Ari Meilich, sometimes referenced as Ariel Meilich, is a crypto entrepreneur and game studio executive best known as a co-founder of Decentraland and as founder and CEO of Big Time Studios. His work spans two major crypto-native consumer categories, metaverse-style virtual worlds and blockchain-enabled game economies, both of which rely on on-chain ownership, digital marketplaces, and strong community participation.
Overview
Meilich is most closely associated with two ecosystems built on Ethereum. The first is Decentraland, a virtual world project that uses MANA as its primary token. The second is Big Time Studios, the developer behind Big Time, a free-to-play multiplayer action RPG that integrates NFTs and an in-game token economy through BIGTIME. Across both, Meilich’s public profile centers on building consumer experiences that connect games or social environments to wallets, tokens, and digital ownership.
History and Background
Meilich’s prominence in crypto is rooted in early work on Decentraland, which helped popularize the concept of user-owned virtual land and digital goods. Decentraland’s token, MANA, has been used as a core economic unit for marketplace activity and participation in the project’s broader ecosystem. Over time, Decentraland became a reference point in mainstream discussions about virtual worlds, virtual real estate, and NFT-based digital identity, particularly during periods of heightened “metaverse” interest.
After helping lead Decentraland through its formative stage, Meilich shifted his focus toward games, a sector where the trade-offs between traditional gameplay quality and token-driven incentives are especially visible. This transition aligned with a wider market trend, Web3 studios attempting to build titles that can compete with conventional games on engagement and production values, while still enabling on-chain ownership and player-driven economies.
Big Time Studios and Big Time
Meilich founded Big Time Studios in 2020 and has been publicly described as the CEO. The studio’s flagship product is Big Time, which CryptoSlate describes as a free-to-play, multiplayer action RPG built around fast combat and an adventure through time and space, with NFT loot and token drops tied to gameplay progression. Big Time positions its core loop around collecting and trading in-game items, including customization for avatars and player spaces, while maintaining a structure familiar to mainstream ARPG audiences.
Big Time’s crypto layer centers on BIGTIME, described as the primary token driving the in-game economy. CryptoSlate notes that BIGTIME can drop in-game under specific equipment conditions, emphasizing a gameplay-linked distribution concept rather than a simple “buy-to-play” token gate.
Technology and Features
Meilich’s projects reflect a common Web3 design pattern, use a consumer-facing application as the primary experience, then integrate tokens and NFTs as ownership and exchange primitives. In Big Time’s case, the studio has also been linked to OpenLoot, a distribution and marketplace layer referenced in CryptoSlate press release coverage.
- Free-to-play onboarding: A format intended to reduce friction compared with fully token-gated access models.
- NFT loot and customization: Collectible items that can be traded and used for personalization and progression.
- In-game token economy: BIGTIME as a core unit for in-game economic activity and incentives.
- Marketplace infrastructure: OpenLoot-related tooling referenced in CryptoSlate press release coverage as part of the studio’s broader platform direction.
Use Cases and Market Position
Meilich’s work is relevant to users who want interactive experiences with real asset ownership, whether that is virtual land and wearables in Decentraland or loot, cosmetics, and token-linked progression in Big Time. From a market structure perspective, these models attempt to create more persistent digital property rights than conventional games, where items are typically locked to a publisher’s database and terms of service.
However, Web3 consumer products also compete directly with highly polished Web2 incumbents. Big Time’s positioning as an action RPG aims to compete on gameplay loops and production quality, while using NFTs and tokens to offer portability and player-driven trading as differentiators.
Risks and Considerations
Projects at the intersection of gaming and tokens face recurring risks. Token-linked economies can attract speculative behavior that is misaligned with long-term game health, and the value of in-game assets can be volatile. Security risks include wallet compromise, phishing, and smart contract vulnerabilities tied to NFT minting or marketplace infrastructure. Operationally, studios must manage live-service complexity, anti-cheat, and economic balancing, while also maintaining compliance readiness as rules around digital assets and consumer promotions evolve across jurisdictions.
Meilich’s profile is therefore best understood through the ongoing attempt to build consumer crypto products where ownership and trading are features, not the primary reason players or users engage.
