Less than a year ago, WildWorks, the maker of the children’s virtual world game Animal Jam, launched its next major initiative, launching a game for Gen Z teenagers called Feral. But in recent days, the company has news that it is reusing Feral’s technology platform and many of its assets to enter the field of encrypted games through the Metaverse game called Cinder, which is supported by the Solana blockchain, which angered it. Many core users.
For various reasons, the core fans of WildWorks reacted far less enthusiastically to this news. Already worried about Feral's development speed and unfinished nature, players are now worried about what Feral's future means, because the company has begun to use Feral's assets to build encrypted gaming experiences. They are also not too excited about the environmental impact of encrypted games and NFTs—until recently, WildWorks CEO Clark Stacey shared this view.
In a Medium post, Stacey solved this specific problem and pointed out that he himself thought that technologies such as NFT were "incompatible with environmental protection" and lost value to gamers.
However, he stated that as he learned more about the development of blockchains outside of Ethereum, his views have changed. Although Ethereum, like Bitcoin, relies on an energy-intensive "proof of work" system that requires what Stacey calls "ridiculous computer power" to verify its transactions, there has been a "proof of" equity for alternative energy needs. "Verification system, not like Wax, Cardano and Solana.
"These transactions on the blockchain are more efficient than the credit card network we use to collect payments in most games today," Stacey wrote. "In addition to WildWorks' continuous efforts to offset and reduce the carbon emissions of game development, we are sure that our use of the Solana blockchain in new games will not increase the company's carbon footprint," he said.
Cinder players will use the Solana blockchain to purchase their "playable NFT"-Cinder Fae, which includes 11,111 exclusive avatars designed by the WildWorks team. The Cinder website explains that NFT has approximately 150 features of different rarities in nine categories, so each feature will have a unique appearance that cannot be replicated. Players will be able to connect their NFT avatars to Cinder on the day of Cinder casting to join the free-form MMO community and explore the virtual world. The casting is scheduled to take place in early January. Then, in the next year, players will be able to convert the game content they designed-such as avatars, game spaces, and party rooms-into NFTs stored on Solana, which can be bought and sold through Cinder's market.
Although Stacey addresses fans’ concerns about environmental issues surrounding encryption, this is not the only reason why fans are frustrated with this shift to encryption.
Many people also believe that there are still many problems to be solved in the current crypto ecosystem in terms of other shortcomings-including money laundering purposes, or the fact that NFTs are too easy to steal creators' artworks, and the security issues of "altcoins". "Stacey acknowledges that these allegations have some truth, but also pointed out that the blockchain is still in its early stages, and supervision and further development may solve these problems. He also said that some creators do want to participate in these new technologies to help develop new technologies. Solutions that are conducive to the creator community, they should have such an opportunity.
Stacey said that one area includes creator-designed avatars and other tradable content, which is difficult to profit on current platforms such as Roblox.
"[Roblox will not] create the game experience by themselves; their creative output does not actually attract players, but they get 75% of the creator’s income because they control the platform and own the user’s output. If I were at Roblox Made a very cool avatar and someone wanted to buy it from me. Without the intervention of the platform, I couldn’t sell it to them,” Stacey wrote. (Roblox’s “cuts” are actually more complicated than this, partly because the mobile app store has taken their own cuts on top of Roblox’s share. But overall, a small part of the total revenue earned by developers is accurate of.)
Cinder's NFT will allow users to tokenize and then sell and trade their works, thereby retaining more total revenue. Stacey stated in Discord AMA that Cinder's market will allow players to retain 96% of transactions, while Cinder only gets 4%.
But many Feral fans are not looking for these explanations, or are not satisfied with the current reaction. They are largely opposed to cryptocurrencies and NFTs, and are making their views public. This belief system may also be related to how fans see WildWorks as a maker of children's games, or at least a game maker targeting the under-18s market. After starting their journey of children's game Animal Jam, they felt that the company's entry into the field of encrypted games was inappropriate.
However, WildWorks has expressed interest in expanding beyond the children's game market through Feral, which is aimed at teenagers, not young children. For Cinder, the market is not children or teenagers—it's adults. The company said the new game is designed to attract a crowd similar to those who play other crypto games such as Axie Infinity, The Sandbox or Blankos Block Party.
More importantly, WildWorks needs revenue to continue its gaming ambitions-whether it is Feral or otherwise. Stacey told the Feral Discord community how WildWorks invested more than two years of development and $6 million to build Feral. Although its goal is to make it a self-sustaining business, that time has not yet come.
Stacey admitted to TechCrunch that it was clear that when Feral was in the early access stage, it did not achieve the product market fit that WildWorks had hoped for.
"We have reached the point where we cannot continue to invest at past levels and maintain financial health," he told us. "However, we did not close the game because there is still a passionate community playing it, and we hope to find a new release home for it or other ways to continue development."
If successful, Cinder can provide "other ways"-but ironically, Feral may not survive due to strong opposition from fans. The fans threatened to quit the game and cancel their Animal Jam subscription in protest.
For some people, WildWorks' switch to encrypted games is a nail in the coffin because they took this opportunity to vent their other problems with the company. Regarding the WildWorks audit system, hackers, data breaches, and the perceived failure of the use of headgear in Animal Jam, fans turned to digressions-Stacey admitted that this was an "ignorant" choice. (The company has discussed this issue with Native American players, and they reached out, apologized and agreed not to make or promote these virtual items. However, if the player has already purchased, the company did not remove these items from the player’s inventory. )
The friction between WildWorks' business needs, coupled with its desire to explore the future of the game, and the true reaction of its long-term fans, this is an example of how difficult it is for the company to embrace blockchain and encryption technology. Due to the potential of blockchain It is often overshadowed by the negative effects of the industry—or, as Stacey puts it, “thieves, scammers and bad art” and the lack of “regulatory guardrails” in the development of cryptocurrencies today makes this problem even more serious.
As for Feral, fans' concerns about its future seem to be justified. Stacey said that if the community continues to support the game, it will find a way to continue building it.
"If they don't do this, we will announce the plan to cancel it as soon as the decision is made. It has not been made so far," he pointed out. "We know that many people in the Feral community generally oppose NFT and blockchain technology in philosophy, but although we try to solve their problems and concerns, Cinder is designed and sold for different players. We created assets for Feral It also exists in Cinder, and they won't lose anything."