What Happened This Week in Crypto Gaming and NFTs

Web3 gaming and NFTs can be a hard space to navigate.

So much is happening every day that your brain goes: "Yeesh."

But don't worry - we compiled the most important stories of the week, so we can save you time while you enjoy your Sunday coffee.

Here you go:

• NFT royalties have sparked a heated debate.
• How you can get a free Genesis Pass mint.
• The web3 gaming trend that keeps growing despite the market conditions.
• Lord of the Rings is coming to web3.

Let's break down each story.

NFT Royalties - Good or Bad?

Photo by Afif Ramdhasuma on Unsplash

It all started in the summer of 2022 with SudoSwap when they cut the trading fees to 0.5% and removed the creator royalties.

Soon after, X2Y2 made a similar move, adding optional royalties.

Last week, Magic Eden, the leading NFT marketplace on Solana, moved to optional NFT royalties as well, sparking an industry-wide debate. 

So as of now, more than +30% of the NFT market is dominated by NFT marketplaces that don't use royalties.

Here's why this is important:

Royalties provide NFT creators will cashflow from secondary NFT sales. While creators make money from the mint, getting paid consistently from royalties is another great source of income.

One of the main use cases for NFTs was the monetization available for creators. There are two sides to this argument, so we would like to introduce you to 2 teams:

1) Team Pro Royalties

2) Team Anti Royalties

Let's hear both sides.

Team Pro Royalties: Creators were promised better monetization on web3 with NFT royalties. Now it looks like, at best, they were misled and, at worst, cheated from another source of income.

Team Anti Royalties: NFT founders make more money from the mints than the NFT royalties. The average NFT creator on Magic Eden makes only 8% of its revenue from royalties.

Team Pro Royalties:  While this may be true for 10k NFT collections, not 1/1 artists. Tylor Hobbs, the creator of Fidenza, made $4 million from NFT royalties.

Team Anti Royalties: Sure, but the problem is that royalties are not enforceable on-chain, so traders will find ways not to pay them.

Team Pro Royalties:  So we should try to enforce them in some way.

Team Anti Royalties: The genie is out of the bottle. There are many NFT marketplaces that don't have enforceable royalties, so it would be hard to change that.

Team Pro Royalties: So what are the potential solutions?

Team Anti Royalties:  

All of them are not ideal: 

• Owning a piece of your NFT collection similarly to how projects own a % of their tokens.
• Team Pro Royalties:  That's more similar to equity. Royalties give creators potential cash flow.

• Tip Jar, so NFT traders can give money to their favorite creators.
• Team Pro Royalties: Aren't we back at square one with the Tip Jar? Donations were available in web2 as well.
  

• Blacklisting the people who don't pay royalties.
• Team Pro Royalties:  A creator's main job is creating, not policing people who don't pay them.

Our take:

As you can see, we are in a tough place right now when it comes to creator royalties. It's hard to see a solution, but we feel like the creators were a little cheated by the whole "NFTs are a better monetization too for creators" hype. 

The problem is that while most projects make more money from mints than royalties, especially in the bear market, the downstream effects will be worse.

Top artists like Tyler Hobbs can still make a killing from their mints, but what about the small-time creators?

Here's How You Can Mint a MightyNet Genesis Pass

Photo by Nimi Diffa on Unsplash

Mighty Bear Games is giving out free MightyNet Genesis Pass NFTs for its upcoming game.

Today, we will show you how you can get an allowlist spot for the mint.

There would be only 1337 NFTs that will mint for free on Ethereum.

The mint will play out in three phases:

• Partner Allowlist mint on November 5 at 6pm UTC.
• General Allowlist mint on November 6 at 6pm UTC.
• Public mint on November 9 at 6pm UTC.

If you're a web3 builder or holder of a certain NFT project, you can apply for the general allowlist. 

If you're not, follow the game on Twitter to keep track of the mint process.

Keep in mind that there would be a public mint if there's a leftover supply.

