Mythical Games, a non-fungible token (NFT)-based video game startup, announced the launch of the early access phase of its first play-to-earn videogame Blankos Block Party. Luxury fashion company Burberry partnered with Mythical Games to have exclusive NFTs featured in the game.
In most video games, users spend money to buy digital accessories. At least $50 billion a year is spent on digital items with no value once the player loses interest in the game.
Mythical Games is transforming those digital accessories into NFTs. This way, players actually own what they are purchasing and can trade it with other players for real money.
Blankos Block Party, already has over 100,000 NFTs available for purchase. Besides Burberry, Mythical Games partnered with The Marathon Clothing brand, electronic music producer deadmau5, and five artists.
“Our ecosystem introduces digital item fluidity that unlocks the value of a player’s collection and gives them the freedom of ownership; gone are the days of a player’s inventory being filled with items they never use anymore or rare collectibles they can only display,” said Mythical Games CEO John Linden.
Burberry, a well known high-end fashion brand, went through a shift in business strategy around 2018 to target a younger audience. Besides the street-wear looks and modern comfortable clothing, the company also partnered with several companies such as rising talent platform Coloxstudios to appeal to a younger market. The partnership with Mythical Games contributes to the brand’s association with pop culture.
“Pushing boundaries and discovering new ways to innovate with our communities have always been at the heart of what we do as a brand. Being a part of this creative and pioneering community with Mythical Games is an incredible synergy for us and a perfect evolution of our existing engagement with the gaming communities,” said Rod Manley, CMO at Burberry.
Burberry’s Blankos NFTs will be the luxury brand’s first NFTs. If the launch is successful, the company will likely continue to navigate the NFT industry through partnerships with other platforms. One such platform is Neuno, an Australian-based NFT marketplace looking to partner with luxury brands for NFT-based 3D clothing.
The game and Mythical Marketplace, where the NFTs can be purchased and traded, are built on an EOSIO private blockchain. It uses a Proof of Authority model that does not require any crypto mining and is more environmentally friendly than the more common Proof of Work model.
Meanwhile, Mythical Games raised $75 million in a Series B round of funding last week. The investment brings the aggregate amount of money raised by the company to $120 million. Animoca also recently raised $88 million at a $1 billion valuation, and Avatar developer Genies raised $65 million to fund its new NFT platform.
