PLUS: Are paid NFT mints dead?

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Here’s what we got for you today:

• Tough times ahead

• Paid mints are dead?

• Dynamic NFTs continue to grow

Let’s get started!

Tough Times Ahead 😢

Building really good games is incredibly challenging and capital extensive. We are rapidly realising the latter in these market conditions.

The creators of Fortnite, Epic Games, announced layoffs recently, cutting 16% of the staff. Tim Sweeney, says “This was a survival move that was necessary”, as the company became aware of how dire the financial situation was just 10 weeks before the layoffs happened.

We also saw Yuga Labs announce a restructuring that is going to help them focus on the core priorities. The CEO Daniel Alegre mentions these changes are necessary for the organisation to evolve. Currently, Yuga Labs is building multiple games and its metaverse Otherside.

On the other hand, we have companies shutting down development because they haven’t raised enough capital. One such recent example is METAPIXEL. They were building an open gaming world, which received great community response.

The MMORPG experience and Web3 elements of the game created a ton of hype around the project. But the studio recently announced they’re pausing the development of METAPIXEL temporarily.

The community was found in disbelief as they expected METAPIXEL to be a breakthrough game in Web3. The sad part here is we may continue to see more such cases as more game studios will feel the financial pain. We may see a shift in focus from Web3 to Web2 games.

Paid Mints Are Dead?📉

NFT space is experiencing a severe downturn in this market. The trading volume has cratered. Very few collections are doing any serious volume. Every new announcement has become a sell-the-news event (except Pudgy Penguins as of late).

During such market conditions with all-time low interest, launching an NFT collection is extremely difficult. The supply, the price, and utility — everything has to align to have any kind of success.

However, the perception of the community towards these parameters has changed a lot over the years, especially the utility aspect. And this can mean different things for different projects. For NFT PFP projects, it can mean exclusive access to community events and other perks.

In the case of gaming, the NFTs can unlock more game content and give holders early access to certain activities. Even after thinking all of this through rigorously, it is still getting hard to sell out paid mints.

A recent example highlighting this situation of paid mints is Fableborne. The gameplanned a paid mint for their NFTs. Unfortunately, it failed to mint out. Guess what they did? They listened to the community and cut the remaining supply.

What’s interesting in the case of Fableborne is the floor price. In most cases, when a collection doesn’t mint out, the holders usually dump it below the floor. But here, the floor price was stable. This shows me they found the right set of holders. At the same time, the mint cost was $40, making it very reasonable for a genesis NFT.

Many such paid mints experienced the same result in recent weeks. This makes me think free mints will be more effective to tap into a larger audience.

Dynamic NFTs Continue to Grow

Dynamic NFTs are a groundbreaking innovation in the world of cryptocurrency, transforming non-fungible tokens from static assets into dynamic, ever-changing entities. These dynamic NFTs respond to external factors, bringing them closer to behaving like software rather than just digital collectibles.

One key change is in the Content of these NFTs. Instead of fixed images or media, dynamic NFTs can autonomously evolve based on factors like time, block hash, or wallet address. For instance, they can represent DeFi positions, governance rights, or community memberships, with their appearance changing based on real-time data.

Another change occurs in the Metadata of these tokens, making them perfect for in-game items that can evolve through gameplay. Unlike traditional games, where item properties are stored centrally, dynamic NFTs store their metadata on decentralised infrastructure, ensuring a persistent record of their evolution.

Supply dynamics introduce a tiered system, where certain assets can only be created through specific combinations or inherit traits from their parents. Projects like Neolastics and Clovers showcase dynamic supply, allowing for new tokens to be created or burned based on community actions.

Lastly, Onchain functionality enables dormant features within NFT contracts to activate when specific conditions are met. This can be seen in games where NFT abilities remain inactive until certain criteria are fulfilled.

Game Updates

• Treasure DAO introduces new platform updates, including a shopping cart and free badge claims.

• OhBabyGames' Kart-racing game sees 12,000 races in successful alpha testing; the next wave begins soon.

• Beam's testnet is now open to all for deployment and experimentation.

• Megaweapon completes migration to Avax.

• SHRAPNEL reveals contents of extraction packs for Operator NFT holders.

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