NFT Marketplace Magic Eden Pushes Further Into Gaming With New Hire

Leading Solana-based non-fungible token Marketplace Magic Eden has hired a chief gaming officer, the company said Thursday.

Chris Akhavan, the first person to serve in this role at the marketplace, was previously chief business officer at blockchain gaming company Forte. He told CoinDesk that he will work to build out Magic Eden’s efforts to tap into the gaming industry, supporting game developers building with Magic Eden’s infrastructure.

Last month, Magic Eden introduced support for Polygon, a layer 2 network that is attracting a number of Web3 game developers. The effort to attract Polygon communities included a launchpad and marketplace on the platform to support developers in incorporating NFTs into their games.

“I’m super bullish on finding ways to connect into the massive universe of existing Web2 (or traditional) games and offering them smooth on-ramps to gradually introduce Web3 asset ownership into their existing game economies,” said Akhavan.

Prior to joining Magic Eden, Akhavan served as chief revenue officer of mobile game company Glu Mobile, which was acquired by gaming giant Electronic Arts for $2.4 billion. He will also continue to advise the $500 million Web3 gaming fund and decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) Game7.

Beyond onboarding executives to spearhead Web3 gaming strategies, the inflow of capital into blockchain-based game companies has been on the rise in 2022, despite crypto winter. Last month, Web3 gaming studio Roboto Games raised $15 million. A16z, the crypto venture capital that led the round, earmarked $600 million in May to fund games.

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