- GOAT Gaming has recorded over 6 million users since launching.
- Telegram’s play-to-earn scene is steadily losing popularity amongst users.
- AI-native game development could become the default for new Web3 game studios.
Web3 gaming is on mobile, console, and PC in 2025, with Telegram emerging as one of the hottest destinations for casual players.
CCN caught up with Simon Davis, co-founder and CEO of GOAT Gaming, to discuss how the company plans to become the go-to hotspot for competitive play—and bring Web3 to the messaging app’s 1 billion monthly users
The Mission
Davis is an industry veteran with 20 years in the space, having worked at a number of mainstream and mobile gaming studios, including Ubisoft.
“Before that, I was a professional musician,” he said.
He co-founded Mighty Bear Games, the parent company of GOAT Gaming, in Singapore in 2023. Davis explained that a creative challenge in their flagship game, Might Action Heroes, pushed the team to experiment with generative AI “before studios were even experimenting.”
“By mid-2023, more than 95% of our content was AI-generated, with our team directing the process,” Davis said. “That shift gave me conviction that AI would completely rewrite the rules of game development and that small, AI-native teams could outcompete studios hundreds of times their size.”
GOAT Gaming, he revealed, is the result of going all-in on that philosophy.
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“We’re building the destination for financial gaming on Telegram, combining competitive, snackable games with AI agents and Web3 mechanics, all designed from the ground up to be AI-native,” Davis explained.
The aim is clear: GOAT wants to be the hub for competitive, skill-based games with prizes on Telegram. Earn real rewards, own your progress, and play in ways that traditional mobile games can’t match.
Cryptos and NFTs are more than “just cosmetics to us,” Davis said. Instead, Telegram-native assets “turn acquisition, retention, and monetization into gameplay itself.”
“We’ve run campaigns where a $0.32 collectible airdrop outperformed what most mobile studios pay $10–$20 for in user acquisition,” he added.
AI-Powered
The platform recently released AlphaGOATs, AI agents that can “compete, trade, and engage” on behalf of players, “earning rewards around the clock,” Davis adds.
“Think of it like Football Manager meets Pokémon,” he explained. “You train and direct your agent, fine-tuning its strategies, then set it loose to compete against other agents or human players for prizes.”
Owners receive a percentage of their agent’s earnings.
“Our proof of concept is Amy, GOAT Gaming’s own AI hero,” Davis said. “She roasts players, runs events, competes in games, and has boosted community engagement up to 5–10x.”
Davis argued that this is more than entertainment. It demonstrates how “an AI personality can drive” retention, monetization, and “brand stickiness.”
The team also rolled out its AlphaAI toolkit, giving developers the tools to safely and effectively train and evolve their own agents.
Davis views agents as becoming extensions of the players, and builds a “persistent, AI-enhanced gaming economy that runs 24/7”.
The Response
According to Davis, GOAT Gaming has already attracted more than 6 million users since its mid-2024 launch, with some games drawing hundreds of thousands of players.
“Telegram is the best distribution opportunity I’ve seen since early Facebook gaming,” he said. “But it’s still early days, and that comes with challenges.”
Getting users to download Telegram “is a whole business challenge on its own,” Davis admitted. “So, instead of fighting uphill, we double down on what we can do inside the app.”
That has meant “marketing tactics that are harder, more manual, and probably why this opportunity isn’t on many people’s radar yet,” he added.
Perception is also a challenge, as some developers look down on messenger-based games. “I’ve seen it before,” Davis said. “I came from console into browser games in the late 2000s and underestimated the craft involved.”
Messenger games are designed for instant accessibility, quick sessions, and low hardware specs. “Not every developer is ready to embrace that,” according to Davis.
Telegram Engagement
Still, the engagement numbers have been promising . Players are diving in quickly, especially when GOAT layers in Telegram-native mechanics like collectibles, raffles, and AI-led events.
“Telegram’s strength is in Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America, with growing traction in the Middle East,” Davis explained. “We also see smaller but highly engaged communities in the West, often tied to crypto, tech, or specific gaming subcultures.”
With Telegram’s native TON wallet only recently expanding to the U.S., Davis believes adoption may be on the verge of a tipping point.
Players flock to Telegram for its “frictionless nature,” Davis said. No extra steps to install new games or apps, no clunky wallet setups, “you tap a link in chat, you’re playing.”
Paired with tradable assets, rewards, and social competition, retention rates “rival and in some cases beat” Web2 mobile titles.
Speculative Gaming
At first glance, GOAT Gaming could be mistaken for just another play-to-earn or play-to-airdrop title. However, Davis insisted that the approach was fundamentally different.
“This era was built on speculation first and gameplay second,” he said of earlier P2E titles. “Once the rewards are distributed and earnings fall off, so does the audience.”
“GOAT Gaming takes the opposite approach,” Davis explained. “We start with skill-based, competitive games that are fun to play even without rewards.”
Collectibles, AI agents, and tokenized assets are layered in as engagement and progression tools—“a bonus, not the prize.”
