INTERVIEW – Highrise creator Anton Bernstein on his journey, earn program for creators, future, and more

Story Highlights

GamingonPhone sat with Pocket Worlds’ co-founder and CEO Anton Bernstein for an Interview.
Anton shared his journey from childhood to becoming a professional, delving into the incentives for Highrise creators, the platform’s future, and more.

As a seasoned observer and admirer of the dynamic world of technology and innovation, I find myself consistently captivated by the stories of visionaries who dare to dream big and bring their ideas to life. The journey of building platforms within the Creator Economy is no exception, and the tale of Highrise, under the guidance of its fearless leader, is one that resonates deeply with me.

Since its launch, Highrise from Pocket Worlds has served as an innovative and secure environment for social interaction, gaming, and crafting your individual digital persona. Boasting over 50 million users, you can traverse virtual spaces, engage in weekly activities, and forge connections with people worldwide. Highrise consistently offers programs to empower creators, and we at GamingonPhone were fortunate enough to interview Anton Bernstein, the co-founder and CEO of Pocket Worlds. This conversation delved into his personal journey from youth to a career professional, the creator-reward program within Highrise, the platform’s future, and more intriguing tidbits, which we will reveal in this article.

1. Hello Anton, please introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi there! I’m Anton Bernstein, a founder of Pocket Worlds. I established this company 11 years ago, right here in San Francisco. Born in Russia, I migrated to the United States with my family when I was just five years old. I spent my childhood in New Jersey and attended college in Philadelphia. After that, I worked in venture capital, first in New York City and then in San Francisco.

INTERVIEW – Highrise creator Anton Bernstein on his journey, earn program for creators, future, and more

Gaming was a significant part of my upbringing, and it’s something I hold dear. Our idea for starting the company stemmed from the most engaging social interactions we had online during our childhood, which were primarily games. We were curious about merging that experience, so we asked ourselves questions like ‘How can games be made more social?’ and ‘How can connections with others be strengthened through gaming?’ And thus, Pocket Worlds was born. Neither Jimmy nor I had ever ventured into game development before, but we were eager to make our mark in the gaming sphere. We spent approximately five years self-funding, experimenting with various MMORPGs on mobile devices.

Initially, our primary goal was to create an experience tailored for mobile devices. In 2016, we introduced Highrise, a simple virtual environment designed for users to create their own avatars, interact, and communicate. Over the next two years, we continuously refined Highrise by introducing new features at a rapid pace – often one every week or two. This iterative process helped us understand and cater to the desires of our global audience, ultimately leading to its widespread popularity.

2018 saw us joining Y Combinator and completing the program that year. From this opportunity, we managed to secure some funding, which we used to keep expanding our project. Highrise secured additional funds in 2020. To date, we haven’t touched any of the roughly ten million dollars we raised, as we’ve been operating profitably for many years now. Currently, Highrise boasts approximately 60 million registered users. Additionally, we acquired a business known as Ever Skies, which is primarily a social network with avatars rather than a gaming platform.

As our app development progressed, it became evident that providing our community with tools to shape their desired world left us consistently amazed. Consequently, we kept expanding our toolkit. In March of this year, we unveiled Highrise Studio, an extensive platform enabling users to create games and experiences within the studio and deploy them instantly into Highrise with just one click.

In simpler terms, if users subscribe to your world, they can generate income for you by spending time in it. Typically, our platform caters to a unique audience compared to others such as Roblox or Epic. Our user base tends to be more interested in open-ended play, is predominantly female, and places emphasis on building connections, sense of belonging, social interaction, and creative self-expression through personalized avatars and creation.

2. Since you mentioned Epic and Roblox, I am curious about how is Highrise different from Roblox?

Our audience significantly differs from that of Roblox. Unlike Roblox, which caters mainly to younger individuals who enjoy playing intense games featuring robust physics, swift action, and lots of running around, our target demographic consists of adults aged between 20 and 30. They’re primarily interested in forging connections and socializing. Unlike Roblox, which emphasizes real-life friends connecting with other real-life friends, Highrise prioritizes helping users discover new friendships online. We place a strong emphasis on providing robust social features and tools to help users connect, focusing on fostering a sense of belonging and purpose within the digital realm.

In Roblox, while the focus is primarily on gameplay, we prioritize creative self-expression and personalization of avatars to a greater extent. For us, it’s not just about the avatar as a secondary aspect; instead, we consider it the primary element that allows for unique creative expression. Our audience consists of individuals seeking community, camaraderie, and new friendships. They are drawn to experiences that emphasize self-expression, connection, and belonging rather than merely fast-paced, action-oriented gameplay. In essence, they desire an environment where they can creatively express themselves while building lasting relationships.

