3 mechanisms into their games.

A key benefit for developers is that Balance zkEVM enables them to use the same programming language (Solidity) and development framework as Ethereum. This makes it easier to build gaming applications on a more secure and convenient Layer 2 solution.

In addition, we have integrated AI technology into the zkEVM public chain to model the contract source code that has been deployed on the mainstream EVM public chain (including ERC20, ERC721, ERC1155, MarketPlace, Stake, Proxy and other smart contracts). We have trained AI models with more than 200,000 lines of smart contract-related code. AI can automatically generate smart contract codes for assets such as Tokens, NFTs, DEXs, Marketplaces, Staking, Drops, leveraged assets, etc. based on documents, and realize automatic deployment and generate SDK interfaces for users to access. In this way, game developers only need to write simple rule documents to complete the coding and automatic deployment of the smart contract part, without having to understand the logic of smart contracts or learn to write complex contracts. This greatly reduces the threshold for Web2 game developers to enter the Web3 field, and provides a strong impetus for traditional game companies to seamlessly integrate into the Web3 world.

EPT Token

EPT is the only governance token for the Balance platform and Balance ZKEVM. It rewards network activities within the ecosystem, such as trading, providing liquidity, and building applications. EPT establishes an incentive mechanism between traders, creators, and markets to ensure that all participants benefit from network activities.

EPT Token Distribution

The total issuance of EPT tokens is 1 billion, and the token distribution is as follows:

· Launchpool and public offering: 10%

· Team: 15%

· Investors: 15%, including institutional investors and individual investors.

· Ecological Foundation: 15%, used for ecological construction related initiatives.

· Reward pool: 40%, used to reward individuals and groups for their contributions to ecological construction and community development, and to inspire more people to actively participate and contribute. Startup pool + public offering team investors Ecological foundation incentive pool Marketing.

· Marketing: 3%, used for project cooperation, liquidity provision and marketing expenses.

· Market value management: 2%, mainly used to provide liquidity for cex and dex.

EPT application scenarios:

· Application building fees: Game developers who use Balance zkEVM to build games need to pay certain fees, which can be paid directly with EPT tokens. Alternatively, Balance can automatically convert the purchased currency (ETH, USDT, etc.) into EPT for payment on the open market. Users do not need to hold EPT tokens to trade through Balance zkEVM.

· Staking: Users who hold EPT tokens can get rewards by staking tokens. Part of the fees paid by game developers for application development is locked in the "Reward Staking Pool" managed by the Foundation. The EPT tokens in the pool are distributed to staking participants at a fixed ratio every month.

· Proof of Stake and Governance: EPT token holders can participate in decentralized governance by voting on Balance-related proposals. Proposals may include topics such as how to allocate token reserves, voting on developer grants, adjusting the cost of building applications, changes in daily rewards, and token distribution. The Balance Foundation will also continue to enrich and add other categories of proposals based on community development. We aim to increase the practicality and decentralization of EPT tokens through user voting. The Foundation has the power to propose projects that are beneficial to the entire ecosystem and facilitate the proposal process, which all token holders will vote on. Individuals who wish to submit proposals for voting must first own a certain number of EPT tokens, which the Foundation will review before entering the voting process. The specific amount of EPT required will be determined later.

· Maintaining network security: EPT tokens are used to pay for the operation and maintenance costs of network nodes. In addition, Balance incentivizes node participants to maintain network security and complete block confirmation by issuing EPT tokens as rewards.

· Payment and transaction medium: EPT tokens are the medium for payment and gas fees on the Balance platform, and play a vital role in value transfer. Users can use EPT tokens to purchase game goods and services and pay rewards on the platform.

· Priority access: For games in the Alpha or Beta testing stage, players who want to access in advance need to hold a certain number of EPT tokens as access credentials.

· Social and incentive mechanisms: EPT tokens are also used for social participation and incentives. It encourages users to participate in community building, content creation and social interaction, and promotes the development of projects and user participation.

How to participate?

Balance is currently in full swing and has launched an exciting whitelist event:

Event time: September 2 - September 16

1. Log in to the official website: Go directly to the Balance official website, connect your wallet, and step into the arena of this game.

2. Complete tasks: Complete various tasks on the platform, earn points, and join the battle of Pioneer Points Challenge.

3. Invite friends: Pull your partners in and invite them to participate together to improve your leaderboard ranking and compete for whitelist qualifications.

Special Note:

You can strive for the NFT Whitelist (WL) in the following three ways:

1. Top 100 in the leaderboard: The top 100 users who complete the task best will be directly locked in the whitelist.

2. Top 100 friends invited: The top 100 players in the number of friends invited will also win the opportunity to be on the whitelist.

3. Points Master: For users with more than 1,000 points, the system will randomly select 200 lucky people to get on the whitelist.

(Remember, you can participate in all three activities at the same time, but each winner can only receive one reward.)

Pioneer Badge NFT is the VIP pass in the Balance ecosystem. If you get it, you will have the upper hand. Not only can you grab those rare assets, but you will also have a voice in the life and death of the platform. Now, this NFT is so popular that it is like a beachhead landing, and everyone is rushing forward. The mint time is expected to be in early October, and there are only 2,000 of them. Once you grab this thing, no one can say how many times the profit will be multiplied, but you have to understand that if you are late for an opportunity, you will have to watch others get rich.

Conclusion

In general, Balance is not just a simple Web3 user experience improvement platform, it is more like an ecological innovation that is about to explode.

The team is based in Los Angeles, USA. It was formerly the largest companion gaming platform in North America, Epal. It has the support of top venture capital firms such as a16z and Galaxy. Even YouTube co-founder Steve Chen and Riot Games CEO Marc Merrill have placed bets. Once upon a time, "Epal" became synonymous with companion gaming, with 4.2 million active users and 450,000 Epals, and it was doing very well.

But this story is not over. In order to meet the craze of the Web3 era, Epal evolved into Balance. This is not only a name change, but also a gamble on the future. It is no longer satisfied with being a companion gaming platform. What it wants to do is to build a large-scale user experience infrastructure in the Web3 world. Smart contracts, digital currencies, decentralized social experiences, what Balance wants to do is to make interactions freer, more interesting, and even more profitable.

Here, there is no more monotonous interactive gameplay. NFT, virtual assets, and on-chain incentive mechanisms, these elements allow every user to become a builder and a force driving this ecological revolution. Playing with others? It has long surpassed one-way services. It has become a three-dimensional social experience that gives users more control and opportunities to share profits.

What about the future? The road is long and the situation is ever-changing. No one knows the final outcome. But one thing is certain: the drama of Balance has just begun.

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