Animoca Brands Corporation Ltd has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Manga Productions, a leading animations, comics, and games production company in the Middle East to collaborate on a range of initiatives within the Web3 ecosystem for the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region.
The partnership will initially focus on co-creating Web3 pilot projects across Animoca’s extensive ecosystem and leveraging Manga's high quality content portfolio in the Middle East.
In addition, the company will use its operating and industry resources to provide educational and vocational opportunities to local talent in relevant fields.
Kicking things off, Animoca has already begun preliminary discussions with universities in Saudi Arabia to develop introductory blockchain courses.
Middle East expansion
Animoca co-founder and executive chairman Yat Siu said: “We are incredibly excited to join forces with Manga Productions on this partnership to leverage our respective complementary strengths.
“This partnership is one of our first significant steps in expanding into the Middle East, one of the fastest-growing Web3 ecosystems and a region rich in cultural heritage that can be adapted to various forms of virtual content.
“We look forward to bringing the various initiatives with Manga Productions into life, and we expect to see more activities in the region through investment and strategic collaboration.
Important milestone
This strategic partnership marks an important milestone in Animoca Brands’ mission of advancing global digital property rights and onboarding mass users into Web3 virtual economies.
The will also explore the feasibility of a dedicated regional game publishing platform with local partners, including Manga Productions, to bring high-quality blockchain game titles to the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region and support the global distribution of content produced by Manga Productions and other Arabian producers.
For Manga Productions, this partnership represents the first step toward applying blockchain technology to its comprehensive content portfolio and advancing its cultural initiatives in an interoperable virtual world.
"We are delighted to announce our partnership with Animoca Brands and taking our IPs beyond content and into various applications and experiences," said Manga CEO Dr. Essam Bukhary.
“With this partnership, we believe that this will further develop the creative industry in the region through Web3 applications as well as expand our portfolio within online and offline activations of IPs."