The Mutant Ape Yacht Club characters will act as antagonists in the D&D-inspired game.
Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT holders have comprehensive permission to use their own artwork as they see fit, which has resulted in a variety of partnerships and derivative works. Soon, a player’s Mutant Apes will appear in The Glimmering, a Web3 game inspired by Dungeons & Dragons.
What is the significance of this partnership?
Gripnr, the game’s developer, today announced that it has collaborated with prominent collector and Web3 entrepreneur Jimmy “j1mmy” McNelis to incorporate many of his Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT characters as enemies in The Glimmering.
Gripnr Principal Artist Justin “Angryblue” Kamerer will reimagine the Mutant Apes in question to suit within the game’s fantasy setting. Gripnr will issue a derivative NFT collection based on the Mutant Ape characters, which will be minted on the Ethereum scaling network Polygon, and will be featured in the digital tabletop game experience.
“Ever since Mutants came out, I’ve wondered where their IP may fit,” McNelis said, “It turns out villains in a role-playing game felt like the right direction to take this once the opportunity presented itself.”
McNelis, who founded the Avastars profile picture (PFP) collection in 2020 and co-founded the Gallery of Digital Assets (GODA) platform with musician Pharrell Williams, stated that he enjoys role-playing games (RPGs), the fantasy genre, and their memorable villains. Mutant Apes seemed to be the ideal choice for this.
“The Mutants look like bad guys,” he affirmed. “We’re leaning into that.”
We are excited to announce our strategic partnership with famed NFT collector @j1mmyeth to bring several of his Mutant Apes to The Glimmering. These new villains will take the form of a future Glimmering Mutant Ape derivative collection.
— The Glimmering (@The_Glimmering) March 8, 2023
Learn more here:https://t.co/YMpVXkF0pq pic.twitter.com/vBGnRDT9P9
The Mutant Apes debuted in August of 2021 as a derivative of the original Bored Ape collection. Existing Ape owners received a “Mutant Serum” NFT that transformed their existing artwork into a new NFT, and the developer Yuga Labs sold an additional 10,000 new Mutant Ape NFTs. According to CryptoSlam, the collection has generated over $1.9 billion in trading volume to date.
Gripnr is a Web3 venture that aims to bridge the divide between physical tabletop games and digital components with NFT-based characters. The Glimmering is the first game developed by the studio, which received $2.5 million in 2022.
Wizards of the Coast, the proprietor of the Dungeons & Dragons intellectual property, recently announced intentions to ban NFT with an update to its community license that permits derivative works.
The Glimmering is an online game with a Creative Commons license, allowing users to create their own content and receive royalties. The Mutant Apes will fit into the fantasy world of Asuwa, which trades in supernatural and magical elements.
“We don’t want to spoil the story by overly detailing how these newcomers fit in the world, or our vision for how they might shake up the plot,” Radney-MacFarland said. “We’ll say this for now—goblins and bastard baboons will soon have new maniacal competition in town.”
The collaboration with Gripnr is the most recent instance of McNelis licensing his own Apes for various creative endeavors. He also owns the Bored Apes utilized by Universal Music Group’s 10:22PM label for its Kingship virtual band project, and his own Avastars project offers commercialization rights to NFT holders in a similar manner.
Content Source: decrypt.com
Cover Image Source: decrypt.co
