Could you tell me a little about yourself, your background and how you got into the web3 space?
Pavel: My experience is in video games. I've worked with Xbox, EA, Activision, Nintendo, Disney and more doing all kinds of things; business development, licensing, mergers and acquisitions and even studio management.
In 2016, I went into crypto full time, like most everyone else back then. I fell in love with the bitcoin white paper: it combined everything I had loved since I was a child.
It's mathematics. Well. I was good at math. It's money. You always want money. It's geopolitics. I liked political science. It's science fiction. I was that kid who liked science fiction. I just dug deeper and deeper and thought, “Okay, this is amazing.” – and that's how I got into cryptocurrencies.
How did the idea for MixMob come about?
Back then, I always believed that cryptocurrencies and gaming could come together, but I still didn't see any real value in it. Once Axie took off in the summer of 2021 and proved it could work, I called Simon (Vieira, CEO and Game Director at MixMob) and said, “Hey, look at Axie. Do you think we could do better than that, with a talented team? He says, “I think we can.”
I said, “Okay. Well, why don't you form a core team? Come up with a game concept and present it to me as if I were a game publisher,” like we used to do when we worked together at EA and Activision. He says, “Okay.”
From there everything was like a snowball. Fortunately, since I've been building Bluzelle (a decentralized storage solution) in Asia since 2016, I was able to contact a group of angels I know and raise the money we needed in two days. That's how it came about.
The team-building MixMob includes a host of AAA talent. Could you tell us more?
With DeFi, you can get any encoder anywhere. Music, video games, movies; They all require talent. It's not technology that makes those things good, but people with the talent to create great content.
People forget it. A lot of VCs were fooled by people who had a good pitch, paid someone to make a trailer for the media, and then said, “Oh, we have to make this game now.” – and the VCs had no idea how these games are made.
We've assembled a talented team that's made everything from mobile, social, and casual games to titles like Halo, FIFA, Battlefield, and hardcore AAA games. Our team knows how to work with others, can develop anything, and can learn new technologies quickly.
The founders of MixMob have worked together for 15 years throughout their careers at FIFA, Halo, Battlefield, Nintendo, Pokerstars and other major brands.
Collectively, their experience spans all genres, from casual social events to sports and AAA action adventures.
Let's go after the masks pic.twitter.com/yCJ6rwwXXm
– MixMob (@MixMobOrigin) February 15, 2023
A “card strategy racing game” is a unique combination! What is it like to play MixMob? What popular titles could you compare it to?
It's Mario Kart mixed with Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering. It is a racing game with card strategy, real money games, betting, and DeFi features as well.
In MixMob you acquire MixBots through capsules. They are your Tamagotchis, your R2D2, your Wall-E. You enter them into races, where instead of focusing on mastering wheel-to-wheel racing, like in Gran Turismo or Mario Kart, the elements of the race influence the strategy you'll use with your deck of cards.
Your deck of cards contains a variety of offensive and defensive cards. Each MixBot has race characteristics that make it unique, so you may want to tailor your deck to your MixBot. For example, I love drifting in Mario Kart and I know that Donkey Kong and Bowser are terrible at drifting. I can't use them, I have to use a different character – and that's similar to what we're doing with these MixBots. You'll need to trade, sell, or buy a MixBot and deck combo that suits your racing style.
We have three types of players: gamers, bettors and degens. Players play for races, players place bets on who will emerge victorious, and degenerate tokens into our liquidity pools to earn a return on each race. Degens will be motivated to bring more players into the racing arenas, and as performance adjusts depending on the number of racers, they will have to use a lot of game theory to decide which arenas to bet on for maximum performance.
We're not just building a game, we're also creating an entire economy that will keep the flywheel turning.
Its Gen0 pre-sale has just sold out and the public sale will take place on January 11. Why should readers participate in this upcoming release?
Starting at 9am PST/5pm GMT on January 11, we will be removing our MixBot and MXM token packs. Each package costs $250 USD and contains MixBots, MXM tokens, and select bonuses. There are 5,000 packages available in total.
