Pavel Bains - Executive Producer at MixMob

Hello Community,

We’ve got some brilliant projects within our portfolio and want to tell you more about the founders and teams behind them. On a regular basis, you will have the opportunity to learn more about specific projects through our interviews. Feel free to post any questions you may have further down in the comments section.

In today’s interview, we spoke with Pavel Bains, Executive Producer of MixMob. Let’s go!

Hi Pavel, how are you today? Can you share a bit about yourself and your background?

I am the Executive Producer for MixMob. My background came from video games where I ran studios for Disney and worked with Nintendo, Microsoft, Activision, EA and others. I did everything from finance to licensing to biz dev to M&A.

When did you enter the crypto space? Is MixMob the first game you and your team are building?

I entered crypto full time in 2016 so I have been through one crypto winter and have the scars to show. MixMob is the franchise and MixMob: Racer 1 is the first game from our team. The team is made of game veterans that have worked on Halo, Battlefield, FIFA, Pokerstars, Lego and more.

Please tell us more about MixMob; what are you trying to achieve, and what makes it different from all the other games?

MixMob is a metaverse based on remix culture. It’s designed for players and creators with unique ways for both to make money. We want a world that combines elements of Big Hero 6 and Into The Spider-verse. For example the first game MixMob: Racer 1 is first of it’s kind card-strategy racing game but replicating the lifestyle of Formula 1. Players customise their MixBots and race against one another for prizes. Creators can do NFT drops of music, clothes, merchandise and more that can be placed on the tracks or purchased by your avatar. Whether you are a creator or player, you level up your cred and become an influencer. After Racer 1 comes our Fornite style Battle Royale game.

Can you please share your view about GamiFi & P2E with us overall?

GameFi is an amazing leap for gaming and crypto. Given how kids are already used to virtual currencies and game assets from products like Minecraft and Fortnite, it's an easy evolution for them to adopt crypto. With GameFi they own the assets and can understand finance in a way prior teens never could.

P2E I think is still evolving. I don’t think the current model of just inflating token supply is sustainable. First the game needs to be fun and the new tokens entering the ecosystem need to be natural. The game worlds need to operate like city-states similar to Singapore where there is an economy and the GDP grows.

What has been your biggest lesson building a crypto startup so far? Any specific advice you want to share?

Crypto is a game of survivorship. Those that can manage their treasury and mindset can survive long enough to see the good times and have your product be used. Even people who can handle high-risk tech start-ups aren’t cut out for crypto startups. You need to know more disciplines (product, marketing and deep finance) and be emotionally strong.

How big is MixMob today, and what’s next in store for your team and the community?

MixMob has about 30 people with the majority being full-time and some part time contractors. What’s coming next is what we call MixMob Summers. A 4 month campaign with something major every 4-6 weeks leading up to the first game release. This will consist of new NFT drops around our Masks, new MixBots and more. Each drop is to reward and grow the community plus give value to MixMob: Racer 1.

Please tell us an interesting fact or story about your crypto journey.

In 2018 I went through the crypto crash that led to crypto winter and dealt with numerous unexpected deaths in our family. It was a brutal period of my life. But I learned much about myself and crypto itself. Going back to earlier, surviving allowed me to grow and overcome.

Anything else you would like to share with us?

Back when games were on discs I would always go to a rental store to try it out. If the game didn’t engage me in the first 15 minutes I knew it wasn’t going to be fun. This saved me a lot of money from buying it.

As GameFi enters the next stage this is going to matter a lot.

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Thanks a lot for your time Pavel and good luck with your project!

The Morningstar Ventures Team