You can get on the General Allowlist if you hold an NFT from at least 2 of the following collections for 2 months minimum in one wallet:

• CryptoPunks
• BAYC
• MAYC
• CloneX
• Doodles
• Space Doodles
• Proof Collective
• Moonbirds
• CyberKongz
• KaijuKingz
• Cool Cats
• Pudgy Penguins
• CyberBrokers
• Forgotten Runes
• Wizard Cult
• DigiDaigaku
• Treeverse Plots
• Loot
• Renga
• Axie Infinity Land holders
• Axie Infinity Origin Axies

By minting a Genesis Pass NFT, you:

• Get early access to all MightyNet games.
• Will be the first to check out new features and content.
• Get sneak peeks, and first dibs on upcoming NFT drops for the MightyNet games.
• Access to private Discord channels and premium support.
• Receive exclusive in-game benefits like cosmetics.

So if you're not on the allowlist and want to mint the Genesis Pass, you can apply here.

We applied, so we wish you the best of luck and see you on the other side.

Move-to-Earn Keeps Growing Despite the Market Conditions

Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash

Our friends at DappRadar dropped a detailed report on crypto gaming, and we loved it.

We found something fascinating - the whole move-to-earn (M2E) space keeps getting more and more popular in these bearish conditions. 

We already covered one move-to-earn app, Sweatcoin, a few weeks back.

Last month, StepN, the app that made the whole M2E space popular, celebrated its one-year anniversary. 

During that time, it has amassed +3 million monthly users. But since March, the usage has been down.

Sweatcoin, on the other hand, is growing.

Its native token, SWEAT, has over +13.5 million token holders with more than 1.3 million active users.

We have used the app ever since we mentioned it in the newsletter, earning those sweet SWEAT tokens.

And more move-to-earn apps are coming.

The Step App will be released on iOS and Android on December 1st.

More than 45 million people have pre-registered for the project, along with one of the greatest sprinters of all time, Usain Bolt.

Genopets dropped an app.

It's a Solana-based move-to-earn app that uses augmented reality, similar to PokemonGo.

It dropped on both Android and iOS devices in September.

And that's not all in the world of M2E.

OliveX Metaverse has partnered with The Sandbox.

It will create a new space in The Sandbox Metaverse to promote the different brand partners:

• Tribe3
• Gym Aesthetics
• Playinnovation

OliveX plans to introduce new products into The Sandbox Metaverse. So a lot of ground has been covered by M2E apps, pun intended. We love the fact that apps that get people moving are growing. That's a healthy and positive trend. We will keep an eye out on the whole space to see if the trend is going to become a mainstay.

Lord of the Rings is coming to web3

Photo by Ergo Zakki on Unsplash

Warner Bros will release 10,999 NFTs based on the first Lord of the Rings movie - The Fellowship of the Ring.

The NFT drop is part of the new movie initiative "Warner Bros Movieverse."

It makes Warner Bros one of the first major media studios to drop NFTs from their popular movie collection.

Users can choose between two types of Lord of the Rings NFTs:

1. Mystery Edition (10k NFTs at $30 each.)

Here the users can mint a common, uncommon, or rare NFT at random. These NFTs will be based on the three movie locations - The Shire, Rivendell, and Mines of Moria. 

Minting one of these NFTs will give the users access to the 4K version of the movie, 8 hours of special features, and commentary. There would also be location-specific images and AR collectibles. 

2. Epic Edition (999 NFTs at $100 each.)

Users get image galleries and AR digital collectibles of The Shire, Rivendell, and Mines of Moria. They also receive the 4K version of the movie + the 8 hours of special features and commentary.

Warner Bros is collaborating with Eluvio, a blockchain startup, for the NFT drop.

Eluvio helps companies with different tools for producing web3 content like streaming, blockchain-based ticketing, and e-commerce.

This is massive news for the global media space.

Warner Bros has the rights for established franchises like Harry Potter, the DC Universe, and Game of Thrones, plus our favorite cartoon, Tom and Jerry.

If the Lord of the Rings drop is successful, we can expect more NFTs from Warner Bros.

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