Long, long ago, in the distant year of 2021, there was a pitiful industry known as the "NFT" market. NFTs, for the blissfully unaware, are literal .jpg files that would be sold at auction online; often being listed for millions of dollars in Bitcoin, and usually selling for around $0.02 at maximum. The entire industry would largely dry up as the years went on, especially in commercialized popularity; alongside similar markets, such as the so-called "Metaverse".
Bandai Namco, being the fad followers they are, would attempt to cash in on the NFT market at its height. A "Genies X Pac-Man" NFT set was released in May of 2021; featuring utterly grotesque designs such as Pac-Man's head on a human body and shoes with coin slots. However, there was a slight issue with the Pac-Man NFTs; as they released shortly following a massive expose on the extreme environmental damages caused by NFTs. As such, Namco shied away from giving the NFTs much in the way of marketing; with them eventually vanishing into irrelevancy, as did the NFT industry itself.
However, we are now in the futuristic year of 2024; where companies will gleefully trap us in an a bleak A.I. world as the U.S. felon-elect plans to demolish environmental standards. As the greater world stops caring, Namco has decided to try their hand at the NFT market once more, and has encouraged the municipal of Shibuya, Japan to participate. No, I'm not kidding.
While general news websites will use weasel words like "interactive experience" and the crypto-codeword "Web3", actual crypto websites' headlines tell it like it is: a "Pac-Man NFT Scavenger Hunt". The plan is for people to run around Shibuya, doing what I can only imagine amounts to scanning some QR codes around the city, and unlocking some .gif files of the few Pac-Man characters that Namco can legally use. Thrilling. To add insult to injury, Shibuya is the location in which the very first Pac-Man arcade machine was test-marketed in 1980; and yes, they are using this as a marketing point.
The event is being held with a company called Flickplay, who seems to specialize in - again, I'm not joking here - selling Baby Shark NFTs that are designed to resemble toys. So in essence, you are buying an animated GIF of a toy instead of a physical object. Considering that NFTs are often marketed as being some sophisticated, artistic financial investment, the marketing of them to literal toddlers is both alarming and confusing. The Flickplay "characters" can be used to take AR images or videos or whatever, something that I imagine most people got their fill with on the Nintendo 3DS over a decade ago.
As a side note, AR (or "augmented reality") apps have been somewhat of a focal point for Namco's conglomerate of Pac-Man brand licensees lately. By my count, there have been at least seven cruddy little Pac-Man AR games since 2020, alongside a free Google demo. Notably, one of these is "Pac-Man AR Sustainable Quiz"; a game designed to teach children how to take better care of the environment. How ironic.
As to what will happen following this Pac-Man NFT promotion, I don't know. Some of the crypto websites are already fantasizing about their Pac-Man NFTs being intertwined with new video games and other abhorrent concepts. Personally, I would hope the NFTs are a colossal failure and a waste of time, money and resources for everyone involved; but ultimately, only time will tell. Ireallydontcare123456789 (talk) 02:55, 21 November 2024 (UTC)Ireallydontcare123456789