It's been too long, non-fungible warriors. I'm still here, always plugging away at exciting Splinterlands developments (most of which I cannot share with you... yet), but I'm also still fascinated every day by everything that's happening in the world of crypto, blockchain tech and non-fungible tokens. Honestly, it's hard to keep up with everything, especially for a full time writer like myself.
I'm happy to say that very soon, I'll be able to share my experiences with a brand new soon-to-be-released collectible NFT on WAX. This one is attached to a game that played a huge and memorable part of my childhood, and though it may account for a good deal of my carpal tunnel problems today (from all the button-mashing), I wouldn't trade those arcade moments for anything. I'm talking about Street Fighter.
I'm here today to check in about another game company that I feel has the potential to be just as huge and game-changing as Capcom. That company is Gala Games. If you've been following my adventures, you know by now that I love Gala Games, but if you haven't hung around their community regularly, attended their AMAs and paid close attention to their news, you may not be as excited as I am. For now, I'll just say that Gala's plans are YUGE, and they have what it takes to accomplish them.
You may recall a few weeks ago that Gala Games broke the Guinness world record for the largest single NFT sale when they teamed up with Polyient Games, selling the first of their 5 Mirandus Citadels to Polyient for a cool $800,000. This was no joke or exaggeration. I was literally there in the zoom call where it happened, where I was allowed to be a personal witness of this historic event. I filled out an official witness form for submission to the Guinness Book of World Records and everything. I guess sometimes it pays to know people in this industry, although I'm certainly humbled and straight-up intimidated to be in the presence of these giants.
there I am, second from the top, totally out of my league and having my mind blown.
Less than two weeks after the $800,000 sale, Gala went ahead and broke their own record, and not by a small margin. Every time a Citadel is sold, the remaining Citadels double in price, a decision made by Gala's bold CEO, Eric Schiermeyer. But sure enough, the FOMO was real, and large companies have apparently gotten the memo that Gala means business, as well as the memo that non-fungible property is the next frontier. The 2nd Citadel sold to a different company (still unnamed) for $1.6 million.
I have very little doubt that the next Citadel will sell soon for a sum of over $3 million, but to whom? The only thing I can really say for sure is that it won't be me. I may be a millionaire someday, but not before I miss out on high-dollar Mirandus real estate. ;)
My Future as a Mirandus Land Dolphin
I enjoy supporting these types of innovative projects, I love the unexpected nature of the value of these assets, and I fully embrace the risks that they present as they plow boldly through uncharted territory. I know that digital property is not simply another trend and I like to think I have learned to discern the difference between future industries and passing trends. One of the moves I'm proudest of is my decision to buy land in the Gala world of Mirandus.
I have purchased a combination of both land deeds and buildings to place on my own land. Together, I think the properties I have purchased will form a decent basic strategy in the game once it is released. In the meantime, I'm able to watch the secondary market at Opensea daily to see the tradable value of my assets rise.
What is Mirandus?
Mirandus is the highly anticipated MMORPG game from Gala. While it will be nearly a year (or perhaps longer) until the game is fully ready and released, the land presale (live now) is getting tons of action and attention for several reasons. Below I'll list a few of those reasons.
1. Its Magnitude - If you take the time to run the calculations on this land sale like I did, you'll learn a bit about Gala's ideas and plans for the future, and how much it will actually cost to deliver the experience they are promising. With completed sales of the 5 Citadels alone, the company will raise approximately $24,000,000. But the property sale goes way beyond the sale of those 5 super whale assets, with thousands and thousands of other pieces of property available.
All in all, the Mirandus sale thinks bigger and plans longer than any other presale we have seen in this entire industry. I know that it's difficult in the small world of blockchain to understand why a game development company would need 50-60 million dollars of funding for a single game. But if you sit down and apply the numbers of the mainstream gaming world, you'll quickly realize that creating games is expensive. And in this case, we're talking about a game in which the company must share its revenue with the player/owners in multiple and continually rewarding ways.
Take for example the saga of Cyberpunk 2077. Day after day for months, I saw promoted posts on mainstream social media with professional quality videos in the trending section. These were not trending organically. The fact that I was bombarded with ads for this to-be-released game was representative of how much money was on the hook as bait. What were they trying to catch? Millions and millions of paying customers, and anything less would break the bank for them. It's hard to even venture a guess about how much money Cyberpunk 2077 spent on social media advertising alone. I'm not even going to try, but it must be at least $100,000,000. And how many millions do you suppose it cost to actually create the game?
The bottom line: Don't jump to conclusions when you see high price tags. Creating games is expensive.
2. So Many Properties - Sure, Mirandus has expensive whale-pond properties, but they also have tons of different offerings for all different budget levels. One of the things that has made purchasing Mirandus property so fun for me is making the decisions of which properties to buy. Some will rise to great value, others will probably not, but nobody really knows yet what any of them will actually do. Early adopters are forced to use their imaginations to create a strategy, knowing that their strategy will probably be ruined and rebuilt multiple times before the gameplay actually begins.
