Carsten van Husen is back: With Eleet Games, the longtime head of Gameforge is starting a publisher with a focus on blockchain games.
Update from June 14, 2022: The newly founded games publisher Eleet Games has completed a first round of financing: The investors include serial founders from the Berlin startup scene as well as investors from the classic games segment and from the blockchain industry.
Gameforge founder and majority owner Alexander Rösner as well as the venture capitalists Blockchain Founders Group and Blockrocket believe in the medium and long-term success of Eleet Games.
Gameforge boss Alexander Rösner: “In all Gameforge activities – and also for me privately – it is important to me that the published games are fun. Would I want to play them myself? This is a simple but very useful initial indicator. I have known the team behind Eleet Games for many years and as a player I am really looking forward to what is being developed there.”
Wolfgang Männel, Managing Director of the Blockchain Founders Group: “As early stage blockchain investors from the heart of Europe, we are very happy to support Eleet Games’ vision to position itself as a decentralized publisher of games, as it is exactly what the crypto markets need now. Fundamentally functioning offers, driven by proven experts in their respective industries. Here even from the games industry, which we, like many in the crypto space, regard as one of the key drivers for the mass adaptation of blockchain in the future.”
Message from May 25, 2022: the “Bridging the gap between gamers and crypto fans” – Carsten van Husen has set himself this ambitious goal with his new startup, which positions itself as a “players’ publisher”, i.e. as a publisher for the players.
Eleet Games GmbH, based in Ettlingen in Baden-Württemberg, wants the players to share in the games sales: Half of the user-generated revenue will be shared with customers. This is to be achieved using blockchain technologies and the cryptocurrency $LEET, which, however, are always used optionally. The community should also be involved in decisions regarding game functions and other games.
At launch, Eleet Games will offer two games: once the Free2Play online role-playing game Oathbound by the Cologne studio Encurio (Valnir Rok), on the other hand the multiplayer co-op game Might’n Mow’em by Evil Grog Games GmbH from Karlsruhe, which was founded in 2017 by former Gameforge employees.
Eleet founder van Husen: “Only if our games are entertaining will we be successful in the short and long term. With us, nobody has to deal with crypto, buy a token or NFT. Just play along and see if the game is fun.”
In addition to co-founder and COO Peter Stein, the 20-strong team also includes Sir Ian Livingstone, a true games industry legend. Livingstone once founded Games Workshop and had a decisive influence on the game as creative director and board member Tomb Raider– Corporation Eidos. Livingstone was also involved in Tonic Games (Fall Guys) and Sumo Digital (Sackboy), taken over by Epic Games and Tencent respectively. His investment company Hiro Capital has been on board at the Frankfurt studio Keen Games since July 2021.
Sir Ian Livingstone: “I’ve known Carsten for more than 20 years and when Peter introduced me to the unveiled the early alpha version of their first MMORPG, Oathbound, I realized that Eleet Games has a real chance to break the worlds of gaming and
Bringing blockchain closer together. But for me, at the end of the day, it always comes down to the quality of the gameplay. In that regard, I am delighted to be able to join Eleet Games as a consultant.”
Carsten van Husen has many years of experience as CEO of the Karlsruhe browser and online games pioneer Gameforge; In the meantime he has developed the Bcon foot-controlled input device, a wearable gaming device that has won a computer game prize, and is ready for the market. However, the Bcon is no longer marketed, the Caplab GmbH behind it is in the process of being dissolved.
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