NPCx

NPCx is creating a more realistic gaming experience.

Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning, this company has developed technology that increases the quality and volume of animation. Not only can this technology be used to enhance video games, but it can also be deployed in movies, mixed-reality applications, and even the upcoming metaverse.

NPCx is led by a strong team. CEO Cameron Madani published video games for Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. And co-founder Alberto Menache is known as the “father of motion capture.” And he spent seven years working with acclaimed director James Cameron on the “Avatar” film franchise.

According to Grand View Research, the global 3D-animation market is valued at twenty-four billion dollars. And it’s projected to reach nearly forty-billion dollars by 2028.

But creating three-dimensional character animations for video games, movies, and mobile apps is expensive and time-consuming. It inflates the time and cost required to bring exciting products and content to market.

Furthermore, animated characters in interactive entertainment often exhibit stiff, unnatural movements. And they struggle to interact convincingly with their environments and other characters. Ever tried to converse with an animated AI guide or chatbot? The experience probably wasn’t very positive.

In the video-game market, specifically, non-player characters (NPCs — i.e., those in the background of the game) often demonstrate unrealistic, illogical behavior. This undermines the realism of the gameplay and leaves players disinterested.

This is where NPCx’s technology can make a difference. Its technology increases the volume and quality of 3D animation, and delivers fluid, natural motion that mirrors how humans move and react in real-world situations.

It also analyzes and re-creates 3D characters in real-time, which is useful for sports statistics and generating lifelike characters for real-time representation in broadcasting and entertainment. It can even re-create motion sets from historic athletes, bringing legends back to life in 3D.

Finally, to improve character actions and movements, NPCx’s technology replaces outdated decision trees (a term for how a character is coded in a game to make decisions and interact) with modern neural networks trained by observing real players. This results in intelligent, realistic character behaviors that evolve and adapt over time.

To offer these technologies, NPCx has a portfolio of products, the first of which focuses on digital 3D assets for video games. Remember, this technology can also be used for films, 3D simulations, and the metaverse. Here are some of the products available in this portfolio:

TrackerX-Standard: This is a motion-capture tool that reduces the process of creating lifelike animations from hours to minutes.

TrackerX-Markerless: This tracking system transforms any video-game footage into multiple player skeletons, making it indispensable for high-volume productions in video games and films. This technology also relates to stats collection, and can be used in sports betting and healthcare to measure and report physical data like velocity, trajectory, and ground position in less than seventy nanoseconds.

RetargetX: This technology maps both motion capture and keyframes animations, which not only maximizes the value of previously-created animations, but also reshapes the entire animation industry, setting a new standard for efficiency and creativity.

FacialX-Mimic: This face-swapping and de-aging technology enables real-time face swapping and the generation of younger versions of characters, eliminating the need for actors to undergo cumbersome and expensive motion-capture processes.

BehaviorX North Star: This technology records real-time data from players in games, tracking every movement and decision relative to their in-game situation. This data is then stored in a matrix to train generative AI models, resulting in more intelligent, lifelike characters.

NPCx was founded in 2020 and launched its first product, TrackerX-Standard, in 2023. This product is used by 2K, Gearbox Games, and Netflix.

By the end of this year, NPCx estimates that an additional four or five companies will be using this product, which would increase company annual revenues to $2.7 million beginning in 2025. NPCx aims to launch its TrackerX-Markerless and RetargetX next year, too. The company generates revenue through licensing its technology.

Notably, NPCx’s valuation is rising fast. In 2022, the company raised $544,000 at a seven-million-dollar valuation. The next year, it raised another $1.5 million at a valuation of around twenty million dollars.

Notable investors in that round included Y Combinator and Kakao Investment Group, the venture arm of South Korean internet conglomerate Kakao, which generated five billion dollars in revenue in 2023.

Team Background

Alberto Menache - Technical Advisor

Alberto is known as the “father of motion capture” and spent the last seven years working with director James Cameron on the "Avatar" film franchise.

After starting his career in the manufacturing sector, he became a character supervisor with Dreamworks, an animation studio responsible for films including "Shrek," "Madagascar," and "How to Train Your Dragon."

From there, he became a digital effects supervisor with Sony Pictures Imageworks, the visual effects/animation unit of Sony Pictures. He then became a consultant for two companies in the film industry.

More recently, Alberto was a consultant with Next Media Animation, as well as Electronic Arts, a video game company that created the Madden NFL, Sims, and Medal of Honor series. In addition to his role with NPCx, he is CEO of Vision Data Corporation, a visual effects consulting business.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Universidad Anahuac and a Master’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Miami.

Cameron Madani - Co-Founder & CEO

Cameron is a video game industry veteran, having developed and published titles for Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.

He began his career in finance, working at Merrill Lynch. From there, he pivoted to the video game market, serving as Director of Business Development with Collision Studios, a gaming company. While there, he led software publishing of 10 video games.

After that, Cameron co-founded WDI, another gaming company. He managed a team of 12 developers and worked with executives from Microsoft, Nintendo, Ubisoft, and Activision. He also launched the award-winning video game “Torchlight” for the Xbox 360 gaming console.

More recently, he was Chief Business Officer with Bit Theory, a visual effects studio. He closed several contracts to convert a number of top grossing films to 3D, which went on to gross nearly $1 billion worldwide. From there, he was Director of Business Development with Reloaded Games, a gaming company.

Prior to starting NPCx, Cameron founded Motion Burner, a motion capture and animation studio. He helped launch 11 video game franchises and seven Virtual Reality-inspired titles.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from UCLA and an MBA from Pepperdine.

Michael Puscar - Co-Founder & Chief Advisor

Michael is a serial entrepreneur with experience in Artificial Intelligence technology.

He began his career as Director of Infonautics, an internet publishing business. From there, he became Vice President of Development with Intellisophic, an IT services company.

After that, he founded Yuxi Global, a publishing company that was acquired in 2013 by private equity firm Blue Loop Capital. He then became an executive with GITP Ventures, a private equity group, and then moved to Excendio Advisors, an M&A advisory.

More recently, Michael was a board member with Ziotag, a company using AI to disrupt the video and audio markets. He's also been a board member with companies in the healthcare and software development sectors.

He studied Computer Science at Temple University.

Co-Investors

Y Combinator

Seed-stage accelerator whose alumni include Scribd, Reddit, Airbnb, Dropbox and Stripe