Justin Kan, co-founder of livestreaming platform Twitch, announced he will be launching Fractal, a new marketplace for gaming non-fungible tokens (NFTs). While the OpenSea NFT marketplace may be the largest, Fractal is not competing directly — it is betting on a niche in gaming NFTs.
Fast facts
- The announcement comes days after a Twitch plug-in that will allow streamers to offer NFT rewards to viewers without leaving the Twitch platform was announced. Fractal already has partnerships with gaming studios that will drop new NFTs on the platform, which leverages the Solana blockchain, in the following weeks. Players can buy gaming NFTs directly from Fractal gaming partners and buy and sell gaming NFTs from other players.
- “I spent an obscene amount of time farming gold on MMOs and that’s before there was any sort of durable value,” said Kan, co-founder of Fractal. “The shift to in-game assets being NFTs on a blockchain will unlock real ownership for players, and new layers of programmability and interoperability in games. Developers will be able to make all sorts of new experiences on top of NFT games. That’s the future we are excited to build.”
- Fractal has a top-notch founding team that also includes Robin Chan, former head of Zynga Asia, David Wurtz, former co-founder of Google Drive and advisor to Shopify, and Mike Angell, who previously worked at Fast and Shopify. Prior to Fractal, Kan worked together with Chan on building an incubator and investment fund called Goat Capital.
- “Gaming companies want to partner with us because we are industry veterans who are building for their needs,” said Robin Chan, co-founder and head of business development at Fractal. “We’ve seen an influx of traditional developers who want to build a crypto experience, and we are excited to support them.”
- Fractal’s first partners include game developers focusing on blockchain integrations, according to a press release. The exclusive NFTs they will drop on Fractal will offer players abilities and experiences in their games. The firm is focusing on crypto gaming companies that are building fun and engaging games that can be replayed.