Animoca Brands Corporation Ltd will add the hugely popular MotoGP™ Championship Quest to the company’s stable of mobile games to further solidify its user engagement in motorsports.
The company advancing digital property rights for the open metaverse has entered into a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement to acquire the game’s developer WePlay Media LLC as well as WePlay Media Holdings LLC, the sole shareholder of the game’s official licensee XXL Racing LLC.
Animoca Brands co-founder and executive chairman Yat Siu said: “The acquisition of WePlay Media will boost our engagement with fans of the amazing sport of MotoGP™, unlocking powerful exposure in both the metaverse and traditional gaming.
“We are gaining a unique platform to implement our Web3 strategy as we incorporate our motorsport-based REVV Token and NFT programs with the official MotoGP mobile game and deepen our strategic relationship with MotoGP™.”
Significant growth
The acquisition, to be paid in cash, comes on the heels of the MotoGP™ Global Fan Survey, undertaken by MotoGP™ organiser and commercial rights holder Dorna Sports in partnership with Motorsport Network, which showed significant interest and opportunities for further growth in gaming.
The survey also found that 79% of all respondents aged 16-24 engaged in competitive gaming at least once a week, and is especially popular for 68% of female MotoGP™ fans and with 54% of the fans in the Asia-Pacific region.
The MotoGP™ brand reaches nearly half a billion homes and has more than 40 million social media followers around the world.
Powerful reach
WePlay Media, founded in 2014 by Graeme Warring and racing video game veteran Mark DeSimone, was established to develop MotoGP™ Championship Quest.
Warring, the chief operating officer of WePlay Media, will continue to lead the outfit upon completion of the transaction, to drive MotoGP™ projects, alongside Animoca Brands’ REVV Motorsport team, which operates the blockchain game MotoGP™ Ignition.
“This acquisition is an exciting development for WePlay Media and for the MotoGP™ Championship. Animoca Brands has the ability to reach hundreds of millions of users in core growth demographics to expand the sport’s fan base and create engagement opportunities for the riders, teams and sponsors,” Warring said.
“Our powerful reach in Asia in particular aligns with the largest markets in the world for motorcycle sales and fans,” he added.
Easy to play, difficult to master
Launched in 2017, MotoGP™ Championship Quest has more than 50 million downloads on mobile platforms and around 1.2 million monthly active users globally. The free-to-play app, considered easy to play and difficult to master, is available on Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Play and Apple’s App Store.
In 2021, players of MotoGP™ Championship Quest took part in more than 68 million races, taking the number of races up to half a billion since launch with fans investing around 1.7 million hours playing the game.
With MotoGP™ Championship Quest in its stable, Animoca Brands will be able to develop an integrated experience for MotoGP™ Ignition players and beyond, as well as expand its existing relationship with Dorna Sports as a sponsor, NFT licensor, collectible cards provider and blockchain game developer and publisher.