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Why Upland’s Virtual Land NFTs Are The Future Of Crypto

As the 2021 bull run continues for fungible tokens (aka Bitcoin, Ethereum etc), the asset class of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is poised to catch up and take the crypto world by storm. The rise of NFTs coincides with the rise of metaverses, or parallel worlds where people are spending more and more of their time and money.

Known from the pre-blockchain era mainly through Second Life, blockchain metaverses have burst onto the scene. One such example is Upland, a metaverse that has shown strong growth over the past three months and is now one of the top 3 blockchain dapps in terms of daily active users.

Upland is an EOS blockchain-powered metaverse that allows players to own virtual properties that are mapped to real-world addresses. Upland launched in San Francisco in 2019 and recently expanded to New York City, NY and Fresno, CA with the planned addition of new cities arriving in the near future. Note that you don’t need to be in one of these cities to play Upland, it can be played from anywhere in the world. As Upland expands and properties from across the world become tokenized, every real-life property will one day have a virtual version of itself located in Upland. Virtual property will be as ubiquitous and valuable as property in real life, and Upland is leading the charge to make that happen.

In order to participate, users need to purchase virtual land which themselves are unique, non-fungible tokens. Since every property NFT is a 1/1 edition of itself, it can be expected that as more people join, land prices for these NFT properties will appreciate because of the scarcity factor built-in to digital metaverses. In fact, Upland recently auctioned the New York Stock Exchange for a jaw-dropping $23,000 USD, or 23,000,000 UPX.

Upland follows the principles of an open market economy and uses blockchain technology to ensure true ownership of digital assets: once you purchase a property, it is yours to own forever. Each property parcel is a unique NFT that can be bought, sold, and traded for-profit using the in-game currency called UPX. Upland has an active partnership with Tilia Pay (a subsidiary Linden Labs, the makers of Second Life) that allows players to sell NFT properties for U.S. Dollars. While it is currently in beta, this feature will soon be available to all Uplanders. This makes Upland the first metaverse to allow the conversion of digital asset value into a real-world value-form, fiat money.

As a digital landowner in Upland, you earn a monthly yield of UPX coins that can be used to purchase more properties. Upland’s product roadmap is focused on the user-driven development and construction of single-family homes, real businesses, and cultural centers, including art galleries, on their NFT property parcels.

Since fully-fledged property development is around the corner, Upland recently tested their new 3D building tools with a series of competitions called The Sandbox Wars, designed around a “property development sandbox” that allowed Uplanders to experiment with these new features.

The Sandbox Wars provide an interesting case study with regards to the future potential of Upland’s property development mechanics.

Here’s how it worked: The Sandbox Wars pit different Upland neighbourhoods against each other in a unique game of strategy. Players built alliances while working against other organically formed neighbourhoods teams, both scoring points for their own team while attacking the points of their opponents. Neighbourhoods gained points by building structures like apartment buildings and houses, but also strategically built cell towers to detract from other neighbourhoods’ points. Construction was made possible by using Spud, a unique in-game utility token that is “staked” when constructing a building: the more spud “staked” against a building, the faster it will build. This is a preview of how property development will actually function in Upland following the launch of Upland’s resource token Spark in 2021.

This is only just the beginning. There’s never been more fun to enter the Upland Metaverse, so join today using this special link for a doubled signup bonus! Available on both mobile and web: https://discover.upland.me/blockchainnews_01_2021

Image source: Upland.Me

Polygon Launches New Division Polygon Studios, Focusing on Blockchain Games and NFT Fields

Ethereum layer 2 scaling solution Polygon today announced launching a new division of Polygon Studios on Tuesday, July 20, which will focus on blockchain games and non-fungible tokens (NFT).

The new studio, Polygon Studios, is divided into two projects: Polygon Gaming Studio and a marketing integrated platform; the former project focuses on providing developers and game creators with decentralised game creation.

Polygon said on Monday:

“With the launch of Polygon Studios, games get 360-degree building support, big brands and much loved franchises can launch on Polygon, and gamers can enjoy a whole new world of play to opportunities and decentralised gaming.”

In addition, another project is called Polygon NFT Studio, which is dedicated to helping brands, and intellectual property owners develop customised NFT models and markets.

Two projects achieving Polygon’s core goal are to consolidate Polygon’s current leading position as the de-facto platform for NFTs and games.

Polygon tweeted that:

“We’re thrilled to work on this mission to serve as a gateway bridging Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 and we aim to further strengthen our dominant position as the de-facto platform for Decentralized Play to Earn and Blockchain Gaming.”

Polygon uses a customised version of the Plasma framework built on proof-of-stake (PoS) checkpoints that run through the Ethereum main chain. The sidechains of Polygon are designed to support various DeFi protocols that run on the Ethereum blockchain.

There are currently more than 100,000 gamers and more than 500 decentralised applications, including game projects such as Aavegotichi, Decentraland, and Skyweaver, and the NFT market OpenSea.

Ubisoft Launches Digits, the First AAA-level Game Energy-saving NFT

Rennis, France-based Ubisoft, a video game developer and publisher launches a platform called “Digits” on its own Ubisoft Quartz NFT platform, stepping into the field of encrypted NFT.

