Pixelmon play-to-earn (P2E) game sparks controversy and ridicule. The project that sold $70 million worth of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is far from delivering on its promises.
Pixelmon sparks controversy
Pixelmon is a play-to-earn (P2E) project that completed its first pre-sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on February 7 for a record amount. The sale took place in a dutch auction with a starting price of 3 Ethers (ETH) per NFT.
Pixelmon managed to sell 7,750 NFTs for a total of approximately 22,475 ETH or the equivalent of $70 million. The sale lasted less than 30 minutes. Currently, the value of NFTs has almost halved on OpenSea.
Over the past few days, Pixelmon has caused a stir on Twitter as many people have called the project a scam, suggesting that the artwork is a fraud. We can see some examples of the visuals below:
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
In addition, the NFTEthics collective and others are exploring the project in detail to find out the truth and how this could have happened.
Back to the facts
What exactly are the community’s complaints? Beyond the quality of the visuals, several designs were purchased from the Unity Asset Store. Other issues have been raised on Twitter and Discord, for example, the Pixelmon team allegedly used 400 ETH of the development funds to buy some NFTs such as Bored Ape Yatch Club (BAYC), CloneX and Azuki.
The 21-year-old founder recently revealed his identity to quell suspicions that the project was a scam. He said:
“No matter how long it takes or how much FUD there is on the project, we are determined to make our long term vision and everything that was outlined in our Litepaper a reality. “
The founder promised that the team will do everything in its power to resolve any existing issues. He also pledged $2 million immediately to “revamp and redesign the NFTs to a higher quality.”
This means that owners will still have to wait for a new, reputable art studio to be hired and for new artwork to be created.
However, Pixelmon may finally have the means to implement its vision as the team now has $70 million in its hands – the budget for games such as The Witcher 3 ($81M), Metal Gear Solid V ($80M) or even Call off Duty Black Ops ($50M).
