About

Ultra.io is a digital platform specializing in blockchain-based gaming services. It offers game distribution, digital asset trading, and a marketplace for gamers and developers. The platform leverages blockchain technology to enable secure transactions and community engagement.

History

The current state of game distribution is largely dominated by a single entity, Steam, which captures 75% of the market and accounts for 18% of game sales revenue worldwide. Steam’s near monopoly over the space has fostered a merciless battle over discoverability, leading developers to spend money elsewhere in order to grow their games. Alternatively, users lack ownership over their digital assets and the flexibility to transact those assets on an open market. Ultra offers a solution that leverages blockchain technology to empower developers and gamers alike.

Ultra was co-founded by David Hanson and Nicolas Gilot in 2017, both with over 20 years of experience in the gaming industry. The two met at an Esports competition and went on to build several successful companies after realizing their talents complemented one another. Their first success was with Youcall, which specialized in getting websites listed on the first page of a Google search. This service had a 100% success rate and allowed the two men to fund their future projects which included a mobile gaming company, Color Stone, based in China, and PixelBeam which was a developing studio for a first-person-shooter game. The duo also collaborated with AMD to create a gaming console in China which grew into a 100 million dollar (USD) company.

David Hanson was an early adopter of Bitcoin which opened his eyes to the possibilities that blockchain technology could offer to the gaming industry. It wasn’t until 2014, when smart-contracts were introduced with Ethereum, that Ultra could become a reality. By 2017, Ultra had secured top notch talent from the likes of Google, Dell, Microsoft, Uber, and more. The team at Ultra set out to build a new blockchain that would be highly customizable, fast, and cheap in order to scale alongside their gaming services and eventually as a foundational blockchain for other projects. Some of the key solutions Ultra looks to provide include a fair pay for developers, a tokenized economy that promotes resales and trading, feature parity with popular distributors for easy game porting, and access to all gaming services in a single client.