I find the Sims franchise intriguing as it offers an engaging experience akin to playing with a dollhouse, where you assume the role of a creator deity. In this digital realm, you design and populate your world with characters, imbuing them with unique personalities, and orchestrating their lives in a continuous narrative, much like a soap opera. In our case, you become one of the characters, interacting with other virtual beings. Although the gameplay mechanics differ slightly, the core audience remains similar – those who enjoy creating and nurturing digital communities.

3. What do you think is the key to Highrise’s success in engaging such a diverse and active user base?

For us, understanding our audience and being capable of meeting their needs has been crucial. This emphasis on personal creativity, fostering a sense of community, and promoting a feeling of belonging resonates strongly with a substantial group of individuals, particularly in these times of growing disconnection due to factors like COVID-19, remote work, and widespread remote employment. People yearn for community and connection, and we prioritize addressing that specific need.

4. Can you elaborate more on the Highrise Earn Program and how it benefits creators on your platform?

As a devoted enthusiast, I’d like to share some methods creators can generate income within the Highrise platform. While there are numerous avenues, let’s focus on a couple for now. Firstly, you can create immersive experiences or games within Highrise using Highrise Studio and then publish them directly onto Highrise. Here, there are two primary paths to earn:

One is if people who subscribe to Highrise Plus, which is our subscription service, spend time in your world, then you get their subscription revenue. If they spend 50% of their time in your world, you get 50% of their subscription revenue. We just pass that through to you. Secondly, you can charge for payments inside your world. You charge in gold, which is our in-game currency, and then you can convert that gold into cash using our Creator Exchange.

In addition to experiences, we offer item options as well. For instance, if you’re interested in creating clothing designs, we provide Highrise Ideas and Highrise Concepts. With Highrise Ideas, you can propose a clothing piece, and others can pre-purchase it similar to Kickstarter. If a sufficient number of people pre-order your design, it qualifies for production, our art team creates it, and you receive a commission. Highrise Concepts are contests we organize, and if you win the contest, you’ll earn a commission on the items we produce and sell.

5. What kind of creators are thriving on Highrise and what are the success stories of this making through the platform?

Regarding their expertise, several developers are prospering on Highrise. They primarily focus on creating social games, such as the one titled “Back Rooms”, a monster-themed hunt game where participants chase each other. Another example is “Society Lounge”, which serves as a communal space where users can add songs to the radio, play them, and engage in various contests and interactions. One of their more popular experiences is “Bingo”, where people gather to play bingo together. It’s a sociable and straightforward gameplay experience.

A game that’s been gaining popularity lately is Idle Apiary. It’s an idle game where you manage bees and function as a beekeeper. The gameplay is straightforward, making it easy to understand. I believe the shared trait among these games is their user-friendly gameplay and seamless multiplayer engagement. Regarding clothing and related items, we have several third-party designers. One successful example is Doodle Kitchen, which has already made approximately $300,000. They design and sell items within Highrise.

6. How do you ensure equitable opportunities for creators of varying skill levels and how the
discoverability work?

In our application, we use algorithms to help users find new content easily. There are designated areas that display all recently added items. As users explore, we introduce fresh experiences and clothing suggestions at random. We aim to incorporate these throughout the app. Essentially, if something is captivating, it moves to the forefront. Additionally, we occasionally insert fresh content, and if it performs well, it gradually rises to prominence too.

7. Could you discuss the challenges and opportunities in maintaining a safe and inclusive environment for the global user base, particularly since you mentioned you have a primarily female audience?

1) Highrise has a policy that only users aged 13 or older can access it. Those who violate the rules may face suspension or banning.

Users are able to flag any individual, post, or profile for review by our Trust and Safety team. Furthermore, advanced machine learning algorithms help us identify inappropriate images automatically. The technology has significantly improved over time, allowing for automatic detection of potential issues. Additionally, we have a dedicated team to manually screen for any breaches of trust and safety guidelines.

8. What steps is Pocket World taking to encourage more creators to join and thrive in Highrise?

Many of our content creators originate from our community. They initially sign up as Highrise users before they begin crafting their own creations. On the other hand, we do offer various programs to support these creators. We maintain a leaderboard that recognizes high performers with both monetary and item-based rewards. There are separate leaderboards for engagement and earnings performance.

