PARIS, FRANCE - 8 February, 2023 - Kinetix, the AI startup powering emotes in video games and virtual worlds, today launches pioneering infrastructure to enable the world’s first emotes for any avatar-driven game. Through a new SDK, games made with Unity development tools can now easily improve their monetization by integrating a vast library of high-quality emotes, and boost user experience by giving players genuine opportunities for self-expression.
Emotes are animations that express emotion in video games and virtual worlds like dances, celebrations and gestures. Rocketed into the mainstream by games like Fortnite, they’ve been used by MMOs and metaverses such as World of Warcraft and Second Life for over two decades. Powered by significant advancements in AI, emotes are fast becoming a must-have feature for people who want to express themselves in video games and virtual metaverse worlds.
Until now, creating emotes has been an expensive and time-consuming process involving trained 3D experts, and specialist software and hardware. With the free Kinetix SDK and its ready-made, fully customizable emote wheel, developers of any avatar-based Unity game can quickly integrate and unlock a vibrant and constantly growing library of emotes for players to explore and enjoy. Uniquely, users can even create their own user-generated emotes for use in-game. Unlike avatars and in-world assets like buildings, animations can fit smoothly and seamlessly into various visually contrasting environments; from the hyper-realistic to voxel styles, and everything in between.
Yassine Tahi, CEO and Co-founder of Kinetix, commented:
“As lifelong gamers, we’ve been using emotes for years, without even knowing it. The lightbulb moment came when Fortnite memefied its game with emotes and introduced skins from famous IP, turning emotes into an essential conduit for users’ self-expression, and a new revenue generator for publishers. Kinetix is driving a quantum leap forward with emotes that can be utilized in any Unity game, which encompass not only valuable IP or brand-linked emotes, but also those user-generated via our easy to use no-code tools. We can’t wait to see how developers use our emotes to boost immersion, retention and revenue while giving their players richer, more human ways to express themselves in-game.”
Samir Agili, Chairman of the Board Tilting Point, commented:
"User-generated content and generative AI are poised to disrupt the way we all make and experience video games. With their emotes, Kinetix is meeting massive demand for tools that help users interact and express themselves in more authentic and diverse ways. This new SDK offers a way for game developers to take part in these key trends during what looks like a seminal time for gaming, and I expect it to deliver immediate and measurable value."
The Kinetix generative AI-powered platform and no-code editing tools empowers users, creators, video game makers, metaverse platforms, and brands to create and edit animated 3D avatar content in seconds, creating a treasure trove of emote content. In December 2022, it announced the launch of ‘Emote NFTs’, with emotes that users can create, promote and monetize for a favorable 95% revenue share.
In 2022, Kinetix raised $11 million in seed funding in a round led by Adam Ghobarah, founder of Top Harvest Capital, with participation from Sparkle Ventures, and multiple virtual world platforms and successful entrepreneurs. Kinetix already has established partnerships with leading and emerging virtual worlds including Roblox, The Sandbox, ZEPETO, Decentraland, and PolyLand.
Developing an avatar-based 3D game or virtual world? Click here to register as a beta tester for the Kinetix emote SDK.
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For further info please contact:
Rana Rahman / Priyanka Harsora / Joshua Callaghan / Ivan Zhelev
Raptor PR for Kinetix
rana@raptorpr.com | priyanka@raptorpr.com | joshua@raptorpr.com | ivan@raptorpr.com
Founded in 2020 by Yassine Tahi and Henri Mirande, Kinetix has created a generative AI-powered platform and no-code tools that enable users, creators, video game makers, metaverse platforms, and brands to create and edit animated 3D content in seconds. With Kinetix, users can easily create emotes to express their emotions through any avatar in any virtual world, humanizing the metaverse with true self-expression. Kinetix has raised a total of $12.5 million in seed funding and its Paris-based team of 45 passionate deep learning engineers, 3D animation experts, developers and game scripters is recognized by WIRED as one of the hottest startups in Paris.