OpenSea, one of the top NFT marketplaces, announced yesterday the pending launch of ‘Creator Studio,’ which it says will give creators more tools to create, manage, and analyze their non-fungible token collections. The marketplace revealed the innovation through a thread on X:
Better minting & storytelling features are coming to OpenSea — introducing Creator Studio, a new hub (launching soon) that will house expansive tools for creating, managing, and analyzing your projects.
As part of this launch, we’re replacing lazy minting. More details below! 👇
— OpenSea (@opensea) September 19, 2023
Creator Studio is set to debut in a couple of weeks and will come with no-code options to launch drops directly to a community and mint tokens to a specific wallet. There will be other perks for creators as well, including new image, video, roadmap, and Frequently Asked Question sections, according to the thread.
In a preview of Creator Studio, OpenSea shared a video of a recent collection from Vinnie Hager, an American artist based in Maryland. In it, the company presented an ‘Overview’ tab complete with paragraphs of text and photos related to the collection and artist. Presumably, anyone who signs up for Creator Studio will be able to design something similar, adding context to their collection and putting a brand behind their tokens.
As part of the launch, the NFT marketplace will sunset its lazy minting feature on October 3rd. Lazy minting, a way for creators to pass on minting fees to buyers, has been popular since its debut, as it lowers the overhead cost for smaller artists or those on a tight budget. A new kind of minting process will take its place, according to the company.
Details about the Creator Studio are still forthcoming, and Rarity Sniper will keep an eye on the story for any future developments. We have reached out to OpenSea for comment and will update this article if it responds.
OpenSea Makes Innovations, Causes Controversy
OpenSea has long been the top marketplace for non-fungible tokens, but in the bear market it has been forced to innovate. Part of the pressure is coming from other marketplaces, and in some cases, OpenSea has shot itself in the foot with bad moves. Here are three stories involving it in the past six months.
First, about a month ago, OpenSea eliminated its royalty enforcement tool for creators, causing controversy. Called ‘Operator Filter,’ the enforcement tool debuted in November 2022 and allowed creators to blacklist marketplaces that did not enforce royalties. The NFT community was up in arms about the decision, saying creators are important to Web3.
Next, two months ago, OpenSea launched ‘Deals,’ a P2P swap feature designed to eliminate the many frauds that happen during those types of transactions. With Deals, traders can interact directly with one another and propose/accept exchanges involving NFTs with WETH to sweeten the deals.
Lastly, six months ago, OpenSea introduced a ‘Pro’ version of its platform for NFT power traders. The move came as Blur, another NFT marketplace, was sucking up all the trading volume in the space. The ‘Pro’ version came with minimal fees and other perks, including a new dashboard and an optimized buying experience.
As these stories show, OpenSea continues to innovate in the bear market. But it has also caused controversy with some of its moves, continuing its legacy as a marketplace that NFT traders need but sometimes wish was better. Time will tell if its Creator Studio is successful, but if it gives artists and other creators more power, we hope It will be.