16.3% of MapleStory NXPC supply goes to the "Early Community"
GC ALPHA 45
Disclaimer: None of this information should be taken as financial advice. DYOR + I will hold some of the assets that are spoken of in this newsletter.
(P2A) EVENTS & SOCIALFI
Fishing Frenzy's Cooking Contest is live (top 500 share a 10K RON prize pool)
Treeverse S1 went live (server will relaunch soon), 2.76% in token rewards
Spot Zero's Closed Beta launched last week (you needed to be selected)
Party Icons launched an Easter Egg Hunt event, live until April 23
XBORG is giving out free Easter lootboxes, containing XBG and NFTs
Realms of Alurya's Hunt & Mint P2A event is launching on April 23
The Solana Gaming Pass is here (free mint on ME - start completing quests)
MARKET TALK
MAPLESTORY UNIVERSE’S WHITEPAPER
MapleStory Universe (MSU) dropped its whitepaper last week: “Introducing NXPC: A Protocol for Lasting Rewards”. Let’s get into the highlights:
The rarity of all NFTs is ensured through supply caps, wherein NXPC will facilitate the creation and distribution of NFTs through a 2-way exchange system (fission and fusion)
The “MapleStory Universe SDK” is in development, allowing developers to build standalone applications
Developers will have the creative freedom to repurpose NFTs and collaboratively build upon each other’s creations (fork)
MSU will use a dynamic reward system, which allocates rewards based on player activity per region and world (less traveled areas = higher rewards)
The game is all about rewarding contribution, “any activity that contributes to the development of MapleStory Universe” (e.g., enhancing the utility of NFTs and improving the sustainability of game times)
“Contribution” is based on two broad KPIs:
App KPIs such as time spent in a particular app
NESO usage through in-app purchases
NXPC is MSU’s primary token with a fixed supply of 1B, with the new distribution amount of NXPC gradually decreasing each cycle (mirroring BTC)
The token will serve as a reward tool, is interchangeable with NFTs, convertible to the NESO token, and used for paying gas fees
Initially, 20% of NXPC will be distributed across token buckets, and the remaining 80% will be distributed each cycle (set at 7 days)
Furthermore, on distribution:
80% of the supply is allocated to the “Contribution Reward” pool
Interestingly, the team is only receiving 0.696% of the token supply
To me, this signals they are banking on taking a cut of the whole NXPC economy (trading and usage fees)
16.31% of the supply is going to “Early Community”, which includes various activations pre-TGE, like Live-World-Leap
This is much higher than the initially expected 1%
With an initial circulating supply of ~17%, and over 90% going to the community, whether the community holds or dumps will play a huge role in the coin’s success
1mpal (my MSU quant) argues that this model will lead to no huge upside in the initial or mid-to-long-term FDV, and can only offset selling pressure by attracting retail investors
Not an easy feat to attract retail investors in this market, however, unlike any other token launch, MSU has the IP to pull in broader interest
Overall, MSU shows a clear stance towards the “contribute-to-earn” narrative, inviting builders of all sizes to develop various apps on top of the ecosystem
Essentially, to grow the game’s GDP through more attention, players, spending, and ultimately liquidity
Many crypto games have tried to go the UGC route, however, none have had a good enough “base game experience” for others to build one. MSU does, so who knows where this goes…
PIXELS ANNOUNCES KEY STRATEGIC CHANGES
Arguably, one of the most experienced teams in liveops for crypto games, Pixels, announced key strategic changes recently
On a sidenote: Pixels launched at an incredibly high FDV last year, which went above $2B, and is now down ~95% from its ATH. This makes people often discount what Pixels is pioneering within token liveops, in my view
Key strategic changes include:
Reshift its focus on quality DAU > DAA
To prioritize spenders, holders, and engaged players to optimize for players with higher LTV
Gating more core game features and earnings behind VIP in the short term
Assumingly, to increase free to paying user conversion
Targeting earnings towards people interested in holding or spending PIXEL
Various changes to incentivize staking (and holding):
Heavier fees for withdrawing PIXEL, which goes to stakers
More earnings coming from staking (launching next week)
Staking distributions tied to in-game activity and spend
Automatic staking of players’ in-game token balance with boosts for NFTs
An “Apptokens integration” (from Limit Break), allowing players to withdraw a spend/stake-only token $vPIXEL without fees, which will be usable across partner games
Interesting from a player decision-making model: pay fees to extract your PIXEL or don’t pay fees, but only spend or stake
Apptokens will further bolster Pixels’ play-to-earn tech stack
A focus on updates around core loops and starting to implement more social casual features
Re-incorporating growth-oriented earnings into the ecosystem (referrals and content creation)
Considering they’re tightening the economy, these growth incentives will be important to stimulate value-adding behavior
Furthermore, they will continue to build more first-party titles, like their pet/Tamagotchi-style game, Pixels Pals (releasing in June or July), and experiment with partners like Runiverse to expand PIXELS’ utility (more utility = more ways to spend)
From the big picture, Pixels is maturing, and building out their systems and content on the fly to build a more sustainable game economy
ON THE RISE
Multiplier, one of the larger apps (by volume), is releasing its GAMBA token (NFA)
“Mine $RONEN” is a Ponzi game that launched on Ronin last week (NFA)