Connect with the top gaming leaders in Los Angeles at GamesBeat Summit 2023 from May 22-23. Register here.
TikTok megastar Michael Le is set to promote the Web3 game Ashfall to his 52.2 million followers on the social networking platform.
The promo is part of a collaboration with Liithosa game startup created by Days Gone co-creator John Garvin and PlayStation veteran Michael Mumbauer.
They will create a TikTok narrative series introducing Ashfall. The partners are backed by Web3 marketplace CoinZoom and HBAR Foundation, the shepherd of Hedera Hashgraph, a fast and efficient blockchain-like technology.
Starring Le alongside TikTok influencer Slider Jesus (another influencer who has 257,000 followers on Instagram), the adventurous video series will introduce the world to Ashfall, the first transmedia IP released by the Liithos team earlier this year. announced and that will launch as a comic book series in March and later with a game.
“Today’s superstars are elevated by millions of true fans and followers on TikTok, where we find our new heroes and villains,” Liithos CEO Mumbauer said in a statement. “We want to collaborate, integrate and enhance multimedia experiences with these superstars like Michael Le for the next generation. The Liithos TikTok Creators series is the first of many experiences that Liithos plans to launch to create smooth paths between media and the evolving web space. to create.
Starting January 29, the five-episode digital series will be available to watch on Le’s heavily-trafficked TikTok and, in a throwback to the Sunday Comics convention of yesteryear, will feature a new episode every Sunday.
Liithos is celebrating each episode by releasing a unique free digital collectible that will only be available through CoinZoom. Fans can claim any collectible by signing up for a CoinZoom account, hitting the claim button, and paying a small processing fee (usually around $1.50 or so).
Each collectible is illustrated by Marvel and DC artists such as animation and film artist Coran Stone (Young Justice, Batman: The Dark Knight returns, Part 1), Fico Ossio (artist and co-creator of the manga-inspired series No one left to fight, Spider-Man), Eisner Award winner John Cassaday (Planetary, Amazing X-Men), David Wilkins (Masters of the Universe: Revelation #3, Star Wars – Darth Vader and the Spirit prison), Eisner Award winner Karl Kerschl (Adventures of Superman, Majestic), and Tom Raney (Destruction: Conquest, Alpha flight, Ultimate X-Men).
Fans who collect all five digital collectibles will be able to return to collect an additional sixth mysterious digital collectible available only to those who participated in the entire event.
In addition, the digital collectibles will give fans access to a preview of the upcoming Ashfall comic series. Written and drawn by a “who’s who” of comic talent, including Garvin, who conceived and wrote the story, along with art from Marvel and DC artist Paul Pelletier (Aquarius, protectors of the universe), Brett Booth (Recoil, Gunslinger), and Eisner Award winner Tony Harris (Starman, ex Machina), the comic book series introduces fans to the Ashfall Universe for the first time, set in the climate-change-ravaged Pacific Northwest, where Seattle has been submerged under the ocean for hundreds of years.
The Trace – deadly bags of dark energy – has brought mutation, doom and chaos wherever they appeared. With civilization devolving into factions and enclaves and humanity fighting over resources and different ideologies, Ash Naranjo, born without arms, is taken in by the Order of Life Science, who gives him TechGyn prosthetic arms and other nano-implants, making him always changes. Now one of the Ghosts of the Order, Ash fights for the United Enclaves, vowing to destroy the oppressive Freelanders who have taken his family and destroyed his homeland.
I asked Mumbauer how to overcome hardcore gamers’ resistance to NFTs. And he said in a post that trusted influencers may be the way to do that.
He said this move “wasn’t so much about gamers, but more about the general public. So TikTok movies are the test to see if we can make something mainstream that people enjoy. Then I have ‘comic’ covers for collectible cards created that you can collect for free after they all go live, similar to how we would go and get stickers from Burger King afterwards The Empire strikes back.
I also asked Mumbauer how the deal with Le came about. Here’s his answer.
Last year around this time I spoke to [gaming investor and game developer] David Perry on where he thought the industry was headed.
We talked about Web 3 and TikTok. One of the things I’ve always admired about David is his ability to predict gaming and entertainment trends. I’ve seen him speak over the years and almost every prediction he’s made based on the speeches I’ve seen has come true.
In short, if DP is talking or if he’s excited about something… pay attention.
I started researching TikTok and following certain influencers, but the one that stood out the most was Michael Le. It was immediately clear why Michael had such a huge fan base. The content he creates is some of the best and most advanced on the platform. As an entertainer he is in a class of his own. I see hints of Charlie Chaplin, Elvis Presley and Fred Astaire in his work. I’m from a different era, of course, but the kind of stuff he makes is great. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone who can captivate an audience in under 30 seconds like Michael can. At least that applies to me.
When I saw his 50 million party video, it immediately clicked that there was something going on here. This type of content can be serialized.
John and I were already working on the Ashfall comic book and I’ve always loved doing short content so I came up with the idea of doing a Sunday comic book series to complement the comic book but with a TikTok influencer as star.
John wasn’t convinced… until I showed him Michael’s videos.
What I love about John is that he comes up with new ideas very quickly, as long as you can show him a solid plan and some material that illustrates the intended purpose, he’s game for trying new things.
Once John was on board, I contacted Michael’s agent to talk about a collaboration and pitched the idea. Michael was involved from the start and we set up a story structure that we all thought would work. We wanted to say something that could both work within the IP John created and resonate with his followers. We all wanted to get his brothers involved from the start. Saving Jon was the central theme from the start. The only thing better than Michael Le is Michael Le with Jonathan and Daniel Le.
We sketched a rough story on zoom and John and I refined and fleshed out the Ashfall connective tissue. John has a great fondness for Sunday comics and translating these ideas into a series with cliffhangers came naturally.
The only thing we were missing from our story was a compelling villain. For whatever reason, the TikTok algorithm randomly sent Slider Jesus my way. Apparently it can really predict what you want to see! Once I got set on his channel I couldn’t stop watching. His presence and energy was captivating. It was like Rob Zombie and Freddy Krueger had a baby and Slider Jesus came out. Death Metal, Slide and Fire. Fire!
With the villain on board, we now had a real story to tell on TikTok.
I think people underestimate the power of what TikTok could offer linear and serialized content. It’s essentially a platform that can successfully accomplish what Quibi was built to do. The phone is the next place for serialized content. The trick I learned working with Michael to get it to work successfully….
You need to stop thinking about how long your movies are in minutes and start thinking about them in seconds.
It’s a paradigm shift, but there are some really compelling ones to explore here.
Michael Mumbaier
GamesBeat’s credo in covering the gaming industry is “where passion meets business”. What does this mean? We want to tell you how important the news is to you — not only as a decision-maker in a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you’re reading our articles, listening to our podcasts, or watching our videos, GamesBeat helps you learn about and have fun with the industry. Discover our Briefings.
