What’s New in the Metaverse: Video Games and Hot Wheels
Final Fantasy creator Square Enix is doubling down on Web3. L. Cohen—WireImage for XSEED Marketing & Games
Welcome to This week in the Metaverse, where Fortune rounding up the most interesting news in the NFT world, culture and metaverse. Email [email protected] with tips.
Let’s talk about blockchain games. The talk of mixing Web3 technology with video games can sometimes be controversial for mainstream gamers. Many are opposed to the idea, and yet gaming remains a significant part of activity on the chain – and a sector with great potential.
Games accounted for 45.6% of all decentralized app activity in the first quarter of the year, according to Dapp Radar. And investments in blockchain games and metaverse projects totaled $434 million in March alone—and more than $700 million over the entire first quarter.
Although some notable companies in the gaming industry, such as Ubisoft and Microsoft, have distanced themselves from NFTs, others are making progress.
Final Fantasy Creator Square Enix announced this week that it is working with PC game startup Elixir to incorporate Web3 technology into its products, according to Decrypt.
“This partnership brings us closer to Web3 gaming mass adoption,” Elixir CEO Carlos Roldan said in a statement.
This partnership builds on the launch of Square Enix’s first Web3 game, Symbiogenesisand an earlier investment in the metaverse platform The Sandbox.
In particular, many of the advancements in Web3 gaming seem to be coming from Asia, where 55% of global gamers, roughly 1.7 billion people, are located. This group contributed more than $72 billion in annual gaming revenue in 2019, according to DappRadar.
Although cryptocurrencies are banned in China, South Korean and Japanese companies are doubling down on blockchain technology.
While gamers in the US sometimes have a negative view of Web3, that may not be the case in other countries. Citing a market survey by Pacific Meta, DappRadar reported that 40% of respondents in Square Enix’s home country of Japan were aware of blockchain games, and of those 40%, around 56% had a positive impression of them.
In other news
Fans of The Adventures of Tintin comics or the 2011 movie of the same name can now own a piece of the action with two new NFT collections powered by the NFT infrastructure company Crossmint. The first collection is linked to a limited edition printed poster – only 777 will be minted – which can be redeemed for a physical print. The other is purely virtual, but comes with digital copies of Tintin creator Hergés The blue lotus book – in black and white and color – and a one-time pass for two adults and two children to the Hergé Museum in Belgium.
Courtesy of Crossmint
Mattel introduced peer-to-peer trading in partnership with NFT Marketplace Rare this week for the platform it launched last year to host branded non-fungible tokens. Owners of Mattel NFTs can now list, trade and sell their assets on the marketplace. The company also launched a new line of Hot Wheels® NFTs in packs of seven that include 40 unique cars from McLaren, Pagani, Aston Martin, Chevroletand Porsche. Those who get the rarest of the cards can get a physically molded copy of their car.
The Wolf of Wall Street the film is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a limited run of NFTs featuring never-before-seen scenes and access to an invite-only event in December. The NFTs, which will launch sometime in the second quarter, feature outfits from the films as well as images of some of the main characters played by Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbieand Jonah Hill.