The game titan said it will launch a Ghost Recon Breakpoint beta version for PC players on Ubisoft Connect this week.

The official Twitter claims to bring the first energy-saving NFT that will be displayed in AAA games into the Ghost Recon Breakpoint beta. According to Ubisoft, users of the beta version will receive three cosmetics for free, starting from Thursday, December 9.

The statement shared on the Ubisoft website stated that players could obtain Digit, a collection of Ubisoft’s game world, the first NFT that runs energy-saving technology in a AAA game.

AAA is a division in the video game industry, which refers to games with high production costs and high marketing costs. The marketing cost is also a huge expense, and the promotion cost may even exceed the cost of making the game itself.

The first three digits will be awarded to early adopters for free on December 9, 12, and 15. Some of the equipment numbers in the game will be issued in limited and limited editions in the United States and Canada on these three days.

Didier Genevois, Director of Blockchain Technology at Ubisoft, said that the digitization of the world has significantly accelerated the changes in the way users and communities interact online.

Meanwhile, Blockchain Product Director Baptiste Chardon said that the decentralized nature of blockchain opens up new opportunities in the game field, such as interoperability between games or an unprecedented level of autonomy in the community in the game world. He added that：

“In that sense, added on top of existing tools, we see blockchain as a means of placing back into the hands of players and creators the value they generate through their engagement with their games. We see this as an evolution of real-life possibilities in the digital space.”

Considering the impact of blockchain technology development on the environment, Ubisoft has been exploring this energy-saving alternative and chose to use the proof-of-stake blockchain technology Tezos. This type of blockchain achieves the same result, using much less energy consumption than an energy-intensive proof-of-work (POW) protocol.

The company promises to use only this energy-saving solution, thereby reducing the global carbon footprint.

Microsoft Acquires Activision Blizzard for $68.7B, Enters Metaverse

On Tuesday, January 18, Microsoft announced that it has acquired Activision Blizzard, a game development leader and interactive entertainment content publisher, for $68.7 billion. The acquisition means Microsoft enjoy access to the Metaverse, accelerating Microsoft’s gaming business in mobile, PC, consoles and the cloud.

The acquisition will be in the form of a stock purchase, with Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard for $95.00 per share in an all-cash deal valued at $68.7 billion.

The acquisition, which is expected to complete in fiscal 2023, will make Microsoft the third largest gaming company in the world after Tencent and Sony.

The acquisition enables the tech giant to own iconic franchises from Video Vision, Blizzard and King Studios such as Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty and Candy Crush Legends, and global esports events through Major League Baseball.

The chairman and CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, said that:

“Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms.”

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has been appointed as the CTO of Microsoft, leading his team to continue steering the company’s operations until the deal closes and will then report to Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer.

“Players everywhere love Activision Blizzard games, and we believe the creative teams have their best work in front of them,” said Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming.

With nearly 95% of the world’s gamers playing mobile games, there is a very significant opportunity in this market. Following the acquisition, there are plans to integrate Activision Blizzard games into Game Pass. It is reported that more than 25 million users worldwide have subscribed to Game Pass.

In 2020, Lition, an enterprise blockchain, was integrated into the Microsoft Azure cloud marketplace to provide blockchain as a service (BaaS) solutions.

a16z Floats $600m Gaming Fund

After more than a decade of actively investing in the gaming industry, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) wants to further exert its influence in that space.

In order to do this, the investment giant has floated a $600 million fund which it believes will help position it aright to tap enough market share in the more than $300 billion industry.

The company said it floated the fund which it named Games Fund One with the backing of key players in the gaming industry including David Baszucki, founder of Roblox; Jason Citron, founder of Discord; Marc Merrill, co-founder of Riot Games; Mike Morhaime, co-founder of Blizzard; Aleks Larsen and Jeffrey Zirlin, co-founders of Sky Mavis; Kevin Lin, co-founder of Twitch, Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga; and Riccardo Zacconi, founder of King.

The enormous funds will be used to support startups building a wide range of solutions in the space. These solutions border on infrastructure, supporting ecosystems for developers, and outfits developing games directly.

“GAMES FUND ONE is founded on the belief that games will play a pivotal role in defining how we socialize, play, and work over the next century. Over the past decade, games have undergone a radical transformation, from simply being packaged entertainment to becoming online services that more closely resemble social networks and scale-like consumer technology companies,” the firm said in a blog post written by the trio of Andrew Chen, Jonathan Lai, and James Gwertzman, General Managers at a16z who will be in charge of the fund.

As it has gone all out with gaming, Andreessen Horowitz is also bullish on the role blockchain technology and Web3.0 has to play in the long-term future of the gaming industry.

The firm detailed in a report earlier how Web3.0, powered by blockchain is a better offshoot for creators when compared to traditional solutions, and as such, the investment from Games Fund One will be extended to the emerging ecosystem to complement earlier investments in CryptoKitties and Axie Infinity and other notable startups in the space.

Andreessen has also been an active proponent of the blockchain gaming space. The company’s general partner Arianna Simpson has led investments in several high-profile pay-to-earn and crypto-related gaming companies like Axie Infinity maker Sky Mavis.

