Over the weekend, Pudgy Penguins made waves on X when it announced the forthcoming release of ‘Pudgy World,‘ a new metaverse and blockchain-based gaming world for its NFT community.
Pudgy World will be run by zkSync, a Layer 2 protocol powered by zk-rollup technology that enables scalable, low-cost transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. It will be released during the first quarter of 2024.
The news sent the family-friendly NFT collection and its companion collection Lil Pudgy‘s on a nice holiday rally. At the time of writing, both Pudgy Penguins and Lil Pudgy’s were up around 50% in total trading volume (over the past seven days). For the month, Pudgy Penguins‘ trading volume is up 200%, while Lil Pudgy’s boasts an impressive 632% increase.
Over Saturday, the collection’s CEO Luca Netz discussed the latest initiative at Art Basel in Miami. He said that Pudgy World “will allow players to take their fandom to the next level.” According to the report, the early-access version of the metaverse with open-ended gameplay options is expected to launch sometime before April.
Besides NFT holders, purchasers of the collection’s NFT-linked toys that were available in Walmart earlier this year will also gain access to the new digital world.
Pudgy Penguins launched in 2021 at the height of the NFT craze. Like many collections, it struggled a bit in the bear market. But in September, the collection pivoted to releasing real-life toys, figurines, and plushies to be sold at Walmart stores around the U.S. Also in August, it revealed it was transforming its IP into a new clothing line called ‘Igloo.‘
The shift to release physical products comes as it aims to attract a mass audience into Web3. Now with the anticipated release of Pudgy World, fans who may have found the brand in real life will have a digital playground to socialize, play games, and explore their Pudgy characters in.
Pudgy Penguins Has Had a Solid Year
Last year, around the same time, Pudgy Penguins went on a holiday rally that left Pudgy Penguins floor price at 7.3 ETH in December, and Lil Pudgy’s at 0.58 ETH. Today, the floor price of a Pudgy Penguin NFT is 11.2 ETH and Lil Pudgy’s is 1.11 ETH — showing that loyal fans who held their NFTs throughout the year are being rewarded nicely.
At Rarity Sniper, we’ve reported on several articles about the adorable NFT collection that Luca Netz assumed the helm of. Here are some of the top headlines from 2023:
- Pudgy Penguins Debuts Toy Collection in Walmart Stores
- Pudgy Penguins Partners with Retail Monster for IRL Toys
- Pudgy Penguins Debuts ‘Igloo’ IRL Clothing Line
- Pudgy Penguins Raises $9M to Scale IP, Expand Team
- Pudgy Penguins Escape from Web3 to IRL
With 2024 just around the corner, Pudgy Penguins is pumping, and its fans appear to be psyched about what lies ahead. We’ll have to wait a few more months to see if the collection can deliver with its new metaverse Pudgy World. But so far, Pudgy Penguins has been bringing value to its community all year, and from the looks of things, it’s just getting started.