Editor note: In our 2022 Startups to Watch feature, the Silicon Valley Business Journal and San Francisco Business Times present startups and founders doing unique things in the San Francisco Bay Area. Core Loop Games is one of 20 that we have profiled — to read more about our mission and the other startups we're featuring, click here.
The metaverse and Web3 are burgeoning spaces that are attracting investors and gamers alike, and there are more than 900 companies in the Bay Area mentioning web3, blockchain, cryptocurrency and metaverse in their descriptions on Crunchbase.
Core Loop Games is building out a platform for play-to-earn massively multiplayer online games, or MMOs, that will fit into this ecosystem.
"Web3 gaming has tremendous momentum right now," CEO Vincenzo Alagna said. "We plan to launch our first product next year and a lot of the growth will be driven by that event."
Axie Infinity is one of the most well-known online games fueled by blockchain protocols. Andreessen Horowitz, the largest crypto investor in the world, holds a major stake in Coinbase (one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world), and has raised more than $3 billion since 2018 just for crypto and web3 investments. It also invests in Core Loop.
Core Loop Games
- Founded: 2020
- Founders: CEO Vincenzo Alagna and President/Chief Product Officer Dan Chao
- HQ: Oakland
- Number of employees: 15
- Total funding: $14.6 million
- Investors: Andreessen Horowitz, 1Up Ventures, Dune Ventures, Galaxy Interactive, Initial Capital, Sisu Game Ventures
Describe what your business does for someone from Mars. Core Loop Games creates virtual worlds where thousands of Earthlings play together daily. Wish the connection on Mars was better.
Where does your love of gaming come from? Do you have a favorite game from your childhood? My father was a tech enthusiast. My house always had computers laying around, and when he bought new hardware, he would pass on to me his old gear. I had my first PC at 5. Also, I was a huge Nintendo fanboy, so my little room had a PC, a GameBoy and an NES.
I locked myself in there hacking after school. I wanted to make my own games and virtual worlds! My favorites: Metroid, Zelda, Super Mario, Monkey Island, Silent Hill, Street Fighter, Reunion, the Warcraft and Starcraft series, and Heroes of Might and Magic.
What are some of the more modern games that you've personally been playing over the past year? I tried many, but I really played Magic: The Gathering Arena, Arena of Valor, Heroes of The Storm, Diablo II: Resurrected, Hearthstone and the occasional Heroes of Might and Magic 2 online in ad-hoc games with friends.
How different is the company you have today compared with the company you first envisioned? Originally, we were focusing on a game format we had done in the past and knew that playbook very well. Then we doubled down on AI-driven game operations and finally landed on an MMO with a community-driven economy and blockchain integration. Behind the scenes, there are elements of everything we've done in the past, but the vision shifted to more web3-centric.
What was the biggest challenge you faced in building your startup? The company was born in the middle of the pandemic and opted for a fully distributed team. Even though we had managed hybrid teams in the past, a 100% distributed company required a different approach for team building.
How did you build out your team and what lessons have you learned? We hired through references and personal networks as much as we could, but otherwise did our own recruiting through LinkedIn. This was great at the seed stage, but might not scale as we need higher volume.
How did you and Dan meet? Did you previously work together? Dan and I worked together at GREE in San Francisco back in 2013. After that, Dan departed to make a new gaming startup and I went to work for MachineZone. We followed each other's progress over the years and in 2019 decided to join forces for Core Loop.
Are you already thinking of an exit strategy? While the typical options are always in mind, right now we are really focusing on building.
