The non-fungible token (NFT) craze — which lets people buy digital assets recorded on a blockchain — has covered the spectrum from understandable (NBA highlights) to absurd (an $85 fart).
According to VentureBeat, gaming startup Mythical Games just raised $75m to create a game where the in-game avatars are NFTs.
This definitely falls on the “understandable” part of the spectrum.
Called ‘Blankos Block Party’…
… it is an open-world game that’s currently in early access on PC. In it, little toys called Blankos race, jump, slide, and collect “vibes.”
Each Blanko is an NFT that lives on a blockchain. While the game and the 1st Blanko are free, players can pay to customize and upgrade their Blankos. They can also buy and sell Blankos in the game’s marketplace.
Buying stuff in games is already big business
In 2020, the digital games industry hit $127B, but 78% of that was from free-to-play games where players made in-game purchases.
The top free-to-play game, “Honor of Kings,” saw $2.45B in revenue from player purchases. Once, someone spent $22m on a hero skin of a Chinese military general (we can’t make this sh*t up).
The difference is players own their NFTs
Gamers have cashed in by leveling up and selling “World of Warcraft” characters, but Blizzard Entertainment owns those characters and discourages players from doing that.
In the NFT model Mythical Games is proposing, players would actually own their characters and could freely trade or sell them without relying on a shady black or gray market. The company also wants to license its platform to other game studios.
Guess it’s time to start Blanko farming! Or is it Blanko mining?
