Artie
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
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Sections to complete：02 · 05
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Artie was a Los Angeles gaming startup co-founded by Ryan Horrigan and Armando Kirwin that built an app-less mobile game distribution platform. Instead of rendering graphics in the cloud like traditional cloud gaming, it streamed optimized game assets and animations to embedded web browsers, so players could click a link inside Instagram, TikTok or a messaging app and instantly play a Unity-quality game with no download — bypassing the app stores' 30% cut (Artie planned to charge publishers 12-15%). Backers included Kevin Durant's Thirty Five Ventures, Scooter Braun's Raised In Space, Mark Pincus, Chad Hurley, Jon Oringer, Warner Music Group and the Winklevoss twins.
02 / FAILURE REASONS
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03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Company founded
Ryan Horrigan and Armando Kirwin found Artie in Los Angeles, initially aiming to create AI-driven game characters that could see and interact with players, before pivoting to app-less game distribution.
- Seed funding
In February 2021, Artie raises a $10 million round from Mark Pincus, Chad Hurley, Jon Oringer, Kevin Durant's Thirty Five Ventures, Warner Music Group, the Winklevoss twins and others.
- Additional funding
In October 2021, a regulatory filing shows Artie raised nearly $36 million in total to deliver 'mobile games that hit different,' with plans for cross-platform titles, NFT collectibles and an SDK for third-party developers.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
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Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN / AFTERMATH
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