Neopets Metaverse, an NFT-powered game based on the popular 1999 pet simulator Neopets, was canceled after two years of development. The team behind the game is now repurposing some of its assets for a new mobile game called World of Neopets, which will not have any cryptocurrency elements.
The cancellation of the NFT game was due to market sentiment and negative community sentiment towards crypto. Neopets CEO Dominic Law stated that there is a lot of negative connotation surrounding Web3 and crypto for the mass market. The goal of Neopets is to bring back its 150 million users, many of whom are skeptical and have a negative sentiment towards the technology.
The initial plan was to attract a younger generation of gamers with the Neopets NFTs, but it ended up alienating players instead. Law believes that the release of higher-quality NFT games could help reduce the stigma surrounding the industry, but as of now, he doesn’t see enough good ones on the market.
Neopets recently raised $4 million in funding from pro-crypto investors, but Law stated that the company has limited resources and can only focus on fixing fundamental issues with the site for now. This includes bug fixes and updating over 50 classic Neopets minigames after the end of Adobe Flash technology.
While Neopets has experimented with NFTs in the past, the future of blockchain technology in the game is uncertain. Law mentioned that they initially believed Web3 would be a good idea but did not support the “play-to-earn” philosophy. However, he still sees potential in certain aspects of Web3 technologies for enhancing the game experience and enabling player ownership.
Despite the cancellation of the Neopets Metaverse, the team is determined to address the concerns of the community and focus on fixing the site to meet the expectations of Neopets fans.
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