You can buy land deeds in Mirandus, but you can also buy buildings. The latter are of course placed on the former. As land owners, deed-holders will have the option to lease space within their land. This also means that everyone who owns a building without land will need to pay a landlord in some way for the ability to place their building. To me, this makes the idea of owning land much more valuable in the future than simply owning buildings. I always gravitate toward actions that will eventually offer a passive income of some kind. Once the land deeds are sold out, countless more buildings will still be sold all the way until the release of the game, meaning that the earliest adopters will continue to benefit from those who find the game later.
3. Gala Knows Games - The team behind Gala knows what they are doing. Many of them have had long and successful careers in the mainstream gaming industry. The team has been involved in the development of projects like Farmville 2, Words with Friends and Zynga. With Townstar, Gala's first playable game, they have already proven that they know how to make games designed for real mass appeal, not just niche market attention.
I will not go into individual flattery for the Gala team members (today), but I encourage you to do your own research first by checking out their Team page at Gala.Games.
4. World Records, etc. - Making waves in this industry by setting world records is a big deal. As we all know, money talks. I'll take it one step further by stating the obvious: People talk about money. People are definitely talking about Gala Games, and it has a lot to do with the big deals they're making. No company (no matter how wealthy) will spend millions of dollars lightly and without a solid plan.
CMO Jason Brink knows how to lead and guide a community, he knows how to spread news, and he knows how to hype that which deserves hype. Every multi-million move that Gala makes earns more attention for the company. The continually rising value of the GALA token has reflected the positive influence potential that good attention can bring to a solid project like Mirandus.
5. Power to the Players - The big mission of Gala Games is all about giving power back to the players by allowing them to really own their gaming experience. Owning property in the games is just one example of this. Another is the fact that their entire network will be distributed and decentralized through the power of blockchain nodes. By owning a node license with Gala and operating a node, you can contribute to the distributed network that will run this gaming empire while also earning a handsome passive income and mining GALA for yourself. This is a perfect example of multiple abilities of blockchains coming together to present a true play-to-earn gaming experience.
Nodes don't come cheap. In fact, they have a pricing structure that causes them to become more expensive as more of them are sold. Currently, node licenses are going for just over $3000 each, and with the sales of 7 more, there will be another price increase. Buying an operating a Gala node is one of the rare ways in this industry that you are able to give yourself a massive gift in the future from which you are able to start earning immediately. With this method of supporting the company, node-holders are able to share in profits without subjecting themselves to all the risks of holding property or crypto tokens.
If you are seriously considering purchasing a Gala node, feel free to reach out to me and I will point you in the right direction to make sure all your questions will be answered thoroughly and you'll be equipped to make the informed decision.
What Do I Have?
Now I'll just list some of the assets that I have purchased for Mirandus, starting of course with the sold-out pieces of land, all of which have increased in value by way more than double.
HOMESTEADS - I'm the proud owner of 4 Mirandus Homesteads. I could immediately tell based on the available supply and the name of the asset that Homesteads would be heavily sought by future players of the game. Plus, they were the cheapest option for owning land at only $100 each, which felt very doable to me at the time.
Once word got out about the Homesteads, they sold out in a hurry, but not before I was able to pick up several of them. I also purchased the crystal Minotaur King sculpture from BRAVE and Gala, inside which is a unique code for another Homestead. Some people accused me of overspending ($250) on this physical NFT item at the time, but they seem to have been proven wrong already, because the current valuation of Homesteads on Opensea is about $900, a gain of 9x from their original cost.
OUTPOST - It will be necessary to defend the buildings of my Homesteads against invading forces and monsters. This is why I'm lucky enough to have 1 Mirandus Outpost, which I won in one of Gala's many generous giveaways for those who pay attention. This assets was priced (before it sold out) at $500 in the Mirandus shop. Now on Opensea, the most recent Outpost sold for $3200, more than a 6x gain.
And All the Buildings - I have bought buildings whenever I can, which are listed below. Even with these 10 buildings, I am far from having enough to fill my real estate with buildings. I will additionally have to lease space to players who own more buildings than land, allowing my passive income. Some of these buildings I may end up selling if I decide I will not need them to complete my strategy.
According to the current prices of these assets (most of which are still available) in the Mirandus shop, they are valued together at around $1000. This should make clear that deeds are more valuable than buildings.
All together, I'm now sitting on a pile of Mirandus assets that is (currently) worth just over $10,000. In purchasing all these assets, I probably spent about $1000, making the increase in value a tasty tenfold. And the game is still a long way off.
Is it Possible?
Is it possible that these digital assets will one day produce income for me that is on the level of the many low-paying part time jobs I have held through the years? Is it possible that playing a game has the potential to replace my income? To double it? Is it possible that our time and attention is actually worth money, and that we have been lied to for so long and by so many other companies?
Yes. It is possible. And I cannot wait to see how it all plays out.
And no matter what value the future brings, Gala has earned my trust as a lifetime fan, and you had better believe that I will be playing Mirandus daily and enjoying the hell out of it.
Thanks for reading NON-FUNGIBLE STEW!
Let's talk again soon.
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