对话 Animoca Brands CEO Robby Yung ：揭秘蛰伏而出的链游推手 – Animoca Brands

这个夏天，Axie Infinity 掀起的 GameFi 的浪潮席卷了整个加密行业，火热的市场行情催生越来越多的链游项目出现,链游发展势不可挡。从原生的链游项目，催生出加密行业的打金公会等其他角色，这股热潮还蔓延至元宇宙、NFT、DeFi 等等，链游正成为区块链应用的突破口之一，为区块链行业注入源源不断的新生力量。

那在链游生态背后又有哪些机构在助力呢？他们对于 GameFi 又有怎样的规划和布局呢？

「琬点聊」第 41 期请到了从 2018 年开始就深耕于区块链游戏的游戏开发商 Animoca brands ，CEO Robby Yung 将会为大家详细介绍 Animoca brands 以及 浅谈未来 Gamefi 赛道的发展。

以下为本次 AMA 直播回顾：

小琬：有好多用户都对 Animoca Brands 不太熟悉，但其实最近市场上非常热的 GameFi 赛道都有  Animoca Brands 的身影，比如热度横扫全球的Axie Infinity、比如赛车游戏 REVV、比如元宇宙平台 Sandbox，我们今天邀请 Animoca Brands 的 CEO Robby Yung ，先请介绍一下自己和团队吧。

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ：大家好，我是 Robby，Animoca Brands 的 CEO。从移动电话开始，我的整个职业生涯都在 TMT（电信、媒体和技术）领域，然后在 90 年代网络的早期创立了我的第一家公司，随后在传统媒体（电视、户外和杂志）领域工作了十年。至今，我在 Animoca Brands 已经工作了近 10 年，Animoca Brands 曾经是最有名的休闲免费手机游戏工作室。近年自 2018 年以来，我们已经成为区块链游戏这一新兴领域的全球领导者。

Vivian：Many audiences might not be familiar with Animoca Brands, but Axie Infinity, REVV, or Sandbox, etc. these popular GameFi projects are all backed by Animocas Brands. Moreover, it plays an important role in the blockchain game.

Before we get started, Robby, could you please introduce yourself and your company briefly?

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ：Hi, I’m Robby, and I’m the CEO of Animoca Brands. I’ve spent my whole career in TMT (telecom, media & technology), starting out in mobile telephony, then starting my first company in the early days of the web in the 90’s, followed by a decade in traditional media (TV, outdoor, and magazines). I’ve been with Animoca Brands for almost 10 years now, and Animoca Brands used to be best known as a casual free to play mobile game studio. More recently, since 2018, we’ve become a global leader in the emerging field of blockchain gaming.

小琬：Animoca Brands 布局区块链之前，在传统行业就非常有建树，链游刚好能和 Animoca Brands 的业务产生非常多元的交集，请问 Robby，是什么契机让 Animoca Brands 布局区块链游戏并发挥巨大价值的？

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ： 我们首次试水的项目是与我们与朋友合作在 Dapper Labs 发布的《谜恋猫》(CryptoKitties)，这是一款普及 NFT 的开创性区块链游戏。从这一经历中，我们学到了非常简单但又非常深刻的东西：游戏玩家从未真正拥有过他们在游戏中的数字内容，但多年来他们一直在为这些内容付费。游戏是租赁经济，所以我们想知道，如果游戏能够实现真正的数字所有权，也就是你可以通过 NFT 拥有什么，那么会有何效果。而且，实现这个过程并不要求玩家学习或做任何不同的事情，他们仍然付钱购买游戏内货币，然后使用数字货币购买虚拟商品。对我们来说，这似乎是巨大的机会，因为仅当可以拥有、交易、购买和出售物品时，玩家才能从中受益，我们觉得这可能有潜力真正发展游戏市场。

Vivian：Animoca Brands had made many great achievements in the traditional industry before it turned to Blockchain.  Animoca Brands intertwines with the blockchain game in many ways.  I am wondering what makes Animoca Brands enter the Blockchain game when most of us got our eyes on other fields?

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ：We first dipped our toe in the water by working with our friends at Dapper Labs on publishing CryptoKitties, the ground-breaking blockchain game title that popularised NFT’s. What we learned during that experience was something very simple, but very profound: gamers have never truly owned their digital content in games, and yet they have been paying for it for years. Games are rental economies, and so we wondered what would happen if games enabled true digital ownership – something you can have with NFT’s. Also, the process of enabling this didn’t require players to learn or do anything different – they still pay money to buy in-game currency, and then spend that digital currency on virtual items. To us, this seemed like a tremendous opportunity, because players could only benefit from being able to own, trade, buy and sell their items, and we felt that this could have the potential to really grow the gaming market. 