The fall has three phases. Phase 1 is the Guaranteed White List, with 500 packages reserved for the communities that have supported us so far. 5 packs can be purchased per participant, with a 10% MXM token bonus if you buy 3 or more.
Phase 2 is the FCFS whitelist, with 1000 packs up for grabs, a maximum of 10 per participant, with a 10% MXM token bonus if you purchase 10. This whitelist can be accessed through our Discord.
Phase 3 is the Public Sale, where the remaining 3,500 packages are opened to the public, maximum 10 per participant.
Imagine that you are going to do the toy store when you are a child. I see the robot Optimus Prime from the Transformers. I'm like, “Great, I'm going to buy this, I'll convince my parents.” Okay, it's $50, let's say, but inside the box is a voucher for $50 in chips. This is how we position these MixBots. It's less of a token sale or an nft sale, it's more of a toy sale with a token voucher.
https://twitter.com/MixMobOrigin/status/1743004595750629650
Solana is the blockchain that is on everyone's lips right now. Why did you choose Solana as your MixMob network?
Solana is the only blockchain that was fast enough with gaming-related usability. As Simon told me, you can't be fast with Polygon, you can't be fast with Arbitrum, you can only be fast with Solana. Even when the FTX explosion happened and everyone was mad at Solana, he said, no, this is where the product should be. This is the best technology for it.
We had several calls throughout the year with Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal, the founders of Solana, and they would check in just to see what help we needed.
Solana also has a unique community. While eth is more like Silicon Valley (it has a lot of technology and people like to really immerse themselves), Solana is more like Los Angeles; There are more subcultures and it's more about a community having fun.
What can we expect from MixMob in 2024 and beyond?
The MXM token drop (January 11) is the first key milestone. The game has been in alpha and beta long enough where the community is saying, “I really want to start earning, I want to start earning money,” so we're getting the economy going.
Next, mobile. The iOS and Android versions are in beta and have been pre-approved for the app stores. We are aiming for late January or early February for a full mobile launch. The game is great on desktop, but much more fun on mobile devices.
After that, we have some top-tier licenses that we've acquired and will be releasing as characters within the game that will likely be released in the first quarter as well.
The MixMob Esports League is where the governance aspect of the MXM token really comes into play. If you were a fan of F1 and could participate in the expansion and growth of the sport, that would be fantastic. That's what we're going to do with the MXM token for the MXM Esports League.
User-generated content will also arrive in 2024. Players will be able to create in-game items, sell them, and earn MXM tokens, and there will also be a community program for custom arenas and teams.
We are working with many communities, including BONK. We are going to launch BONK MixBots and ultimately we would like a BONK Arena where $BONK holders get special privileges. We would like to do the same with many communities, where they can represent and compete with each other. Instead of selling land, communities will have arenas, players will be able to vote on new arenas with new game modes, and that's how big growth will happen.
We will announce more partnerships in the coming weeks.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Tonight we gather to appreciate the moments of difficulty and joy we experience in 2023.
The MixMob Army #FlipWeb2 in 2024.
Please repost if you agree. pic.twitter.com/417VudMlEx
– MixMob (@MixMobOrigin) January 1, 2024
Any predictions for web3 gaming and the broader blockchain space in 2024?
It takes a while to create good games. 2024 will be good because other games, not just MixMob, have learned from games released in recent years. The mistakes they made, their tokenomics, the gameplay, things like that. Many of those games that began development in 2022 and 2023 will have playable versions in 2024.
Plus, it's a game. On mobile, Angry Birds was the one that really got things off the ground and then all the other games came after. We don't need five or ten games to be amazing. All you need is one or two, then boost the rest and everyone else gets better.
Where should the community go to learn more?
Join our Discord and follow our Twitter. To be whitelisted in FCFS for the January 11 release, there are community tasks to complete in our Discord, or you can go to the website and start playing; There are ways to get whitelisted from there.
Even if you don't enter the January 11 sale, once the MXM token drops, you'll need it to play, get higher returns, and all that fun. If you like poker and Mario Kart, you will have a lot of fun with MixMob.
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