Azarus Founder Alex Casassovici Talks Web3 Streaming and Blockchain

Streaming has grow to be one of the vital in style types of leisure on the earth. With the rise of platforms like Twitch, folks can now watch their favourite content material dwell and work together with creators in real-time.

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Alex Casassovici has a wealth of data to share with 4 firm exits, together with the acquisition of Azarus by Animoca Manufacturers. On this interview, we talk about his journey as an entrepreneur and his insights on the present state of streaming and the way Web3 can enhance the gaming business.

The intersection of gaming and streaming

The dialog began with a quick abstract of how these two industries have developed and grown collectively lately. Alex highlighted that creators had been beginning to make cash doing what they love: enjoying video video games, and viewers might work together with them in new methods. This symbiotic relationship between gaming and streaming has created a brand new type of leisure that’s solely rising in reputation.

Whereas this community-driven strategy created new monetization alternatives, Alex questioned whether or not creators had been getting a justifiable share of the platforms they used. This led to the creation of Azarus, a platform that permits creators to monetize their content material by way of interactive challenges and rewards powered by blockchain expertise.
“We wished to ensure that everybody who created worth for these ecosystems will get a chunk of it.”

Alex Casassovici, CEO of Azarus
Rewarding the viewers and followers

A novel facet of Azarus is the flexibility for viewers to earn rewards whereas watching their favourite streamers. This idea of “Play2Earn” has grow to be more and more in style within the gaming business, with blockchain expertise enabling safe and clear distribution of rewards. Nonetheless, passive stream viewers have historically been on the sidelines as they didn’t actively take part within the gameplay. With Azarus, these viewers can now contribute to content material and join with their favourite creators by way of gamified options.
“Anybody watching a stream can inject a pockets, begin a sport, and everybody watching the stream can play on the similar time.”

Alex Casassovici, CEO of Azarus
Azarus has now partnered with Twitch, one of many largest livestream platforms within the gaming business. By connecting Azarus to Twitch, the platform can now attain a broader viewers and provide extra creators the chance to monetize their content material. This partnership additionally allows seamless integration of rewards and challenges throughout the streaming expertise. Non-Web3 residents can now expertise the advantages of blockchain in a method that’s extra acquainted to them.

Azarus’ enterprise mannequin

As a result of the sport is on-chain, the distribution of rewards and prizes is totally clear and safe. Whether or not it is NFTs, tokens, or simply basic digital rewards, gamers can belief the validity of their winnings.

The best way this ecosystem works is that the majority video games are sponsored, so the sponsor decides how a lot cash to allocate for rewards and the kind of rewards to present. This not solely advantages viewers, but additionally gives sponsors with a brand new and distinctive strategy to attain their audiences in a format they’re captivated with.

Different sorts of video games can be utilized to measure viewers engagement and a focus. Alex provides the instance of a first-person shooter sport the place a pop quiz may seem asking the viewers what number of pictures it might take to kill a sure enemy on display screen. This flexibility of use circumstances unlocks countless potentialities for stream engagement and gamification.
“The most important worth we noticed once we began this mission was belief and transparency, and that is what blockchain brings.”

Alex Casassovici, CEO of Azarus
The AzaCoin and the usefulness of this cryptocurrency

Azarus has already distributed over $2 million in rewards and has confirmed to be a profitable enterprise mannequin within the gaming business. By deploying AzaCoin, promoting sponsors even have entry to unique promoting house throughout the platform. This creates a brand new income stream for each Azarus and the content material creators, making a win-win state of affairs for all events concerned.

With an AzaCoin pockets on each stream and types able to drop cash for viewers’ consideration, streams are coming into a brand new dimension of enjoyable. As a bonus, the (upcoming) Azarus SDK is predicted to make it simpler to construct new interactive experiences on streams powered by the AzaCoin. AzaCoin holders will obtain standing and advantages equivalent to streaming voting, early entry, whitelisting and extra.

In the case of spending rewards earned by way of AzaCoin, the Azarus retailer gives a variety of things equivalent to reward playing cards, video games (by way of Steam), and factors for particular video games. This not solely permits viewers to take pleasure in their rewards, but additionally helps the gaming business as a complete by selling the acquisition of video games and different associated objects.

Remaining ideas

The roadmap after the acquisition by Animico Manufacturers is thrilling. As a model recognized for housing Web3 video games and trying to enter the broader gaming market, the way forward for Azarus and its integration with Animico Manufacturers appears promising.

Streamers have been answerable for serving to video games acquire consideration in a user-generated content material (UGC) world, however now sport builders can instantly incentivize streamers to launch new video games instantly by way of mini-games mixed with crypto rewards. This not solely creates a brand new strategy to market and promote video games, but additionally provides a layer of interactivity and engagement for viewers.