Neopets Metaverse cancels NFTs & Play-to-Earn vision after $4 million funding, CEO endorsement leaving fans wondering why
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In a recent turn of events fan favorite Neopets pivots away from NFTs and ditches Neopets Metaverse. The decision came after receiving massive funding of $4 million from investors this year in January. Besides, Neopets Meta CEO Dominic Law publicly endorsed play-and-earn games whilst talking to Forbes. The team was positive that their Neopets Metaverse has “all the right ingredients” for the NFT game. Now, the NFT gaming plans are abruptly canceled leaving everything murky. Was it the peer pressure, or fans' backlash against the NFTs? Or was it the mainstream media’s criticism of the beloved IP? Or was it all about following what the community has been asking for?
Neopets Cancels NFTs
Neopets is a successful fan-favorite IP from 1999, its web3 pet simulator is Neopets Metaverse. The web3 NFT game was in its alpha stage having sold more than 9000 Solana NFTs running over several collections. Additionally, the project had solid investors backing it like Polygon and Avalanche.
However, on Monday this week, the Neopets team dropped the bombshell in a blog post with an announcement of the closure of Neopets Metaverse. The blog post also shares that the game will transition from web3 to a non-crypto mobile game. The game is under development by the name World of Neopets.
“TNT has taken a close look at every nook and cranny of Neopets, and after doing so, the decision has been made to transition away from the Neopets Metaverse game and redistribute those resources to the development of a game that we feel can better reflect our values and vision,” TNT said.
“This decision was not made lightly,” TNT added, “but it was made for the best reason: we want to design a game that’s more in line with what the community has been asking for!”
Neopets TNT Goes Independent
The blog post also shares that the company closes a successful management buyout. This means that Neopets is now independent for the first time in 18 years. Neopets calls it corporate baggage, the blog post read, “Free from the corporate baggage that existed in the past, the newly united TNT has now been entrusted with the decision-making and overall brand strategy of Neopets.”
After going independent, the new entity is World of Neopia, Inc. It plans to launch, promising monthly updates, AMAs, and a brand ambassador program for Neopets fans. They plan to introduce a new homepage on July 20 and use an emulator to make old Flash games playable again, generating excitement in the Neopets community.
Fan Reactions
Fans on both sides i.e. traditional and web3 have reactions that are poles apart. NFT fans and web3 enthusiasts aren’t happy with the proceedings. Many are calling it a rug pull which is slang for scams in the crypto world. It is where web3 projects launch NFTs with a promise of future utility and then abandon the project or the game without refunding the buyers. In Neopets' case, the NFT owners’ future is not clear as of now. However, Neopets assured one of the Twitter users that it will continue to support the Web3 community. Still, it remains unclear whether NFT owners will get a refund or will have any utility in the upcoming non-crypto mobile game.
Why Did Neopets Pull the Plug on NFTs?
According to a company representative, “Listening to the voices of the community is paramount to the success of our brand. It’s important to our team to listen to the needs and wants of our fans—this is what’s best for Neopets overall.”
The fans' backlash and publications from major media houses are likely a couple of reasons. Fans boycotting Neopets NFTs and launching a trend on Twitter showed the community’s sentiment. On the other hand, we have publishers criticizing Neopets decision at the time. The Verge remarked it to as “fracking your childhood memories.” While Kotaku was more aggressive with commenting Neopets NFTs as “garbage.” Back then Game Rant analyzed that Neopets was on a “harmful path” by launching NFTs.
Neopets was well aware of the criticism and apologized to the community back in 2021. However, it continued to work on its web3 ambitions until now.
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