Introduction

Taki Games started as a project within the RLY Network ecosystem, incubated by the crypto venture studio Superlayer. Initially, Taki was a community token project where users could create accounts on Taki.app and even post content as creators to earn Taki Tokens. However, as the community grew and the Web3 gaming industry expanded rapidly, Taki decided to pivot and focus on developing a portfolio of mobile games.

By 2024, the Taki team stopped supporting Taki Social and Taki.app, merging with another Web3 creator community economy platform within the RLY Network ecosystem, Unite.io, to form Taki Games. They acquired the mobile games “Mom’s Kitchen” and “Bored Button” for $2.5 million, giving Taki Games a solid foundation.

Taki Games, based in Singapore, is a Web3 gaming network platform that focuses on developing the mass mobile gaming market, aiming to become the Web3 equivalent of Zynga. They hope to attract 3 billion gamers worldwide to the blockchain world through simple, fun, and casual mobile games. Currently, they have developed 11 mobile games, including Bored Button, Mom’s Kitchen, and Word: Daily & Unlimited, with total downloads exceeding 5 million and more than 300,000 monthly active users.

The innovation of Taki Games is in breaking the traditional “Play-to-Earn” model by designing a deflationary reward model with their economic model “Takinomics.” In this model, every time rewards are distributed to players, the project buys back and burns an equivalent amount of rewards, using game revenue as the funding source to promote deflationary rewards and reduce the circulating supply.

Source: Google Play Store

How Does Taki Games Operate?

The Taki Games team, drawing on their rich experience in the Web2 gaming industry, sees immense potential in the mobile gaming sector, which boasts annual revenues of $100 billion and 3 billion players globally. Founder Weiwei Geng is optimistic about the extensive use of mobile phones for identity verification and payments, likening mobile phones to portable hard wallets. They believe that offering free games with token rewards can attract the general public to the Web3 space with minimal barriers. Hence, they focus on three key areas of innovation.

Establishing a Web3 Mobile Platform

Taki Games understands the need for the Web3 gaming industry to attract more players effectively. Therefore, they are developing not just mobile games for Web3 users, but also a comprehensive mobile platform, technology, and user experience for the general market. Their goal is to simplify Web3 usage by eliminating the need to set up wallets or remember seed phrases, thus enabling Web2 players to reap Web3 benefits through gaming.

Taki Games’ vision is already reflected in its gaming projects. Presently, its games boast over 300,000 monthly active users and more than 30,000 daily active users, including over 6,000 unique active wallet users (UAW), and these figures are continuously rising.

Deflationary Reward Model

The “Play-to-Earn (P2E)” model in Web3 games often struggles with sustainability. While its innovative nature is appealing, it frequently leads to economic instability due to issues like rampant inflation and unsustainable token issuance, which in turn affects the in-game economy, and players’ trust, and engagement.

Taki Games’ Takinomics, however, redefines the traditional P2E model by ensuring that all stakeholders benefit as players earn more rewards. The $TAKI rewards are designed to be deflationary; whenever $TAKI is awarded to players, an equivalent amount of $TAKI is bought back and destroyed, funded by game revenue. This mechanism promotes deflationary rewards and reduces the circulating supply.

Source: Dune.com/taki-app

Progressive Ownership

Decentralization is a core principle of Web3, centered around community engagement. Taki Games aims to introduce players to the blockchain space through the deflationary reward model of Takinomics. This model allows community members to gradually gain ownership without diluting the stakes of early adopters, transitioning them from consumers to stakeholders.

Variant Fund initially promoted the progressive ownership model. For further insights, refer to the relevant knowledge on Gate Learn.

Taki Games Team and Investors

Team Background

Taki Games was established by a team of experts from the Web2 gaming industry. The team members have extensive experience and a track record of success in social and mobile gaming before transitioning to Web3. The core team includes founder and CEO Weiwei Geng and co-founder and investor Kevin Chou, who together founded Rally Network and developed the creator economy platform Unite.io. The team also includes economic designer Eric Guan, Chief Growth Officer Di Chen, CTO Michael Li, and CFO Sandy Wong.

Kevin Chou’s entrepreneurial journey is particularly impressive. He is the founder of the crypto venture studio Superlayer and the founder and CEO of Kabam and Gen.G. His innovative mindset and persistence helped Kabam successfully navigate significant transformations, avoiding crises and reaching new heights. Moreover, he attracted major IT companies such as Google, Intel, and Alibaba, as well as entertainment giants like Warner Bros. and MGM, as investors in Kabam, greatly enhancing Kabam’s and the gaming industry’s influence.

The Taki Games team is largely comprised of members from Kevin’s previous projects, particularly the top-tier entities in the gaming industry, the Gen.G esports club, and mobile developer Kabam. They have been involved in the creation of Rally Network, Unite.io, and Taki, and eventually, Unite and Taki merged to form Taki Games. Their collective experience and Kevin’s leadership are key factors in driving Taki Games’ success.

