Forge, a startup co-founded by gaming pioneer Dennis "Thresh" Fong, along with Kun Gao and George Ng, has successfully raised $11 million. This funding paves the way for Forge to realize its vision of connecting and rewarding gamers for their in-game achievements. Forge has only launched its beta version so far, allowing gamers to start earning rewards based on their gaming profiles.

The funding round was led by notable investors, including Makers Fund, Bitkraft Ventures, and Animoca Brands, with participation from Hashkey Capital, Polygon Ventures, Formless Capital, and Adaverse. Forge retains support from its existing investors, carried over from its predecessor, GGWP, which includes Griffin Gaming Partners, Riot Games, and Sony Innovation Fund.

Additionally, Forge has attracted an impressive roster of angel investors, such as Riot Games founder Marc Merrill, Twitch founders Emmett Shear and Kevin Lin, TSM founder Dan Dinh, Kabam founders Kevin Chou and Holly Liu, YouTube founder Steve Chen, Krafton CEO CH Kim, former Discord CMO Eros Resmini (The Mini Fund), and ESL founder Ralf Reichart.

Forge was conceived within GGWP, a gaming startup established in 2020 to combat toxicity in online games using AI. GGWP primarily focused on tracking player behavior and developing reputation scores for players, recommending bans for repeat offenders. With Forge, players can voluntarily share their gaming history, including in-game achievements, and, in turn, receive positive rewards for these accomplishments.

We wanted to create a platform that finally rewards gamers for being who they are, through their profile and history as a gamer, through their passion, engagement, and community participation.

Kun Gao, Forge Co-founder

Forge's approach centers around creating a community platform that recognizes and rewards gamers for their unique gaming profiles. Users are encouraged to connect various gaming and social accounts, forming a comprehensive Forge profile that reflects their gaming experiences across multiple games. Forge collaborates with game partners to curate experiences tailored to gamers' specific interests, offering rewards for engaging with the gaming community, playing games, and achieving specific milestones.

The launch of Forge's beta version has been well-received, featuring an impressive lineup of games and partners eager to offer exclusive incentives to gamers who join their communities. The platform's Season Pass allows players to access quests, earn XP, level up their Season Pass, and unlock exclusive in-game content, virtual currency, cosmetics, item/character unlocks, and early beta access to select games.

The platform aggregates gamers' achievements into a single profile and rewards them based on their participation in a unique flywheel approach.

Carlos Pereira, Partner at Bitkraft Ventures

Forge has already partnered with several games for its launch, including Genopets, Mojo Melee, Pixelmon, Portal Fantasy, Rushdown Revolt, and The Sandbox.

We like Forge because it provides game developers with an authentic way to reach real gamers with an interest in their products.

Yat Siu, executive chairman of Animoca Brands

The Forge beta version is now open to the public, their mission to empower gamers and reward them for their contributions to gaming communities is poised to shape the future of gaming platforms and player engagement.