One of Pudgy Penguins’ most popular characters, “Pudgy,” is set to be integrated into Pixelverse’s mini game on Telegram. With the move, the character will join other popular Web3 IPs in PixelTap, including “Mew” from the Solana memecoin $MEW and “Doge” from Dogecoin.
PixelTap is a tap-to-earn Telegram game where users can take their NFT pets and engage in player-vs-player battles. It reportedly garnered over 50 million users in June alone. Now with the new integration, players can use their Pudgy characters as avatars in the game.
Although NFT sales are down in the second quarter of 2024 from $4.1 billion in Q1 to $2.24 in Q2 (as per data from CryptoSlam), Pudgy Penguins has continued to thrive in the market. It currently leads all Ethereum-based NFT collections with over $12.3 million in sales over the past thirty days.
One reason for Pudgy Penguins success is its focus on “phygital” releases. Its Pudgy Penguins plushies have sold over 1 million units at physical stores across the world, as well as onboarded tens of thousands of people into Web3.
But physical toys aren’t the only successful strategy we’ve seen from Web3 platforms. Web3 gaming is also playing a significant role in the adoption of NFTs. Hamster Kombat, a viral game on The Open Network (TON) blockchain, surpassed 239 million users in less than three months. It has been so successful that Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, recently remarked that it could potentially onboard 200 million users into Web3.
The co-founder of the the cyberpunk-themed crypto gaming franchise Pixelverse, Kori Leon, noted that Web3 has been notorious for ambitious projects that fail to attract non-native Web3 users. To avoid this, he believes that projects must “focus on what makes them successful: community, culture and distribution.”
Pudgy Penguins Rises to the Top
Despite the slump in the NFT market, Pudgy Penguins, a collection of 8,888 unique NFTs featuring chubby penguin avatars, has managed to come out on top. Over the last 30 days, it’s even outpaced the OG NFT collection from Yuga Labs — Bored Ape Yacht Club.
So why has Pudgy Penguins been able to succeed where others have failed?
One reason is because it never stopped building and bringing value to its holders, especially during the bear market. Here’s a review of some of the top headlines from Pudgy Penguins over the past year:
- May 2024. Pudgy Penguins Sells Over 1M Plushies, Enters Target Stores
- March 2024. Pudgy Penguins Toys Lead to 59,000 New Web3 Wallets
- February 2024. Pudgy Penguins Teams Up with Unstoppable Domains for “.Pudgy” Domains
- December 2023. Pudgy Penguins Announces ‘Pudgy World’ Metaverse
- September 2023. Pudgy Penguins Debuts Toy Collection in Walmart Stores
- August 2023. Pudgy Penguins Debuts ‘Igloo’ IRL Clothing Line
Only time will tell if Pudgy Penguins can remain in the lead. But for now, its marketing strategy and commitment to holders appears to be paying dividends. Having a presence in a rising Telegram game with millions of users like PixelTap could be another big win for the current leader of Ethereum-based NFT collections.
At Rarity Sniper, we’ll be on the lookout for any updates to the story.