Go over there, Club Penguin. Pudgy Penguins, the NFT-linked toy that made its way to Walmart earlier this year, is moving into a new industry: online gaming.
They will feel at home in “Pudgy World,” an interactive digital playground for Pudgy Penguins NFT holders and toy owners and beginners. The early access version of the platform will launch by April of next year and will offer players both story-driven and open-ended gameplay options, Pudsey Penguins CEO Luca Netz said Saturday at a conference in Miami. Presented at Art Basel, a contemporary art convention.
“Stubby Penguin fans have been waiting for a long time for more ways to interact with the character,” Nets said in a statement. “Places like Pudgy World allow players to take their fandom to the next level.”
Launched in July 2021, the NFT project of a chubby, flightless Antarctic creature has endured for a long time. internal gossip It involved a change in management, but the company bounced back and eventually announced a tangible, real-world toy line, including stuffed animals and figurines, to be sold in 2,000 Walmart stores in the U.S. in September. The deal marked one of the company’s first major advances. Infiltrating NFT brands into mainstream consumer culture.
Nets says the toys are expected to generate more than $10 million in sales in the second half of this year. Said Tech Crunch.
Pudgy World’s debut comes as toymakers increasingly roll out tangible toys alongside virtual gameplay tie-ins for a digitally native generation of consumers. Last summer, toy maker Spin Master released Bitzee, a Tamagotchi-like virtual pet that comes in a handheld box. Meanwhile, Hot Wheels earlier this year debuted the Rift Rally game, an immersive virtual world accessible to owners of toy car kits.
Each Pudgy Penguins toy comes with a scannable code containing a digital “Forever Pudgy” or birth certificate of a unique character living within Pudgy World (formerly CoinDesk). report.
According to Pudgy Penguins, players will be able to explore Pudgy World as their own customizable character. According to the company, the virtual world will also feature the brand’s first “hero characters”, Puggy and Peach.
The Pudgy Penguins NFT collection first launched in July 2021 and sold out within minutes.Since then, the collection has grown to 8,888 NFTs held by over 4,000 people, OpenSea data indicates. The collection’s starting price is about $27,000, up from $90 more than two years ago. According to CoinGecko, the collection has a market capitalization of approximately $250 million. data indicates.