‘Neopets’ Cancels NFT Game After Raising Money From Polygon, Avalanche

Just a few months ago, Neopets Meta CEO, Dominic Law, had previously promoted the concept of “play-and-earn” Web3 gaming and expressed interest in developing an NFT game based on the popular Neopets franchise and  offered “all the right ingredients” for an NFT game.. However, the development of the game, Neopets Metaverse, has now been abruptly canceled without a clear explanation.

During the alpha stage of development, the Neopets Metaverse team had already sold over 9,000 Solana NFTs across multiple collections. Additionally, they had raised millions of dollars in funding from backers including Polygon Ventures and Avalanche’s ecosystem fund.

In a blog post, the Neopets Team, referred to as TNT, announced the shutdown of the Neopets Metaverse and their pivot to a non-crypto mobile game called World of Neopets. The decision was made in order to design a game that aligns better with the desires of the community.

Neopets is now under new leadership and independent for the first time in 18 years. Viacom, the previous owner of Neopets, sold it to Jumpstart in 2005, which was later acquired by Japanese gaming firm NetDragon. With this “management buyout,” the newly united TNT now has full control over the decision-making and brand strategy of Neopets.