Square Enix’s NFT-friendly CEO is stepping down, but it may not impact the firm’s NFT plans, and Disney-backed Baobab Studios’ first NFT drop sells out.
Krapopolis, the nonfungible token (NFT)-affiliated cartoon series from Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon, has been renewed for a third season by Fox, despite season one not even airing yet.
The Krapopolis team announced the renewal via Twitter on March 2 and emphasized that NFT holders can still engage with the show before it airs.
HOLY KRAP! Citizens we just got BIG news that Krapopolis has been renewed for a *third season*. You don’t need to wait for the show to start, you can start participating now by voting, viewing exclusive content, redeeming rewards and more on https://t.co/vQCCep6yyq!
— Krapopolis (,) (@Krapopolis) March 2, 2023
Speaking to Deadline on March 2, Michael Thorn, Fox’s president of scripted programming, noted “We’re so bullish about the work that we want to support and its ability to find an audience and succeed,” as he emphasized his faith in Harmon. “While [a third season order] is atypical, it was a no-brainer for us with Krapopolis,” he added.
Krapopolis is an animated comedy set in ancient Greece that follows a “flawed family of humans, gods and monsters that try to run one of the world’s first cities without killing each other.”
The cast includes some big names such as Richard Ayode, Matt Berry, Pam Murphy, Duncan Trussell and Hannah Waddingham.
The series is produced by Fox Corp’s NFT firm Blockchain Creative Labs, which also provides the NFT-related elements for the show.
The NFTs are called “Krap Chickens,” and depict cartoon chicken avatars in the same art style as the show. There are 10,420 tokens, with some still up for mint at 0.18 Ether (ETH).
Holders are given exclusive access to experiences, content, rewards and voting rights on certain aspects of the show.
Square Enix’s CEO steps down
Square Enix’s NFT-friendly CEO, Yosuke Matsuda, is stepping down after nearly 10 years at the helm of the firm behind the fantasy franchise.
In a March notification of company changes, Square Enix outlined that Takashi Kiryu will take over the CEO role from Matsuda. However, the move won’t be finalized until an annual shareholders meeting in May.
While Web3 and NFTs weren’t referenced explicitly in the notification, the firm did indicate that it is still looking to push on with new tech integrations, suggesting its blockchain-related plans may remain unhindered.
“Under the rapid change of business environment surrounding the entertainment industry, the proposed change is intended to reshape the management team with the goal of adopting ever-evolving technological innovations and maximizing on the creativity of the Company’s group,” the filing read.
While at Square Enix, Matsuda took a bullish position on Web3 gaming several times.
In a New Year’s letter from Jan. 1, Matsuda emphasized Square Enix had devoted “aggressive investment and business development efforts” toward the space in 2022 and would continue to do so in 2023.
“Following the excitement and exhilaration that surrounded NFTs and the metaverse in 2021, 2022 was a year of great volatility in the blockchain-related space,” he mentioned in the note, adding:
“However, if this proves to have been a step in a process that leads to the creation of rules and a more transparent business environment, it will definitely have been for the good of the growth of blockchain entertainment.”
Under Mastuda’s leadership, Square Enix rolled out tokenized Final Fantasy character collectibles in July 2022 and partnered with the Oasys blockchain gaming project in September. In December 2022, the firm also invested $52.7 million into mobile game developer Gumi Games to help develop mobile-based play-to-earn titles.
Mint Madness
Multichain NFT marketplace Magic Eden has launched a “Mint Madness” campaign that offers free access or “free mints” to 13 Web3 games in March.
Mint Madness went live on March 3, and the name is a nod to the famous NCAA college basketball tournament dubbed “March Madness,” which sees roughly 67 basketball games crammed into the month.
The blockchain games are spread across Polygon, Ethereum and Solana, with nine, three and one apiece, respectively. Magic Eden also offers a 20,000 Polygon (MATIC) prize pool worth roughly $23,200.
Announcing MINT MADNESS: 12+ FREE gaming mints across Polygon, ETH & SOL in March ️
— Magic Eden (@MagicEden) March 2, 2023
The 10 top traders for our 9+ @0xPolygon mints can win $ from our 20K $MATIC prize pool
Register your Polygon wallet to enter https://t.co/hpXudzuaS1!
Don't forget to follow @MEOnPolygon! pic.twitter.com/KLFTBrnwxZ
The prizes will go to the top 10 traders of the NFTs related to nine of the new games based on Polygon, with the top prize fetching 4,500 MATIC ($5,220).
Related: Galaxy tips Bitcoin NFT market to hit $4.5B by 2025
The full list of available games during the promo includes Planet Mojo, Meta Star Strikers, Alaska Gold Rush, Shrapnel, Petobots, Blast Royale, Rogue Nation, Tearing Spaces, Freckle Trivia, Realm Hunter, Legendary: Heroes Unchained, Shrapnel and Papu Superstars.
Disney-backed studio’s sell-out drop
Disney-backed Baobab Studios sold out its first collection of 8,888 NFTs just nine hours after launch on March 2.
The journey begins, we have sold out. pic.twitter.com/letPxGkhUR
— Momoguro (@MomoguroNFT) March 3, 2023
The cartoon avatar-focused drop is called “Momoguro” and is tied to an upcoming role-playing game on layer 2 Ethereum scaling solution, ImmutableX.
The game has breeding elements and quests in a world named “Uno Plane,” with NFTs being a key part of the gaming experience.
According to data from CryptoSlam, the NFTs have generated $8.1 million worth of secondary sales to date, with $7.6 million coming on the day of launch.
Other Nifty News:
Layer 1 Ethereum Virtual Machine blockchain, Flare, welcomed its first NFT platform after Sparkles went live on March 2. The platform is set to hone in on the interoperability of native Flare protocols to increase use cases for NFT utility.
On March 1, trading platform Robinhood launched its Web3 wallet on Apple’s app store, becoming available to iOS users in over 130 countries.
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