A few weeks ago, the Neopets team announced that they were dropping their plans to build a Metaverse game. The news came as a welcome surprise to most Neopets fans, as many were not thrilled with the idea of an NFT-based Neopia. Still, the question remains, “What about those who invested in the Neopets NFTs?” I wanted to take a closer look at this situation to find out what happened and how (or if) those left with the Neopets NFTs would be compensated.
What happened?
In 2014, Viacom and Nickelodeon sold Neopets to JumpStart Games. JumpStart was best known for educational games such as ‘JumpStart Kindergarten’ and ‘Math Blaster’. However, the company struggled to support its Neopets community over the years, and on June 30, 2023, JumpStart shut down completely.
Dominic Law, who was previously in charge of the Neopets Metaverse game, made a deal with JumpStart’s parent company, NetDragon, that allowed the Neopets team to become an independent company. According to their announcement, “In early 2023, Neopets raised $4 million in funding from various investors with plans to nurture a shared dream of an immersive, community-driven gaming experience. Together with additional funding from the management buyout, TNT is poised to deliver real, actionable changes for Neopets.”
It’s important to note that much of the money the team raised came from Web3 investors such as Polygon Ventures, Blizzard Avalanche Ecosystem Fund, and Hashkey Capital.
Was this pulling a rug?
I want to get one thing out of the way here: I’ve always loved Neopets. I was excited when they announced their NFT project, and I got excited again when I heard they were going independent. But the more I learned, the more it reeked of pulling a rug. The project that gave me an adorable frog named “Nimmo” to feed, care for, and send to brutal battles wouldn’t steal people’s money, right?
The Neopets team was quick to reassure NFT holders after many complained on Twitter. On July 17, the company tweeted, “We reused some of the best assets from the Neopets Metaverse game, but we refocused the core of the game and the overall direction. We will continue to support the Web3 community that has embraced ownership of these collections.”
We reused some of the best assets from the Neopets Metaverse game, but we refocused the core of the game and set the overall direction.
We will continue to support the Web3 community that has embraced ownership of these collections.
— Neopets Metaverse (@NeopetsMeta) July 17, 2023
But what does that mean? The people who bought the NFTs expected to use them in the Metaverse. In the absence of the Metaverse, Neopets has effectively robbed these investors of their tokens’ primary use case.
The neopetsmeta.io website is now covered in a message stating that they will “move away from the Neopets Metaverse game and reallocate those resources towards the development of a game that we believe can better reflect our values and vision. ” The message references an article from Medium that sheds more light on the situation.
They mention that they support their NFT holders with benefits that they will announce shortly. These perks can include “physical merchandise, NC items, NC, access to IRL events, and more.”
So, do these advantages compensate for the lack of a metaverse game? That is for the NFT holders to decide.
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*All NFT Plazas investment/financial opinions are derived from the personal research and experience of our site moderators and are intended as educational material only. Individuals are required to fully research each product before making any kind of investment.