According to Protocol, the fund will also collaborate with Andreessen’s crypto fund to co-invest in blockchain gaming deals.

Animoca Brands Releases Key Unaudited Financial Report, Portfolio investments Worth Over $1.5Bn

Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands has released the company’s key unaudited financial and business highlights for the last three months of 2021 and the first four months of 2022.

According to the report, the blockchain gaming specialist ended bookings and other income of A$213 million (approximately US$148 million) on December 31, 2021, for three months. While A$827 million (approximately US$573 million) was closed on April 30, 2022, for four months.

Bookings include token sales, non-fungible token (NFT) sales and non-blockchain activities. The report added that other income includes gains/losses of investments and digital assets holdings.

The results include contributions from the company’s key business units, including The Sandbox, GAMEE, nWay, Blowfish Studios, Grease Monkey Games, REVV Motorsport, TOWER, Quidd, Lympo, and Forj (formerly Bondly), in addition to blockchain service revenue arising from portfolio investments and partnerships.

As of April 30, Animoca Brands’ portfolio investments were valued at over A$2.2 billion (approx. US$1.5 billion) across over 340 investments. While, the company also had a cash balance of A$141 million (approx. US$98 million) and digital assets holdings of A$304 million (approx. US$211 million) in the form of USDC, USDT, BUSD, ETH and BTC.

Another key financial highlight as of April 30, was that other digital assets holdings of the company included third-party tokens of A$952 million (approx. US$659 million). The company’s digital assets reserves were at A$6.1 billion (approximately US$4.2 billion), which includes the Animoca Brands tokens SAND, QUIDD, PRIMATE, REVV, TOWER, GMEE, and others.

According to the financial report, the company successfully acquired Grease Monkey Games, Darewise, Eden Games, Notre Game and Be Media. Through these purchases, the company aims to strengthen and expand gaming and Web3 capabilities.

Animoca Brands’ also set up new ventures such as AniCube with Cube Entertainment, MetaHollywood with Planet Hollywood and OneFootball Labs with OneFootball.

One of the company’s major partnerships has been the Otherside project with Yuga Labs. The project aims to build the metaverse game of the Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC).

The company also partnered with ApeCoin DAO to launch ApeCoin (APE).

In terms of tokens, Animoca Brands launched the play-to-earn PRIMATE Token for their mobile game Benji Bananas, connected to the ApeCoin ecosystem.

The blockchain gaming company was also successful in expanding business to Japan through their strategic subsidiary Animoca Brands Japan with a seed round of US$10 million.

Animoca Brands subsidiary Lympo recently launched the SPORT token to replace the Lympo utility token LMT.

According to Blockchain.News, the SPORT token has been launched on the MEXC exchange (SPORT/USDT pair) and on the decentralized exchange Quickswap (SPORT/MATIC and other pairs). The SPORT token contract is bridged to Polygon Network and BNB Chain.

Also, in a recent development, the company, along with Blowfish Studios, announced the closure of one of the most anticipated AAA blockchain games.

According to Blockchain.News, the Planet Private Sale for Phantom Galaxies sold 7,734 Planets and Asteroids (“Planets”) for a total of US$19.3 million.

Holders of the Planets – which are NFTs – will gain in-game real estate and utility along with a regular emission of the native cryptocurrency of Phantom Galaxies, Blockchain.News added.

GameStop Phases Out NFT Platform in Response to Regulatory Challenges

GameStop, a renowned gaming retailer, recently announced that it will be closing its nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace on February 2, 2024. This decision reflects a broader trend of GameStop scaling back its involvement in cryptocurrency and related services.

Source: GameStop

The closure of the NFT marketplace is a significant step in GameStop’s gradual retreat from the crypto world. In a statement on their website, the company informed users that, effective February 2, 2024, they would no longer be able to buy, sell, or create NFTs on GameStop’s platform. Despite this, GameStop reassured NFT owners that their assets, being part of the blockchain, would remain accessible and could be traded on other platforms.

GameStop cited the continuing regulatory uncertainty in the crypto space as the primary reason for this decision. This move aligns with the company’s cautious stance towards digital assets, especially given the unclear regulatory landscape. It’s part of a pattern of reducing its involvement in the crypto sector, including discontinuing access to certain digital wallets and reducing its focus on crypto-related initiatives following significant financial loss.

Interestingly, this development comes at a time when the crypto industry is observing a more open regulatory stance from authorities, such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent approval of 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs. However, GameStop has chosen to proceed with caution, prioritizing the security of investor funds and avoiding potential risks associated with the evolving digital asset landscape.

GameStop CEO Matt Furlong emphasized the potential in the crypto space but also stressed the importance of navigating this area carefully, considering the interests and safety of investors. The company’s decision reflects a growing trend among businesses to balance the opportunities presented by digital assets with the need for clear regulatory frameworks and risk management.

In conclusion, GameStop’s announcement to shut down its NFT marketplace is a noteworthy development in the digital asset space. It highlights the challenges businesses face in adapting to the fast-evolving world of cryptocurrencies and the importance of regulatory clarity for the future growth of this sector.