“The other big difference is sustainability,” Davis argued. “Our economy is built around tradable digital goods and competitive events players want to participate in, not unsustainable yield promises.”
A GOAT Gaming win comes down to genuine skill, Davis argues, not because “you were early to a Ponzi.”
This is “performance gameplay”, he adds, as opposed to performance marketing. Instead of big ad spends, the gameloop is driving acquisition and retention.
Mainstream Appeal
Web3 gaming’s biggest hurdle, Davis argues, is its tight coupling with crypto assets. Most players don’t want to wrestle with wallets or tokens just to enjoy a game.
The problem, he said, is that many X-to-Earn models have put profits before play. A game that only works if it’s paying players isn’t a game, “it’s a financial product with a skin on it,” he quipped.
What players really want, Davis continued, is a compelling experience first.
“They’ll engage with rewards and ownership if those features enhance the gameplay, the competition, or the social dynamics.”
That philosophy underpins GOAT’s focus on competitive, skill-based gaming that’s fun on its own, without leaning on speculative incentives.
For Davis, Telegram today feels a lot like Facebook during its breakout gaming boom in 2008–2010.
With a billion monthly users, built-in fiat and crypto rails, and “viral loops baked into the social layers,” he sees it as the perfect platform for the next generation of “instant, social, financially-enabled games.”
“People say content is king; I say distribution is God,” Davis said. “And Telegram puts you directly into the pockets of a billion consumers, with the ability to get them playing in seconds. No app store gatekeeping, no multi-step wallet setups, no massive installs.”
Crypto has been chasing that kind of frictionless experience for years. Telegram, Davis argued, has already bridged the gap between social and gaming: “The game is already where your friends are talking.”
He concluded that studios that recognize this interplay and tap into the emerging economies of Telegram-native assets will win.
Everyday Play
Web3 gaming has promised plenty over the years—digital ownership, rewards, earnings, and gameplay mechanics that traditional titles can’t match.
In 2025, blockbuster projects like EVE Frontier and MapleStory N are pushing those promises to the limit with sprawling ecosystems, deep economies, and new ways to play.
GOAT Gaming, Davis stressed, is taking a different path. “We’re not trying to build the next 200-hour MMO or triple-A sandbox,” he said. Instead, the focus is on “instant, competitive, session-based games” that launch straight from a Telegram chat link.
While larger Web3 titles emphasize ownership and persistence, GOAT’s approach is about everyday accessibility.
Whether it’s a Telegram collectible or another game entirely, Davis said the idea is simple: players should be able to build, own, and show off something that feels meaningful.
With GOAT, that means quick-fire matches you can squeeze in on a lunch break, on the bus, or anywhere in between.
“We just deliver it in a format that’s faster, more accessible, and deeply integrated into everyday digital life,” Davis explained.
He added that the goal is to show that Web3 gaming doesn’t need to be speculative-first, overly complex, or time-consuming.
“It can be instant, accessible, and built for everyday play—without compromising on ownership or economic depth.”
The Formula
Davis outlined how GOAT is putting its vision into practice.
First, he emphasized the importance of AI-native development, calling it a “force multiplier” that allows small, nimble teams to “out-innovate” much larger studios when they build with AI from the ground up.
Second, he turned to distribution. “Distribution is destiny,” Davis said, pointing to Telegram’s billion-strong user base and built-in payment rails as tools that eliminate “huge barriers to onboarding”—still one of the toughest challenges in Web3 gaming.
Finally, Davis argued that “performance gameplay beats performance marketing.” If a game’s acquisition loop is built directly into the play experience, he explained, it can grow faster and more sustainably than relying on ads or hype cycles.
He added that the goal is to create an ecosystem of player-owned assets and “meaningful competition,” all delivered in a format that works seamlessly across a billion devices. For Davis, this formula isn’t just GOAT’s edge—it’s a blueprint other studios could follow.
An AI-Native Era
Looking ahead to 2026, Davis believes the year could mark the point when AI-native development becomes the default for new studios rather than an exception.
Studios like ZKcandy and others in the Web3 gaming space are already leaning heavily on AI tools, primarily for cost and time savings.
But, Davis pointed out, the technology is also opening the door to more innovative applications—AI-enabled agents, NPCs, and entirely new forms of gameplay.
“You’ll see more small teams, even solo creators, building hit games that rival or surpass what mid-sized studios produce today,” Davis said. “I’ve said before that we’ll see a one-person, AI-powered studio hit a billion-dollar valuation, and I stand by that.”
Davis also argued that Telegram hasn’t yet had its true “mainstream moment” outside of crypto and gaming circles. Instead, he sees it evolving into a “legitimate alternative to app stores” for interactive experiences.
“The combination of a billion-user social graph, built-in payments, and a thriving collectibles economy is too compelling to ignore,” he explained.
For Davis, Web3 gaming’s evolution is accelerating quickly. “The tools are improving monthly,” he noted, and distribution channels have matured.
Like many in the industry, he believes it’s only a matter of time before Web3 gaming becomes mainstream.
“The next wave of breakout hits,” Davis concluded, “will look very different from the last cycle.”
