Kevin is still a blocky beast, but the rest of the artwork has been upgraded as Pixelmon announces its do-over roadmap.
Following the recent release of improved artwork, which transformed the blocky, Minecraft-inspired models into more polished, smoothed-out 3D animals, Pixelmon announced a new leadership team and an updated roadmap.
The collectible NFT monsters, which initially went for as much as 3 ETH (or $8,100) each, are now being transformed by the Pixelmon developers into interoperable 3D creatures that can be used in both the upcoming Pixelmon online game and other metaverse games.
LiquidX, a Web3 VC studio that helps in the creation of NFT-based businesses, took over the development of Pixelmon earlier this year. LiquidX has purchased a 60% share in the project, and co-founder Giulio Xiloyannis of LiquidX would lead Pixelmon as CEO.
Playable alpha test version
By the end of 2022, Pixelmon had initially intended to release a playable alpha test version of the game. The game's alpha testing will now start in Q1 2023 instead, and the new roadmap calls for the eventual release of virtual land NFTs in addition to distinct utility and governance tokens to support Pixelmon's economy. In late 2023, the entire game is expected.
The monster NFTs, which are presently priced at 0.36 ETH on the top secondary market OpenSea, will also be available in a free-to-play mode that anyone may access.
In many ways, Pixelmon may be attempting to move past the widely derided launch, but the project is also embracing the memes that made it a horrible image of the NFT industry.
One particular monster, Kevin, caught the attention of NFT collectors once the artwork was revealed in February and soon climbed to the top of the list of the most valuable Pixelmon NFTs. Kevin's blocky, ogre-like shape hasn't seen much improvement in comparison to the rest of the Pixelmon monster artwork.
