BlackPool Bulletin #4

This week : There is a lot of content so let’s add a Table of Contents shall we? It will be easier for our troops to aim for the information they really need. Castlevania, Disney, Cometh, Cryptolands or Walmart, we have everything you need.

But first, a GM from Serena Williams!

Table of Contents

1. Cobie's threads on the backlash of gamer against NFTs
2. Aiko's thread on the importance of organic community growth
3. Lots of news on Cometh and Cometh Battle
4. Lars Doucet's predictions for blockchain gaming in 2022
5. Sorare, Sorare and Sorare
6. Guilds of Guardians secondary sales and Podcast
7. Axie Infinity new blog post on In Game Economic Balancing
8. Sandbox Mega City Announcement and Seb Borget Decrypt Article
9. NFT profile verification for Twitter
10. NFT Treasure's Marketplace flipped Axie Infinity's one and BlackPool announcement
11. Opensea's new Series C fundraising
12. Cryptolands !
13. Michael Arnold's thread and BlackPool is looking for contributors!
14. Walmart Metaverse
15. Alexis Ohanian on gaming as an onramp for Web3
16. Kevin Vitale's thread about Gaming and the Web3 revolution
17. Castlevania NFTs
18. Polygon fees surge
19. YGG milestones
20. Vitality x Tezos partnership
21. Disney metaverse announcement
22. Moxie Marlinspike's (founder of signal) point of view on Web3
23. Worlwide Webb NFT fighting tournament
24. A must read thread on meeting in metaverse by Garet Scott

1. An interesting thread from Cobie on how the outrage from gamers on NFTs is counterproductive.

And Cobie's response at the question “Is the environmental complaint the only reason gamers aren’t liking NFTs? Is there something else?”

2. Aiko wrote a thread about the importance for a game to grow a community organically as a tool to keep user retention, and its impact on the game economy.

3. Cometh Battle closed beta launched a few weeks ago and the dev team is improving the game update after update. In this week’s balancing update: New “secret” attribute; five new cards around the orbiters, minor balancing changes, and a new game mode: Private Battle.  

Hazelstar shines bright in the latest BlackPool Cometh report. lots of alphas and key points for those who look inside.

Jerome de Tichey, co-founder of Cometh and President of Ethereum France talks about Gaming, Defi, and NFT in the latest Univers Bitcoin Podcast (In Baguette).

4. Lars Doucet explains his predictions for blockchain gaming in 2022 :

“We will see at least one blockchain game with over 1 million dollars in VC funding have its assets "go to zero", and we will NOT see ANOTHER blockchain game with over 1 million dollars in VC funding honor the failed game's NFT assets”

5. Brian O’Hagan, growth lead of Sorare, explains some data from 2021 and Sorare goals for 2022: mobile app, branding, a new sport (the bulletin writer bet is on American Football), and recruitment.

Speaking of hiring plans, Sorare is welcoming 6 new key hires for their New York Office.

We are proud to include our own troops in this Bulletin. YNWA makes a good point on how PFP projects never draw comparisons to yield generating games like Sorare.

6. Guild of Guardians

Guild of Guardians saw its biggest secondary market Guild sale yet with a Legend Guild gone for 39 ETH!

How much do you think a Mythic Guild token will go for? Julien Bouteloup has a clear idea.

About Mythic, the lucky owner of the NRGgg Mythic Reborne hero is selling it for 78.75 ETH. The owner of it will have the opportunity to go on an all-expense trip to Los Angeles to meet the NRGgg eSport teams. Snapshot: 22 January 2022.

Episode 2 of the official GoG Podcast is out with special guests GoGacademy and WT779.

7. Axie Infinity puts together a blog note on their thoughts about in-game economy and its balancing.

8. Sandbox’s co-founder and COO, Seb Borget, thinks that 2022 will be a breakout year for in-game NFTs in a new decrypt article.

The Sandbox announced multiple Hong Kong partnerships in film, music, entertainment, acting, professional services, finance, real estate, and gaming sectors to create Mega City, a new cultural hub, in the Metaverse.

9. Justin Taylor, Head of consumer product marketing for Twitter, is teasing an NFT Profile verification.

10. The Treasure NFT marketplace has flipped the Axie Infinity one and is now the 2nd largest NFT marketplace in the world!

BlackPool is backing Treasure DAO with a participation in the $3 million investment in $MAGIC led by 1kx, and acquired  347,222 $MAGIC. More alphas in the blog post.

11. Opensea announced new funding of 300 million dollars in Series C.

12. You like crypto? You like Lands but are tired of SandBox or Axie? You will like CryptoLands! An Island for crypto bros with crypto parties, crypto drinks, and crypto hangovers! What is your opinion? Web3 Fyre Festival or real project?

13. Michael Arnold, one of BlackPool’s core team members is coming back on a thread he wrote last January. Interested in contributing to BlackPool? DM him!

14. Tired of shopping? Walmart wants you to do your groceries in the Metaverse.

15. Reddit co-founder and founder of the VC firm 776, Alexis Ohanian, is sure that games will be an onramp for millions of people to Web3.

16. Kevin Vitale is in the same mindset and wrote a thread about gaming and the web3 revolution.

17. The Japanese game company Konami announced Castlevania NFTs to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the game. The collection can be seen on Opensea.

18. If you used Polygon this past week, you might have seen the fees surging. The cause is Sunflower Farmer, a Polygon Game. Owen Fernau wrote an interesting piece on it for the defiant.

19. YGG published its 2021 milestones and achievements in a medium article.

20. Vitality, a leading european esport organisation revealed a partnership with the Tezos blockchain to create a new fan experience.

21. Disney officially announced the creation of its own metaverse.

22. Moxie Marlinspike, the founder of the signal app wrote notes about its first impression of Web3.

Interesting takes of which Vitalik Buterin responded:

23. Worldwide Webb will host an open tournament for an NFT platform fighter game. Different collections of NFTs, each with different abilities. Will you be the final one standing ?

24. To end this bulletin, a very good thread by Garret Scott on meeting in the metaverse.

That’s all Folks ! Have a great week and see you IRL this week in Paris for the NFT special week, and soon back on Twitch !