Gala Games was founded in 2018 by Eric Schiermeyer, Wright Thurston, and Michael McCarthy, aiming to decentralize the gaming industry by empowering players and developers through blockchain technology. The platform quickly distinguished itself by integrating Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) into its games, allowing players actual ownership of in-game assets.
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Currently, Gala Games has expanded its offerings to include various games across different genres, with plans for more titles in the future. The introduction of the GALA token as the medium of exchange within the ecosystem has facilitated transactions and incentivized participation through staking and gameplay rewards. Gala Games’ innovative approach to gaming and community governance has positioned it as a notable player in the blockchain gaming space, with a strong focus on fun, ownership, and user empowerment.
Who Owns Gala Coin?
Three people co-founded the Gala Games network: Eric Schiemeyer (CEO), Michael McCarthy, and Wright Thurston. They aimed to provide a gaming network that would change the ecosystem where the power resides with the gamers.
Gala Games was co-founded by Eric Schiermeyer, Wright Thurston, and Michael McCarthy to revolutionize the gaming industry by empowering players and developers through blockchain technology. Each founder brought unique expertise to the project: Schiermeyer, known for co-founding Zynga, serves as Gala’s CEO and brings a wealth of experience from the gaming industry. Thurston, a blockchain technology specialist, contributes his expertise in sales and blockchain as the Chief Sales Officer and Chief Blockchain Officer. With his background as the Director of Creative at Zynga, McCarthy leverages his creative product and concept design skills to enrich the Gala project as the Studio Director.
The platform’s primary aim is to provide autonomy and ownership within the gaming community, ensuring earnings from games benefit the developers and studios directly, thus fostering faster growth and better projects. Gala Games emphasizes “Fun first, Owned by players, Community rules, and Powered by the people” as its core principles, reflecting its commitment to creating an engaging and player-centric gaming ecosystem. Currently, Gala Games offers a variety of games and has integrated NFTs into their system, allowing players to trade game assets and earn through gameplay, thus further enhancing the gaming experience and investment opportunities within the platform.
Eric Schiermeyer, a digital gaming trailblazer, has shaped how we play and interact within virtual worlds. Co-founding Gala Games alongside notable industry figures Michael McCarthy and Wright Thurston, Schiermeyer has aimed to revolutionize the gaming sector by shifting the power dynamics to favor the players themselves. This visionary initiative is built on the foundation laid by his earlier ventures, including Zynga, where he introduced the world to social gaming, and his technical prowess was instrumental during his tenure as CTO at MySpace and Intermix Media.
Schiermeyer’s journey into the gaming industry was not a product of chance but a result of his deep understanding of digital landscapes, nurtured through his academic years at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he majored in Philosophy. This seemingly unrelated educational background equipped him with unique perspectives that he later applied to create engaging, community-driven gaming experiences.
His transition from social gaming with Zynga to establishing Gala Games in 2019 marked a pivotal shift towards utilizing blockchain technology to enhance gaming. Blockchain Games Partners Inc., under his guidance, focuses on leveraging cryptocurrency and blockchain’s capabilities to offer more than just entertainment — they ensure players have absolute ownership of the games they love. Through Gala Games, Schiermeyer, alongside his co-founders, has introduced a platform where players not only play but earn through play-to-earn mechanisms and have a say in the games’ development and governance through Gala Nodes.
With Schiermeyer at the helm as co-CEO, Gala Games underscores the principles of fun, ownership, community governance, and power to the people, aiming to dismantle traditional gaming paradigms. Yet, Schiermeyer’s ambitions have also led him into legal disputes, notably with co-founder Wright Thurston, underscoring the complex dynamics of pioneering in a rapidly evolving industry. Despite these challenges, Schiermeyer’s contributions have set the stage for a future where gaming is democratized and players are at the center of the universe they love to explore.
Beyond Gala Games, Schiermeyer’s role as an angel investor and advisor to firms like Kushla Life Sciences, Konvoy, and others signifies his ongoing commitment to innovation within gaming and across the broader digital ecosystem. His story is one of relentless pursuit, creativity, and a firm belief in the transformative power of technology, making him a pivotal figure in the narrative of modern gaming.