Pudgy Penguins, a blue-chip nonfungible token (NFT) project, has recently entered into a representation agreement with the renowned Hollywood talent agency, William Morris Endeavor (WME).
On May 5, Pudgy Penguins announced on Twitter that they are looking to expand their intellectual property into film, television, and gaming.
Pudgy Penguins is the latest NFT project to partner with Hollywood representation, joining Dapper Labs co-founder Mack Flavelle, the Boss Beauties project, FEWOCiOUS, and artist Claire Silver in their pursuit of expanding their brands and expanding their audiences through WME.
Pudgy Penguins has been one of the most successful NFT projects of all time, with CryptoSlam data showing that it is the twenty-first highest-selling project ever. Since its launch in July 2021, it has earned a total of $250.2 million in sales on secondary markets.
Luca Netz of Netz Capital acquired the project last month for 750 Ether, which was valued at approximately $2.5 million on April 3.
Pudgy Penguins has been steadily constructing a Web3 environment along with a related community, and has taken steps towards spreading the project’s intellectual property to the masses.
In March, the project unveiled physical Pudgy Penguin figurines with certificates of authenticity and proof of ownership recorded on Ethereum.
Bitblox, a new blockchain gaming studio, has unveiled its suite of Web3 gambling games built on the Solana-based Hxro Network. The Hxro Network is a distributed liquidity layer for derivatives trading and betting applications.
In 2022, the online gambling industry was valued at approximately $63.5 billion, and Grand View Research projects that it will grow at a rate of 11.7% per year from 2023 to 2030.
On May 4, Bitblox Games announced that they would be shifting their focus towards developing player-versus-player style games which emphasize skill and speed. These games will involve players betting against each other instead of the “house,” like in a casino.
“Blockchain-based gaming provides additional transparency to igaming operators while giving players the ability to bet in new and engaging ways,” said Bitblox CEO Brandt Page.
Specific games have not been revealed yet, but more details are expected soon. Bitblox will make its debut at the CasinoBeats Summit 2023 in Malta between May 23 and May 25.
Palm NFT Studio, an NFT infrastructure and ecosystem developer, has unveiled a new tool via Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, allowing creators to generate “game-ready” 3D assets and art collections.
Dubbed the “Palm Generative Art Maker,” this tool simplifies the process of creating generative art and assets that is usually difficult for creators who do not have extensive coding knowledge.
The Unreal Engine plug-in for the tool was launched on May 4 and is available for download.
Users can develop a concept in the plug-in, port the assets into Unreal Engine 5.1 to refine and complete them, and then mint the assets as NFTs on the blockchain.
The past couple of years have seen a sharp rise in interest in generative art, due in part to the success of projects like CryptoPunks, which focuses on creating profile pictures and avatars, and Tyler Hobb’s Fidenza, an NFT art project. This has helped to popularize the computer-based art style.
Cryptoys has announced that its upcoming launch will feature Star Wars digital collectibles, to be released on the Flow blockchain. Flow is the home of major NFT projects such as NBA Top Shot.
On May 24, NFT collectibles, which resemble Funko Pop figurines, will be released in randomized “blind boxes” at a price of $39.99 per token. Buyers will not know which character they have obtained until after completing the purchase.
Characters from the iconic “Star Wars” franchise, including Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia, will be available as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) in five tiers of rarity from common to rare, legendary, “Grail,” and “Ultra Grail.”
The Kenyan legislature is debating the passage of a bill, presented on May 4, which proposes a 3% tax on cryptocurrency and NFT transfers and a 15% tax on monetized online material.
On May 3, a New York federal court convicted the former OpenSea manager of wire fraud and money laundering for their alleged involvement in insider trading of NFTs.
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