The Good Tech Companies - ZED Champions: Virtually Human Studio's Plan To Make Web3 Mainstream

Episode Date: March 12, 2025

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/zed-champions-virtually-human-studios-plan-to-make-web3-mainstream. Virtually Human Studio revamps Web3 gaming with ZED Champions, making blockchain seamless. CEO Nir Efrat’s vision aims to bring digital horse racing to the mass Check more stories related to web3 at: https://hackernoon.com/c/web3. You can also check exclusive content about #web3-gaming, #zed-champions, #nft-gaming, #blockchain-games, #play-to-earn, #crypto-racing, #virtually-human-studio, #good-company, and more. This story was written by: @lightyearstrategies. Learn more about this writer by checking @lightyearstrategies's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Virtually Human Studio reboots Web3 gaming with ZED Champions, shedding blockchain’s complexity for mass appeal. Led by ex-King exec Nir Efrat, the game automates racing, simplifies onboarding, and introduces $ZED Token mechanics. With a mobile app, Base blockchain shift, and a 40-person team blending Web2/Web3, VHS aims to make digital horse racing mainstream.

This audio is presented by Hacker Noon, where anyone can learn anything about any technology. Zed Champions. Virtually Human Studios plan to make Web3 mainstream. By Lightyear Strategies. Web3 Gaming kicked off with a bang. Virtually Human Studio, VHS, launched Zed RU NIN 2019, turning digital horse racing into a $400 million empire that paid players $88 million. It was a hit, with thousands racing millions of times and horses fetching $50 million at peak, but blockchain's quirks, wallets, gas fees, crypto complexity, boxed it into a niche, and the NFT winter hit hard.

Now, VHS is back with Zed Champions, a beta launched March 1, 2025, led by CEO Nir Afrat, who helped scale Candy Crush at King. After joining 16 months ago, Hussah Zed runs Fade as a chance to reboot, Web3's most successful NFT game, for everyone. Zed Champions represents our commitment to innovation, accessibility, and long-term sustainability in Web3 gaming, he says, aiming to shed the accessibility, and long-term sustainability in Web3 gaming," he says, aiming to shed the speculative shell and go mainstream. Hiding blockchain for the win.

Efrot's first Zed run play was a mess. Wallets, three currency buys, a crypto pH just to race. Zed Champions fixes that, 24-7 automated races, twice daily, no manual fuss, $Z token breeding, and augments, passive, situational, progressive, make it strategy first, tech second. An experience accessible for anyone, he says, echoing candy crushes seamless fun, blockchain's there, but you'd hardly know it. Zpix, a mobile app launching alongside, takes it further. Spectators cheer and win prizes without touching a wallet.

VHS's $20 million raise from a 16z, the churn-in group, and Greylock in 2021 fuels this pivot, with healthy runway, to spare, per Efrat. A shift to Coinbase's base blockchain keeps it fast and stable, tech that hums quietly while players race, not wrestle with fees. A proven playbook with room to grow. Zed Run's legacy isn't just numbers, $400 million in transactions, $88 million to players. Tie-ins with Budweiser, Netflix, and NASCAR showed Web3 could flirt with the mainstream. Zed Champions refines that with crisp graphics and a balanced system,

richer horses vs tougher foes, for fairness, plus a 40-person team retooled with Web2 and Web3 talent to slash onboarding friction, Efrat's first play now takes minutes, not manuals. The reset's bold. Zed Run's NFTs are out. Swapped for a hefty dollar Zed token airdrop this month to ease the six-year sunset. We're creating a flywheel beneficial for all, Afrat says, eyeing a future where players stick around and spectators pile in. With a leader who's scaled giants and a playbook that's hit big, VHS isn't chasing trends. It's rewriting Web3's odds for the masses. Thank you for listening to this Hacker Noon story, read by Artificial Intelligence.

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