Source: takigames.io

Investment Institutions

According to Dropstab, 11 venture capital firms and exchanges participated in the seed round. Nearly all of the top 10 exchanges and Solana were involved. The list includes Formless Capital, backed by investors such as Infinity Ventures, gaming guild YGG, exchange KuCoin, Morningstar Ventures, AU21 Capital, Polkastarter, Gate.io, FTX Ventures, Panony (chain media PANEWS), NEO, and crypto influencer Mr. Block. This shows blockchain and crypto investors’ strong expectations and support for Taki Games. The list of investment institutions can be seen in the image below.

Core of Taki Games: The Takinomics Model

Takinomics is a unique economic model developed by Taki Games for Web3 games. It aims to solve the following problems:

• The traditional reward systems in Web2 games are not suitable for the open economy of Web3.
• Previous Web3 games had problems with hype and rampant inflation.
• Older games needed rapid growth in new players to sustain token demand.

Taki Games’ Core Strategy: Takinomics

Takinomics is an innovative game reward distribution model that incorporates game revenue into the token economics model. It balances token issuance, buyback, and burn mechanisms to achieve Takinomics. Here are the five key aspects of Takinomics:

1. Token Rewards: The TAKI token is at the heart of the Taki Games ecosystem. Players can earn tokens while playing by purchasing in-game items or watching ads. Players can still play for free without making purchases or watching ads, but they won’t earn $TAKI rewards.
2. Stable Token Value: To maintain the value of the $TAKI token, Taki Games regularly buys back and burns TAKI from the market to reduce the total supply and increase the token’s value. TAKI rewards are based on actual dollar revenue. When players generate $1 in revenue for the game, they receive $1 worth of TAKI. If the price of $TAKI doubles, the number of $TAKI rewards will be halved.
3. Collaboration and Integration: Taki Games partners with various NFT collections and other blockchain projects to enhance its content and offer additional gaming experiences.
4. Cross-Chain Support: Taki Games supports both Polygon and Solana, making it easier for more players to access and enjoy the games.
5. Community and Growth: A key to Taki Games’ success is its large and loyal player community, rather than relying solely on new players to drive token demand.

TAKI Token Distribution and Release

$TAKI has a total supply of 3 billion tokens. The distribution and release are detailed in the chart below.

Source: chainbroker.io

• Seed Round: 3.83% of the total $TAKI supply, totaling 115 million $TAKI. Investors can refer to the list of investment institutions mentioned above. 12-month lock-up period, released monthly at 8.33%.
• Private Sale: 1.25% of the total $TAKI supply, totaling 37.5 million $TAKI. Investors can refer to the list of investment institutions mentioned above. 12-month lock-up period, released monthly at 8.33%.
• Public Sale: 0.383% of the total $TAKI supply, totaling 11.5 million $TAKI. 100% unlocked and sold directly to the public through initial exchange offerings (IEO) on OKX and Gate.io.
• Team: 21.2% of the total $TAKI supply, totaling 636 million $TAKI. 30% of this is locked for 15 months, then released monthly at 2.19%.
• Liquidity: 3.53% of the total $TAKI supply, totaling 106 million $TAKI. 100% unlocked.
• Reward Measures: 55.5% of the total $TAKI supply, totaling 1.665 billion $TAKI. 2.0834% distributed at TGE, then 2.08% distributed monthly after TGE. Deflationary rewards, used for buybacks and burning tokens.
• Ecosystem: 14.3% of the total $TAKI supply, totaling 429 million $TAKI. 2.0834% distributed at TGE, then 2.08% distributed monthly after TGE. Controlled by DAO to support various initiatives within the TAKI ecosystem, such as marketing, developer grants, and exchange listings.

Conclusion: Is Taki Games a Good Investment?

Taki Games’ success can be attributed to five key factors: the innovative deflationary economic model Takinomics, the design of the loyalty system and progressive ownership, mobile platform compatibility, strategic expansion, and partnerships, and the strong cohesion and execution of the team.

However, the project may face several challenges. Although Takinomics successfully mitigates token hype and inflation, its deflationary mechanism might also limit price appreciation and market trading, impacting token liquidity. Additionally, while Taki Games does not entirely rely on new players to drive token demand, the price of $TAKI is still influenced by market demand. Maintaining user loyalty, attracting new players, and introducing new features and game content to boost token demand will be future challenges for Taki Games.

Overall, Taki Games is a promising investment with an innovative economic model and strategic approach. The strong team collaboration and partnerships provide a solid foundation for future growth. However, the project needs to address challenges such as further increasing user numbers and activity, maintaining high user loyalty, and driving $TAKI’s price through new features and game content.