小琬：目前 Gamefi 的发展越来越迅速，也有很多像  Animoca Brands 传统的游戏制作团队进入区块链领域，在这个角色和业务的转变中，团队会遇到哪些困难或挑战？

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ：我认为，在引导玩家进入区块链游戏时，如果他们是加密货币的新手，那么最大的问题是开户的概念，以及必须弄清楚不同的区块链，等等。我们正在努力尽可能简化这个过程，许多区块链游戏公司正在采用托管钱包等解决方案，这样他们就可以摘出一些区块链的工作成果，给用户一个非常简单的 UI。

Vivian：Nowadays, GameFi is rapidly developing and more and more companies from the traditional game industry turn to the blockchain game, just like Animoca Brands did. During this transition, what kinds of difficulties or challenges will they confront？

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ：I think the biggest issue in onboarding players to blockchain games who are new to crypto is the idea of opening a wallet and having to figure out different blockchains, etc. We are trying to make this process as easy as possible, and many blockchain game companies are turning to solutions like custodial wallets, so that they can abstract some of the blockchain workings and give users a very simple UI. 

小琬：随着在区块链领域的业务越来越深入，目前您觉得当下链游存在什么样的限制或者是瓶颈吗？ Animoca Brands 针对这个赛道，有什么解决方案吗？

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ：目前的主要瓶颈是围绕着市场上大多数区块链游戏的相对早期开发阶段。我想，在未来 12 到 18 个月，你会看到越来越多精致的 3A 大作推出。就目前而言，让用户熟悉钱包以及如何持有和管理他们的 NFT 是新鲜事。我们越能简单和无缝地为新的非加密货币用户引入这一流程，此领域的增长就会越快。我们已经投资到各种各样的区块链，并与服务提供商合作，他们都在努力更加简化这一引导流程。

Vivian：As the industry advances,  what kinds of bottle-neck issues does the blockchain game have at present? For Animoca Brands, how do you deal with these?

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ：The main bottlenecks these days are around the relatively early stage of development of most blockchain games out in the market. I think you will be seeing more and more sophisticated AAA-style content launching over the next 12-18 months. For now, getting users acquainted with wallets and how to hold and manage their NFT’s is something new. The more simple and seamless we can make the process of bringing on new non-crypto users, the faster this sector will grow. We have partnered with and invested in a wide variety of blockchains and service providers who are all working hard to make this onboarding process easier.

小琬：我们有关注到 Animoca Brands 旗下子公司或游戏项目，都陆续推出了 NFT 相关业务，您认为现阶段 Animoca Brands 业务与NFT 的结合点及应用场景有什么新的拓展？在这个基础上，NFT的价值可以在哪里体现？

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ：对我们来说，当我们创建 NFT 时，最重要的事情是考虑“实用性”。我们要确定我们为什么要做 NFT，它的目的是什么。以我们为例，NFT 是游戏中的可玩物品，所以它们的实用性是围绕它们可以在哪些游戏中使用。玩家可以越多地使用它们的游戏，那么NFT 的实用性就越强。实用性越强，NFT 就越有可能保持价值，而价值是由实用性衍生的。

Vivian：We know that several subsidiaries and projects of Animoca Brands rolled out NFT products recently. How does NFT combine with your products, and what scenario will they apply to?   What do you think of NFT’s value?

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ：The most important thing to us, when we create NFT’s, is to think about “utility.” We want to be sure of why we’re making an NFT and what its purpose is. In our case, NFT’s are playable items in games, so their utility is around what games they can be used in. The more games a player can use them in, the more utility the NFT will have. The more utility, the more likely that that NFT will retain its value, which is derived from its utility. 

小琬：我们了解到 Robby Yung 有过丰富的数字传媒及手游经验，而链游行业又是非常需要流量和关注度的赛道，  这些经验对Animoca Brands 能成为全球区块链游戏的领导者之一，有什么帮助吗？

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ：我认为，多年来作为手机游戏开发者的经验使我们受益匪浅，帮助我们了解如何构建能成长的产品，以及如何关注消费者的需求和趋势。Animoca Brands 资深团队的许多成员从万维网的早期就开始打造消费者技术产品，这帮助我们能够发现移动和区块链等新兴趋势。

Vivian：Robby has a lot of experience in digital media and mobile games.  Moreover, blockchain games require much traffic and attention. What personal work experience qualifies you to make Animoca Brands be one of the leaders in the global blockchain game industry?

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ：I think that we have benefited greatly from our experience as mobile game developers for many years – this has helped us to understand how to build products that scale and how to pay attention to consumer demand and trends. Many of the senior team at Animoca Brands have been building consumer technology products since the early days of the world wide web, and this has helped us be able to spot emerging trends like mobile and blockchain.

