PFor fans of Minecraft and/or Pokémon, talking about Pixelmon is frankly gratifyingWell, until now, with this name, we were talking about a Minecraft map in which an open world is proposed in which aspiring trainers can get hold of these iconic creatures, in addition to interacting with other players (Pixelmon is a map for servers ) and live a lot of adventures, of course all with the unmistakable visual aspect of Minecraft.
However, and for some time now, Pixelmon has been something else for many people, and it is that some time ago the project of a new RPG, with many aspirations, obviously inspired by the Minecraft Pixelmon (and therefore in Pokémon) that, among its characteristics, would offer players unique creatures that they could train, use to play and… yes, indeed, also do business with them, well each creature would be an NFT.
The publication, by way of advance, of some images and trailers of Pixelmon convinced many users, who they were encouraged to invest in the game by acquiring some NFTs that did not yet exist, trusting that those responsible for development would do their job well and, in a few months, they would have their unique creatures. On paper the idea doesn’t sound bad. After all, the Pokémon community has been waiting for a proper open world for years, just what Pixelmon promised them.
Pixelmon introduced himself as “the first AAA quality game in the NFT space«, and his marketing worked wonderfully, because as we can read raised up to $70 million, with some times when purchases translated into up to three ethereums per minute. However, his great success was the beginning of his downfall.
And it is that users, faced with this growth, began to demand their creatures, the NFTs for which they had paid, and as a result of this pressure, those responsible for Pixelmon gave in, and began to deliver the creatures they had acquired to buyers. Then the storm began in social networks, where users, in posts like this, they began to share with the world the creatures they had received.
What was advertised vs. What people got. This is why Projects that bring these ridiculous evaluations like @Pixelmon should always be looked on fairly. This space has too much hype to think only in terms of potential flip value which lets people like @Syberer get away with this pic.twitter.com/VnULBdUGO8
— Colin Healey (@NFTColin) February 25, 2022
As you may have already deduced, the image on the left is one of those published by those responsible for Pixelmon to promote their game. The one on the right, on the other hand, is the creature received by a player. Perhaps you think this is an exception? Well, I’m sorry to tell you that it isn’t. On this thread you can see many other creatures received by the players who bet on Pixelmon and, what is more worrying, what is happening both with the price of these NFTs, and with the money received by the creators of the game.
Thus, the one that promised to be the first triple A game in the metaverse ecosystem, with its NFTs that could make its owners millionaires, seems to be unraveling very quickly. It is true that those responsible have recognized the error, have apologized and promised character improvements. However, players will still have to wait months to get, if ever, creatures with the expected level of design. And even if the intentions of the creators of Pixelmon are good, now they will have to face many problems to get their project off the ground.
Personally I will not say that Pixelmon is a scam, because we are at a point where there is still room for those responsible to prove that what happened was a mistake, but without a doubt we find one more reason to stay, at least for now, as far away from NFTs as possible or, at least, of those that do not have a guarantee that allows us to trust not only in their economic value, that this is not feasible, but at least that they are exactly what we have been promised when buying them.
