Tonight stack cards + squads/guilds + cross‑game identity. Private by default. Built to replace Discord sprawl and LFG roulette — without followers, public profiles, or ads.
Every play session starts with the same bottleneck: “Who’s on, what are they queueing, and can we fill the right roles fast?” PlayNet is designed to own that pre‑game decision point.
Prove a small, fanatical cohort: open PlayNet before you play → pick a stack card → launch a session.
Players don’t need “more content.” They need a fast,
reliable answer to:
“Who are we stacking with tonight?”
Own the pre‑game decision point:
PlayNet doesn’t compete with games — it compounds them. The value grows as players rotate titles, because squads, identity, and history persist.
If a fraction of engaged organizers pay ~$8–12/mo for identity + coordination, revenue scales without ads.
Pre‑seed success is not “mass scale.” It’s proving a small, fanatical core that uses PlayNet as the default lobby.
No follower economy. No algorithmic content discovery. Profiles are private — you only see content from mutual friends, squads, or guilds. v1 focuses on open‑API PC ecosystems for verified identity/activity where users authorize it.
A short, curated list of live and scheduled stacks from close friends and guildmates — optimized for time‑to‑stack.
Unified identity across authorized platforms: games, roles, ranks, achievements, and play schedule — visible only to mutuals/squads.
Roster + roles, calendar blocks, recruitment, private forums/feeds, and templates that post stack cards in one tap.
The primary object is the stack card (session invite), not a generic post. If Tonight isn’t valuable, nothing else matters.
Tonight is not a discovery feed. It surfaces only from mutual friends, squads, and guilds — no randoms, no clout mechanics.
We track verified session starts where platforms allow signals, and use engagement proxies (ready checks, joins, time‑in‑stack) where APIs are limited.
“PlayNet becomes a reflex: open before every session, find the right stack instantly, repeat across games.”
The IG audience is a launchpad to seed the first cohorts and prove the Tonight loop before scaling.
Founder has shipped social‑scale infrastructure solo before and is optimizing for extreme cost efficiency — the real bottleneck to launching new networks.
Monetization is native to the Tonight loop: better‑looking stacks and recruitment pages without pay‑to‑win mechanics or algorithmic reach bait.
Premium improves identity + coordination, not matchmaking outcomes. No “pay to win,” no global discovery feed to buy your way into.
Own the pre‑game decision point and the persistent squad, and you own the habit.
| Product | What it’s great at | Where it breaks for players | PlayNet wedge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discord | Chat & communities; voice; ubiquity | Server sprawl; low structure; not a “Tonight” session-start product | Tonight + stack cards + squad memory across games |
| Steam / PSN / Xbox | Platform-native friends & presence | Siloed ecosystems; weak cross-platform continuity | Unified identity + cross‑platform squads |
| In‑game LFG | Fills a match quickly | Resets each session; low trust; no persistence | Durable squads + scheduling + history |
| Generic social | Reach & content distribution | Clout dynamics; low trust; not play‑intent-driven | Mutual-friends-only graph intentionally rejects followers and discovery feeds |
Earn growth by making sessions start consistently. If stacks don’t start, growth is wasted.
“PlayNet is the reflex pre‑game screen: open, join a stack, play — across every title.”
Build speed, infra cost discipline, and iteration velocity. This round funds polish + cohort GTM — not a bloated team.
Build lean, instrument everything, prove the loop, then scale. No wasted headcount.
If this matches your thesis (consumer social + gaming + subscriptions), we’ll share a short product walkthrough and the v1 instrumentation dashboard spec.