MegaBits Game PreOrder a Monstrous Success

AlphaLab startup MegaBits launched a successful preorder yesterday for its “monstrous” massively multiplayer online game based on the player’s physical location.

“We had over 300 sign ups within 3 hours of launching the site and we exhausted our first tier of rewards in under 10 minutes,” said Patrick Perini, MegaBits Founder. “When we designed the site, we expected to get back most of our Kickstarter backers (~290) within the first day or so. We’re approaching 500 sign ups currently, which we didn’t expect to nab for several weeks.”

Everyone who signed up for MegaBits received a special explorer hat for their avatar. The first 500 people also got a MegaBits iPhone wallpaper, and in-game level boosters. The first 50 people who signed up got all of that, a real-world MegaBits t-shirt, and the chance to name an NPC!

“It was right away outstanding. People were literally refreshing the page at 9:59 in anticipation,” said Perini. “The first tier (50 people) ran out in less than 10 minutes. We had an explosion here in Pittsburgh (~33%) and the Bay Area (~14%). This was an absolutely great way to validate our idea and bolster our community. We’re really excited.”

Perini started MegaBits at Startup Weekend last fall as a massively multiplayer online game based on the player’s physical location.

He explains that it allows players to catch, train and battle monsters found in different areas in the real world.  A player’s location in MegaBits is his or her location in real life.

Players find different wild MegaBits depending on where they are in the world, what time of day it is, and even the weather. Perini says he even created a Pittsburgh-themed monster that evolves from steel to rust to technology.

“We’re nearing 500 sign ups, which exceeds our expectations almost 2-fold,” said Perini. “People seem to be just as excited about MegaBits as we are.”

There’s still time to sign up hit Megabitsapp.com for details.

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