GM

Apparently tourists in Europe are getting crushed by the heat this summer.

Yet another reminder to NEVER go outside.

In today’s edition:

• Zynga is launching NFTs

• 3 additions to the Watch List

• 4 new drops

Links for the Mint/Watch list drops are HERE.

Did you know?

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And for those curatooors out there, you can get free NFTs just by finding drops that end up on the Mint or Watch list.

Lastly, hang with me and the MoS team in a private discord with weekly voice chats. The vibes are great.

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Zynga is launching NFTs

Context

Zynga, a gaming publisher known for massive popular social games like Farmville, announced that they’re launching an NFT collection and Web3 gaming ecosystem.

What we know:

1. Apparently there’s a Web3 division at Zynga

2. They’re making a blockchain game called Sugartown

3. They’re also launching a 10k NFT collection called Oras

4. You’ll need Oras to play Sugartown and any free mini-games

5. You’ll also be able to stake Oras for a non-crypto currency

6. Nothing on date or price yet

Our take

Objectively, this is a big deal. But something seems a little off.

Imagine I told you Taylor Swift was finally getting into NFTs.

Wow! Huge, Probably Nothing, WAGMI, we’re early, etc.

But then what if I told you that, instead of embedding NFTs into something obvious that her millions of fans already use, like concert tickets, she was instead going to target the current NFT collector community (all 5,000 of us) with a 10k roadmap PFP.

And that she was promoting it through spaces with NFT Twitter degens and doing a traditional whitelist and opening a discord etc.

Well – actually you’d still expect Swifties to sign up to Metamask in droves, maybe it’s a bad example because they’ll follow her anywhere. But surely, at the very least, you’d say this is a confusing approach and not the most bullish option.

This was my reaction to this week’s Zynga news.

If you asked me to find a game developer that is least aligned with the current NFT collector community, I think Zynga would be on the shortlist.

I’m oversimplifying this a little, but Zynga makes games for moms and boomers. That’s slide 1 on their pitch deck, or at least it should be.

They do Wizard of Oz slots, and Farmville, and Wonka’s World of Candy, and Words With Friends, and Harry Potter puzzle games, and whatever else can be played casually while waiting for your kid’s soccer practice to end.

I’m not saying these are bad games – literally hundreds of millions of people play them – but my guess is that the overlap with current NFT collectors probably looks something like this:

So I’m a little skeptical that they’ll be the first to unite the entire crypto community around a single game.

Now, to be fair, we barely know anything about what they’re building. They could end up revealing something groundbreaking here.

But the early signs are uninspired: a 10k farm animal collection. Really? Staking for currency? Browser games? Simplistic cartoony art? What year is it?

It’s clear to me that they’re considering this a side-quest experiment as opposed to a full embrace that could materially reshape things.

And as gaming analyst Jonah Blake mentions in his video on the topic, Take-Two’s stock barely even moved on the announcement.

It makes sense given that they’re quoted as saying “We created Sugartown to appeal to a native Web3 market”, which is currently about the size of a small midwestern town.

Bottom line

There are still reasons to be open-minded.

After all, this is a publisher with a HUGE audience of casual gamers, and I’m guessing (hoping) the collection will be affordable enough so it’s a no-brainer for anyone who has even a passing interest in Web3 gaming.

And perhaps hoping for a larger integration from Day 1 is unrealistic, and this kind of stepping stone is always necessary.

We might find out soon: Zynga’s Web3 team is joining two spaces this week, including one today, where they’ll hopefully expand more on the vision.

Trust that I would love nothing more than to send you an email a week from now with a clickbaity title like “Zynga just changed everything (get in here)”.

✨ Added to Watch List ✨

NOTE: These drops are lightly curated. Our only requirement is that they have recognizable founders. As usual, DYOR. To learn more go here.

Embodied Foundation World

Embodied is a group exhibition (a.k.a. “Foundation World”) minting today at 1 PM ET. It features limited editions from 11 digital artists curated by Foundation itself.

Previous iterations of these Foundation-curated drops have had decent success, like their last one in June, which saw them sell 1,014 NFTs for 29.34 ETH.

Emerging art enthusiasts might find this drop enticing, as it offers relatively cheap exposure to some recognizable artists. For everyone else, there’s also a free commemorative NFT.

Adidas × BAPE: Fresh Forum

Adidas and BAPE join forces for Fresh Forum, marking the Japanese brand’s 30th anniversary with 100 mint passes.

Each pass can redeem an NFC chip-equipped 84 Forum Triple White sneaker and a digital twin NFT that is interoperable with the Adidas ALTS avatars.

The auction’s starting price is considerably higher than the retail price of comparable physicals in the same line, implying a premium for the NFT.

100 supply for a sneaker is very low, and this is BAPE doing what they do best: selling clothes instead of cursed 3D monkey avatars.

✨ Added to Watch List ✨

Distance by William Mapan

After the successful release of Emily Xie’s Interwoven in June, the Cactoid Labs x LACMA collaboration is set to continue with a new collection by William Mapan: Distance.

I already knew Mapan would be dropping here, given that it’s been on Cactoid’s site since the project began, but they revealed more details during a recent interview with the artist and Monty, a pseudonymous dog who’s miraculously gifted in web3 article writing (such a good boy).

You’ll probably enjoy these if you already like Mapan’s work, as it continues the artist’s evolution in code paintings.

✨ Added to Watch List ✨

Disclosure: I hold previous Cactoid Labs NFTs, which are expected to provide early access for this upcoming release

The Charles Salvador Bronson NFT Collection

NFT platform ElmonX is back at it with a new art drop after selling out of their Salvador Mundi NFTs last weekend (I can’t leave you guys alone it seems).

This limited edition release will feature four collectibles by British prisoner Charles Bronson, one of the most notorious criminals in Britain’s history – to the point of having his own movie starring Tom Hardy.

As fate would have it, Bronson is also an acclaimed artist, selling multiple pieces over the last couple of decades. Proceeds benefit charity.

The Mint List

1. Taproot Wizards. OG Bitcoin meme inscribed as ordinals

2. 10KTF PFP. Drop from a team that includes Yuga and Beeple

3. Genesis SFT Pass. Digital anime collectibles from a notable team

4. Shadow Hats. Ordinals drop from the creators of Forgotten Runes

5. Project Animus. RTFKT's biggest launch since Clone-X

6. LUCI: Chapter 5. Follow-up from artist with esteemed collector base

7. Symbiogenesis. Square Enix's upcoming gaming NFT

8. Quasi Dragons. Innovative drop from an Art Blocks veteran

9. Memeland [TBC]. High-value treasure MVPs minting on BTC

10. The Boys of Summer. Interactive art drop from an OG amongst OGs