Only a few months in the past, Neopets Meta CEO Dominic Regulation publicly promoted the idea of “play-and-earn” Web3 gaming and informed Forbes that the cutesy Neopets franchise supplied “all the proper substances” for an NFT recreation. However now it’s been abruptly canceled—and it’s not completely clear why.
Neopets Metaverse, a free-to-play title primarily based on the 1999 digital pet simulator net recreation, was in its alpha stage of growth and the crew had already offered over 9,000 Solana NFTs throughout a number of collections—plus it raised thousands and thousands from backers together with Polygon Ventures and Avalanche’s ecosystem fund.
On Monday, the Neopets Workforce—which refers to itself because the acronym TNT—printed a weblog put up explaining the Neopets Metaverse shutdown and its pivot to a non-crypto cell recreation in growth known as World of Neopets.
Neopets Metaverse Transition: A Message from The Neopets Workforce
Greetings, Neopians!
Change is within the air, and Neopets is coming into a brand new period!
However what precisely does that imply?
Effectively, for one, Neopets has new management, which is working as a brand new, cohesive unit with TNT to make sure…
— Neopets Metaverse (@NeopetsMeta) July 17, 2023
“TNT has taken an in depth take a look at each nook and cranny of Neopets, and after doing so, the choice has been made to transition away from the Neopets Metaverse recreation and redistribute these sources to the event of a recreation that we really feel can higher replicate our values and imaginative and prescient,” the corporate mentioned.
“This determination was not made frivolously,” TNT added, “nevertheless it was made for the very best purpose: we wish to design a recreation that’s extra consistent with what the neighborhood has been asking for!”
Neopets is now additionally underneath “a model new management crew,” per the put up. Does this imply that Regulation, its Hong Kong-based Web3 advocate who beforehand labored at varied monetary corporations, is out?
Google Will Let Android Play Retailer Video games and Apps Supply NFTs
It truly seems that he’s staying on the firm. Regulation’s Linkedin profile nonetheless reveals him at Neopets, and his title shifted this month from “Chief Metaverse Officer” to CEO. That mentioned, it’s unclear whether or not it was his determination to maneuver Neopets away from NFTs.
Regulation has not but responded to Decrypt’s request for remark.
Nonetheless, Neopets has secured a “administration buyout,” that means it should turn out to be impartial for the primary time in 18 years. Neopets was purchased by Viacom in 2005, who later offered it to Jumpstart, which was then acquired by Japanese gaming agency NetDragon—who then shuttered Jumpstart final month.
“Free from the company baggage that existed up to now, the newly united TNT has now been entrusted with the decision-making and total model technique of Neopets,” the weblog put up reads.
The brand new Neopets entity is known as World of Neopia, Inc. and guarantees its followers month-to-month updates, AMAs, and a model ambassador program. TNT plans to launch a brand new homepage for Neopets on July 20 and can use an emulator to replace its outdated Flash video games and make them playable once more.
Unfinished enterprise
In response to the information, a number of Twitter customers known as the now-canceled NFT recreation “a rug” or rugpull—referring to a kind of rip-off by which creators promote NFTs with guarantees of future utility, solely to desert mentioned challenge earlier than the guarantees are fulfilled with out refunding consumers.
Neopets assured one Twitter consumer that it “will proceed to assist the Web3 neighborhood.” The corporate echoed that sentiment in its weblog put up as properly, noting that it’s going to proceed to function a Discord server for NFT holders.
Whereas TNT mentioned it has “repurposed a number of the finest belongings” from the canceled recreation, it’s unclear whether or not NFT house owners will be capable of declare refunds or see any advantages within the new cell recreation, which doesn’t use any type of crypto. A Neopets consultant informed Decrypt that it plans to supply NFT house owners “perks,” together with its digital “NC” in-game forex and digital gadgets on the platform.
“We’re so grateful for the assist of the neighborhood that has sprung up across the Neopets digital collectable traces, and as an indication of our appreciation we shall be saying extra particulars on future perks quickly,” the consultant mentioned. “These might embrace bodily merch, NC gadgets, NC, entry to IRL occasions, and extra.”
We now have repurposed a number of the finest belongings from the Neopets Metaverse recreation, however we now have refocused the core recreation loop and total path.
We are going to proceed to assist the Web3 neighborhood that has embraced possession of those collections.
— Neopets Metaverse (@NeopetsMeta) July 17, 2023
Requested if Neopets pivoted away from NFTs attributable to neighborhood backlash, an organization consultant informed Decrypt, “Listening to the voices of the neighborhood is paramount to the success of our model. It’s necessary to our crew to hearken to the wants and desires of our followers—that is what’s finest for Neopets total.”
Neopets’ crypto push
Neopets has a historical past of exploring NFT integrations. Again in 2018, it briefly experimented with Ethereum NFTs. However Neopets fansite JellyNeo estimates that only one,800 NFTs have been offered, resulting in a meager take of roughly $14,500 on the time.
After TNT mentioned it had been operating Neopets at a loss for over a decade, it raised $4 million in funding in January from various enterprise capital corporations, together with notable crypto-centric corporations. The checklist included Polygon Ventures, Avalanche’s Blizzard Ecosystem Fund, HashKey Capital, IDG Capital, and NetDragon.
A Neopets consultant informed Decrypt that its backers stay “extraordinarily supportive” of the corporate regardless of the present pivot away from NFTs.
“Our traders imagine within the crew’s capability to execute on constructing a brighter future for Neopets,” the consultant mentioned. “They’re extraordinarily supportive of our imaginative and prescient for the IP and what we now have within the pipeline.”
Within the January funding announcement, HashKey Funding Director Xiao Xiao mentioned that Neopets had “nice potential in its NFT and P2E [play-to-earn] options,” and that “founders like Dominic [Law]” have been in a position to “at all times execute and ship.”
However Regulation himself informed Forbes just some months later that he believes “play-to-earn” video games resemble Ponzi schemes—and that he prefers a “Web3 gaming” mannequin that stops speculators from manipulating markets by specializing in enjoyable gameplay in the beginning.
Representatives at Ava Labs, IDG, and HashKey didn’t instantly reply to Decrypt’s request for remark. Polygon Ventures declined to remark.
In January, Regulation mentioned that the NFT recreation “will seize the spirit of the Neopets neighborhood.” However now, the Neopets crew is singing a distinct tune—that shifting away from NFTs is finally finest for its neighborhood.
Large backlash
Given the announcement remark about responding to what the neighborhood was asking for, the Neopets Metaverse recreation might have been canceled partially due to the backlash from followers.
One offended Neopets fan who began the #NoNeoNFTs marketing campaign beforehand informed gaming publication Polygon in 2021 that he believed that NFT video games have been “low high quality and scammy.” The fan additionally accused the NFT neighborhood as a complete of being “homophobic” and “racist” as the reason why he didn’t need the Neopets model to affiliate itself with digital belongings.
Different publications additionally slammed Neopets for its determination to launch NFTs. The Verge known as Neopets NFTs “the fracking of your little one recollections.” Kotaku argued that the Neopets NFTs “appear like rubbish.” And Sport Rant claimed that Neopets was happening a “dangerous path” by releasing NFTs.
Whereas Neopets apologized again in 2021 for the “huge change” introduced on by the creation of the Neopets Metaverse recreation, it continued to construct and assist its NFT plans—till now, that’s.
