For some Chinese entrepreneurs, the future of Web 3.0 is more about non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and less about virtual reality (VR) and cryptocurrency trading.
Shanghai Vsensory Network Technology Co.Ltd, a startup that developed the 2016 virtual reality video game Blackshield, said it would shift its focus from the 230 million yuan ($36 million) valuation game to Meta Cube, an NFT art gallery project that provides a digital platform for NFT collectors to showcase their artworks.
“As a six-year veteran, I loved VR but was also hurt by VR. It is an industry where you need a lot of hardware investment like chips and headsets and the payback can be really slow,” said Sheng Lu, founder of Shanghai Heyu Intelligent Technology Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Shanghai Vsensory that led the Meta Cube project. “But NFTs and digital assets are faster, and I believe the next generation of tech giants are gonna be born from here.”
The pivot from VR games towards NFTs followed China’s freeze on new video game licenses that extended in 2022, making 14,000 small studios and gaming-related firms go bust in the last few months, The South China Morning Post reported.
The Shanghai-based startup will launch this subscription-based NFT platform next month, where users pay a membership fee to create and upload their digital assets using a designed template. Prime members may also get a personalized NFT exhibition gallery with a premium fee. Payments will be conducted over Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume.
Lu said they would offer free gallery designs for Asian celebrities like Taiwanese TV host Blackie Chen and singer Christine Fan, creating virtual spaces for NFT collections where they can generate a demo video and post on their social media to help the company gain traffic.
The majority of their 20-member team of talents come from VR gaming backgrounds, including former employees from gaming giants like Gameloft and Tencent. “We would love to leverage our years of experience in VR video games to stand out, ” said Lu.