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NUCL3AR // DIGITAL ARTS

NFT Game 'Pixelmon' Raised $70M Only To Deliver Hilariously Bad Art

NFT Game ‘Pixelmon’ Raised $70M Only To Deliver Hilariously Bad Art

iStockphoto / Andrei Barmashov

When Pixelmon announced they were going to create an open-world role-playing game using NFTs, people were instantly excited to hear more.

The individuals behind the project explained the RPG would be set in the world of “Eden,” where players could capture, trade, and sell the NFT Pixelmon characters.

This was the demo reel that really got people hyped up.

Have you seen our game demo? You can download and play it for yourself now at https://t.co/h0cilGdQV1!

Who wants a Mintlist?
Do one or both of the below:

1. Post a Screenshot in game with the hashtag #PixelmonNFT and tag @ThePixelmon 💙
2. Like, RT and Comment on this post 🔥 pic.twitter.com/KAj04N93bs

— Pixelmon (@Pixelmon) February 7, 2022

Skepticism on Pixelmon Raising $70 Million on Initial Mint

Pixelmon generated so much buzz they were able to raise $70 million dollars to fund the project. The founders set the mint to a Dutch-style auction with a whopping start price of 3 ETH (or around $8800 in today).

After every 10 minutes, the price to buy an NFT character would then drop by 0.1 until the lot of 10,000 NFTs sold out.

Several NFT influencers on Twitter took to express how buyers should take caution before buying into a project priced so high. Many people pointed out it could be a potential rug pull.

Pixelmon raised $70m for a game that isnt anywhere close to being finished, encouraged people to buy the peak of their DA, and did it all by growing their socials/discord to enormous sizes to give off an illusion of desire

The NFT space is doomed if it cannot recognize red flags

Let me get this straight… a unreleased hyped project, Pixlemon, just had a 3 Eth mint and did $69M primary sales?

— ThreadGuy.eth 💫 (@DiscoverXnft) February 7, 2022

What caused even more skepticism is when Pixelmon’s main founder, Syber, confidently tweeted “Pixelmon is the next blue chip. Don’t do your own research.”

Pixelmon is the next blue chip. This is financial advice. Don’t do your own research.

— Syber | Pixelmon (@Syberer) December 23, 2021

It’s worth noting $70 million similar to that of a major video game budget for a company like Xbox or Playstation.

Pixelmon Flopping on Art Reveal

Over the past weekend, Pixelmon revealed the artwork of what the NFT characters would look like. Fans and investors were instantly confused after seeing the characters appeared nothing like what was advertised.

Here are some of the initial tweets showing what the characters would look like at first.

— Syber | Pixelmon (@Syberer) December 19, 2021

In reality, the artwork was so horrible people started trolling the heck out of the project.

— Cobie (@cobie) February 26, 2022

Welp, @Pixelmon just made over $70 million dollars and when reveal happened, this is what everyone got. pic.twitter.com/3v6euOIdkT

— Hustler (@0xHustler) February 26, 2022

One Pixelmon character was hilariously bad. Its name is Kevin.

GM to everyone and especially Pixelmon Kevin here 👇🏼☕️ pic.twitter.com/9k1pNdOXbz

— VonDoom.eth (@CryptoVonDoom) February 27, 2022

Kevin has taken the NFT world by storm after being born out of the #Pixelmon disaster. Can’t wait for all the Kevin derivative projects. 😆 pic.twitter.com/4LzJGiut4s

— TheNFTdΞgen.eth (@TheNFTdegen_eth) February 28, 2022

Where the Project Goes from Here

Many people in the NFT space are calling Pixelmon a scam however, Syber expressed remorse via Twitter and said the team would fix the problem.

The Pixelmon reveal was unacceptable. This is what our Pixelmon look like in-game. Our NFT art failed to reflect this.

Despite the fud I will not go anywhere. The goal hasn’t changed. The funds will still be used to build our game. I will see this project through. pic.twitter.com/ViFzyKhbqL

— Syber | Pixelmon (@Syberer) February 26, 2022

This doesn’t negate the fact Pixelmon was allegedly hiring people on freelancing sites like Upwork and ripping off stock models anyone can go buy.

You can’t make this up…

Pixelmon’s art team are actually ……. people hired on Upwork pic.twitter.com/QlLRqBM900

Projects like @Pixelmon are destroying NFT space.

3 ETH ($10k USD) mint then hiring artists from @Upwork to deliver on art is pure disrespect to the community.

Decentralization is appealing until teams perform day-time robbery and people cry for customer service. pic.twitter.com/zjLHRBOz52

— EddyisKongz.eth 🇺🇦 (@eddyiskongz) February 26, 2022

And just to be clear, this isn’t necessarily a knock to artists on Upwork, but if you’re a project that’s raised $70 million dollars you would anticipate the founders to hire a professional design studio to get the artwork right.

Remember, this is the same type of budget major video game titles get.

Now, Syber is also expressing they’ve hired a studio with “500 employees.”

Regardless of the hate and threats that I am receiving on Twitter I will not go anywhere. The goal hasn’t changed. The funds will still be used to build our game.

The game is in the hands of a professional studio that has over 500 employees. We will see this project through.

— Syber | Pixelmon (@Syberer) February 26, 2022

Only time will tell if Pixelmon fixes the problem they’ve caused. If they can get it right, they’ll deliver on a major first for how NFTs can be used in gaming.

But for now, they’re this week’s laughing stocks of the NFT world.

This content was originally published here.