Nearly every month, we host game creation events called “game jams,” where individuals can develop games and immersive experiences, which they can then distribute via our game jam platform. Winning entries receive recognition. Additionally, you’ll find a variety of tutorials on YouTube from us, with more being added regularly. Our documentation is extensive, and we’re consistently making improvements to it.

After observing numerous gamers, I’ve noticed an interesting trend: many of them leverage AI to create their gaming experiences. Granted, I don’t dictate their actions, but it’s fascinating to see them employ tools such as ChatGPT and Claude. They incorporate our documentation into these tools, enabling the AI to aid them in coding or constructing whatever they envision.

9. With the ongoing expansion of Highrise, what are your plans for the next three to five years?

Our objective remains centered around our audience and users – individuals seeking a sense of community, connection, and personal creativity. We’re committed to expanding and enhancing our platform, ensuring it offers an optimal experience tailored to their needs.

Our aim is to be the best product for people seeking community and self-expression.

As a gamer, I’m excited to share that we’re enhancing our Studio tools to deliver enhanced gaming experiences. Our mission is to empower our gaming community even more and run numerous sessions to help you master Studio like a pro. Plus, we’re expanding our team here in Austin, Texas, to ensure our commitment to excellence stays strong. Our vision? To be the ultimate platform for gamers seeking a vibrant community and self-expression – that’s where we’re headed!

10. How do you see Pocket Worlds contributing to the broader Metaverse and driving significant economic trends in the future?

It appears that the current game creator economy isn’t catering well to our specific demographic. For instance, platforms like Roblox are characterized by their fast-paced, youthful user base, heavy emphasis on physics, and high-intensity gaming experiences. On the other hand, Epic Games with Fortnite is known for its first-person shooter style and intense gameplay as well. However, it seems we might be in search of a platform that aligns more closely with our needs.

In our niche, there aren’t many platforms focusing on our specific audience – those seeking a sense of belonging, community, and creative outlets. That’s how we contribute to the larger digital landscape. We cater to an underrepresented group, and we’re committed to developing top-notch products tailored for them.

11. What motivates you to keep innovating in this space, and what has been the most rewarding part of building Highrise?

What drives my continuous pursuit of innovation stems from my belief that interactive, game-like experiences offer the most engaging and socially inclusive online environment. Many individuals, including myself, derive significant benefits from such interactions.

It’s truly heartening and invigorating to listen to the tales of our users. Many have found lifelong partners and soulmates on Highrise, and others have discovered their closest friends. I engage in user conversations approximately two to three times a week, and quite often, they express how Highrise has significantly improved their lives. This heartwarming and inspiring feedback fuels my motivation.

12. As a CEO, what do you see as the biggest challenges for the game? What are the key challenges in general, and how are you planning to address them or already addressing them?

On a broader perspective, I believe AI holds immense potential as both a significant risk and a valuable asset in numerous aspects. For instance, regarding social connections and a sense of belonging, there’s the concept of character AI, where you can converse with a digital entity. While it may not replace human interaction entirely, it still offers someone to engage with, which can be intriguing.

As an enthusiast, I’m witnessing a buzzing development in the realm of generative AI art. Although it’s yet to fully integrate into the broader gaming and art ecosystem, its rapid growth makes it challenging to resist. It’s here, and it’s expanding. I perceive this as both a potential challenge and an opportunity.

Approximately 110 individuals make up our global workforce, yet here in Austin, we’ve got around a dozen team members. We’re actively expanding our Austin branch as well.

13. What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to build platforms in the Creator Economy?

I think the advice to any entrepreneur is that a combination of persistence and flexibility is key. I’ve seen lots of people quit because the precise idea that they wanted to make wasn’t working, and so they kind of quit, or they just didn’t have the perseverance to fight through and make it work. I would say for us, it was a pretty long journey, and so a lot of it has been being persistent, continuing to build, but also being flexible and malleable so that if we saw an opportunity that the market was presenting to us, then we were able to navigate in that direction.

The advice to any entrepreneur is that a combination of persistence and flexibility is key.

Essentially, when considering a creator marketplace, the main challenge lies in its dual nature, as it involves both creators and consumers. Often, it’s tricky to attract creators because they usually prefer platforms with an existing audience. Therefore, the key question becomes: “What strategies will be employed to cultivate an audience that would entice creators to join your platform?” This suggests that audience-building should come before creator acquisition.

2024-12-26 03:12

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