A hot potato: Although many people have spoken out against NFTs, non-fungible tokens will remain popular as long as they continue to make money. The 14 Castlevania NFTs that Konami recently put on sale are a prime example. they sold for over $162,000.
Earlier this month, Konami revealed it was joining the NFT bandwagon by selling 14 NFTs on auction site OpenSea. The “Konami Memorial NFT Collection” is part of Castlevania’s 35th anniversary celebrations, as opposed to any type of in-game NFT that so many companies are pushing these days.
Bidding for the items began on January 12 and all sold out over the weekend. That was bad news for anyone hoping to see low sale prices that might deter other companies from offering NFTs: the items totaled over $162,000.
VGC notes that after OpenSea took its 2.5% commission for every trade on its marketplace, Konami walked away with over $157,000. The game maker will also earn extra from the 10% discount it takes every time an NFT is sold to another buyer.
Castlevania NFTs averaged around $12,000 each. The most expensive, a piece of pixel art based on the Dracula’s Castle map from the original Castlevania game, grossed $26,538.96. There was also a 3-minute NFT video featuring different Castlevania gameplay moments which cost $17,518. It’s no surprise that Konami called the auction its “first” NFT project.
The pushback against NFTs, especially those of in-game variety, has been immense. Ubisoft has come under fire for its Quartz platform, but the company says it’s sticking to its “principles” and won’t back down, unlike the developers of Stalker 2. GameStop and Square Enix are also willing to embrace the no. -fungible, just like video game voice-over artist Troy Baker, for whom he was castigated. But not everyone in the industry likes them; The director of It Takes Two said he’d rather get shot than add NFTs to his games.
