Buyer’s remorse: Unexpectedly ugly $9k+ NFTs

An anticipated NFT drop went very wrong thanks to a hideous turtle and his friends.

Remember when people hated on Sonic with teeth? Well, wait till you get a load of Pixelmon.

Buyer’s remorse: Unexpectedly ugly $9k+ NFTs

Pixelmon is supposedly an open-world game in which players train and battle Pixelmon — essentially NFT Pokémon that players can buy, sell, and trade in the metaverse. (We’ve covered similar games here.)

Gameplay demos showed scenic landscapes with swells of cinematic music, leading to a project so hyped that a collection of 10k Pixelmon was auctioned off in an hour, raising $70m, per CNET.

Some people paid $9k+ for a single Pixelmon, all of which looked like cartoon eggs upon purchase. Eggs “hatched” on Feb. 26, and…

… Big oof

The actual art looked nothing like the art that had been advertised, so much so that some claimed they’d been rug-pulled — a crypto scam where someone hypes a fake token, then disappears with the money.

The game’s developer, using the pseudonym Syber, admitted they had goofed by revealing unready art and vowed to spend $2m to fix it.
Meanwhile, the collection’s value tanked on OpenSea. As of Monday morning, the cheapest Pixelmon was ~$2.5k.

“Kevin” — a Frankenstein’s monster-esque turtle that’s being widely memed — is an exception. That NFT’s value hit $2m+ on Monday.

But who is Syber?

Per 1News, he’s Martin van Blerk, a 20-year-old New Zealander who previously raised a $50.5k Kickstarter for a game several backers have yet to receive.

But he swears Pixelmon is a real game that will be just as amazing as promised upon launch. Also, no refunds.

For now, please enjoy this hilarious tweet.

Topics: Cryptocurrency

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