Mattel enters into a multi-year agreement with Cryptoy’s NFT marketplace
The large toy brand Mattel has signed a multi-year partnership with the upcoming toy-focused nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace Cryptoys to exclusively display its brands on the platform.
Cryptoys is expected to launch in late summer 2022 on the Flow blockchain and is the flagship of OnChain Studios, which has received funding from crypto-interested venture capital firms such as Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Dapper Labs.
OnChain Studios is also planning to create a Cryptoys metaverse and other money-making games where Mattel’s intellectual property – including Barbie, Hot Wheels and Masters of the Universe, among many others – will be turned into playable avatars.
Mattels President and CEO Richard Dickson said it was “the first toy company to launch NFTs” and that the brand sees “incredible opportunities in Metaverse for our beloved brands and iconic IPs.”
The partnership was teased by Cryptoys on Wednesday with its Twitter account which posted a cryptic 17-second video with some of Mattel’s retro product commercials.
– Cryptoys (@Cryptoys) June 9, 2022
Mattel has previously explored NFTs and partnered with the WAX blockchain in October 2021 to release a collection of Hot Wheels NFTs. In January 2022, Mattel also auctioned three one-on-one NFTs in collaboration with the French luxury brand Balmain, which gave the brands close to $ 49,000 for all three.
With the NFT sector expected to move around $ 800 billion over the next two years, other toy brands have launched NFTs to take advantage of the growing interest and generate new revenue streams for their business.
Mattel’s biggest competitor Hasbro, which owns brands such as Action Man, My Little Pony and GI Joe, launched its first NFT collection in October 2021 for the Power Rangers brand in an effort to compete in the NFT area.
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Pop culture collectibles giant Funko has created several NFT collections, one of which early featured Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in August 2021, shortly after it acquired the NFT display and tracking platform Tokenwave.
Cryptoys itself also plans to sell a collection of original avatars such as NFTs with these so-called “digital toys” with customization through additional NFTs that can change clothing, accessories and attributes for use in a broader “Cryptoyverse” company plans to build.
Mattel’s NFTs will join other popular projects on the Flow blockchain, including the NBA’s Top Shot and the UFC’s Strike.