小琬：Animoca Brands 可以说在行业里属于业务形态比较丰富的机构，在加密市场爆发的这几年，从自主开发游戏，到投资到其他更多的游戏项目，再到多赛道结合的业务布局，能抓住市场机会并发展很成功的底层业务逻辑是什么吗？作为 CEO 是如何决定是否要发展某条业务线的？

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ：我们尽力向其他公司和业内人士学习，同时对趋势走向的判断抱有信念是很重要的。我们也很幸运，我们的团队和股东与我们的愿景一致，并能帮助我们把愿景变成现实。我们希望，当机会来敲门时，我们已经为自己做好准备，因此，当我们有机会与 Dapper Labs 合作开发《谜恋猫》时，这是区块链行业的第一次“敲门”，而我们则敞开大门欢迎。

Vivian：Animoca Brands has developed its own games independently and has invested in many games, then has a business layout of multi-fields. So it has diversified product lines and business layout. So how Animoca Brands caught the chance to develop successfully? Could you share some tricks for this? As a CEO,  how do you usually come to business decisions?

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ：We try our best to learn from other companies and people in the industry, and it’s important to have conviction about where you think trends are headed. We are also very lucky that we have a team and shareholders who share our vision and can help us to make it into a reality. We hope that we can position ourselves to be ready for opportunity when it comes knocking on our door, and so when we had the chance to partner with Dapper Labs on CryptoKitties, this was the first “knock” on the door from the blockchain industry, and we opened it wide. 

小琬：最后问题比较可能议题比较宏大，但也想请 Robby 畅想下，您希望 Animoca Brands 未来能成为一家什么样的公司？在行业里承担什么样的角色？

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ：我们希望在这个行业继续创新，并将努力保持在区块链游戏领域的领导地位。我们计划继续推出更多的游戏，更多的虚拟世界，并继续与优秀的、世界闻名的 IP 合作。随着我们打造出越来越多的内容体验，我们希望成为区块链游戏业务的基石，希望有朝一日，它的规模能超过当今的传统游戏行业。同时，我们将继续积极地进行战略投资，以帮助生态系统与我们自己的业务一起成长。

Vivian：Last but not least, Robby, what can you see Animoca Brands in the future? It’s a big picture question. Just imagine what Animoca Brands will be and what kind of role will it play in the industry?

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ：We hope to continue innovating in this industry and will try to maintain a leadership position in the blockchain gaming sector. We plan to continue launching more games, more metaverses, and continue partnering with great, world-famous IP. As we build out more and more content experiences, we hope to be a cornerstone of the blockchain game business as it grows to one day be bigger than today’s traditional game industry. At the same time, we will continue to aggressively make strategic investments to help grow the ecosystem alongside our own business. 

以下为社区用户提问内容：

1、Animoca 还有其他的项目吗？

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ：近几年，我们一直专注于赛车相关的游戏，比如REVV，我们构建了REVV赛车项目的生态系统。

1、Does Animoca have any other projects?

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ：We have been focusing on the category of motorsports for several years now, building our the REVV Motorsports ecosystem around the REVV token. 

2、Gamefi 和 Socialfi 未来会结合吗？

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ：GameFi 和 SocialFi 未来一定会结合，游戏就是社区和玩家在虚拟世界中社交、娱乐，目前很多的元宇宙项目就是结合了Socialfi 。

2、Do you think GameFi will be combined with SocialFi in the future?

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ： I think that GameFi and SocialFi will definitely be combined in future. Gaming is all about communities and players getting together in online space (the “metaverse”) to communicate, socialise, and be entertained.There are currently many meta-universe projects that combine SocialFi

3、Gamefi 和传统游戏有什么区别？

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ：我认为 GameFi 和传统游戏的主要区别在于：

a、玩家可以在游戏中真正拥有自己的数字资产。

b、关于 NFT 资产的链游项目，NFT可以在链游项目中互相传输，互相操作。在此之前，传统游戏玩家从来没有机会买卖游戏内的物品，或者把这些物品从一个游戏带到另一个游戏。这打开了封闭的游戏世界，并给予玩家更多的权利和机会。

3、What’s the difference between GameFi and traditional games?

Animoca Brands  CEO  Robby Yung ： I think the main difference between GameFi and traditional games are: 

a、That players can truly own their digital content – their game items .

b、That those game items (which are NFT’s), can be interoperable – transported between games. Never before have game players had the chance to buy and sell their in-game items or bring those items from one game to another. This opens up the closed world of gaming and gives much more power and opportunity to the players!