Instead of a real doll, kids can buy a digital avatar for $50 and play with it in a virtual universe.
Toy industry giant Mattel has signed a multi-year deal with NFT marketplace Cryptoys, technology, business and design media resource FastCompany reports . Hot Wheels and Barbie toys will be sold as NFTs and playable in the Cryptoys metaverse.
“We want to be at the forefront of the evolution of toys in both the physical and digital worlds…our business takes us where the consumer is, including the metaverse and NFTs,” said Mattel President Richard Dickson. Instead of buying a $50 doll and playing with it in their room, kids can buy an NFT for the same money and play with it in a virtual universe, he says.
Developed by OnChain Studios and funded by companies such as Andreessen Horowitz and Dapper Labs, the Cryptoys platform is built on the Flow blockchain. It allows you to use NFT in various mini-games for phones, tablets and desktop computers, which have a market of more than 3 billion players.
While Mattel is aimed at kids, the new Cryptoys avatars will initially only be available to those over the age of 18 due to the logistics of owning NFTs and opening up a digital wallet. But eventually, parent-controlled wallets for children will be offered.
In November 2021, Mattel released a Hot Wheels NFT collection that sold out within an hour, and in January of this year, three exclusive Barbie tokens were put up for auction in collaboration with fashion house Balmain.
In early June, the humanoid robot Sofia presented its own NFT collection, Baby Singularities. The robot also announced the Sophia’s Age of Singularities (SAOS) metaverse, which will be used to train artificial intelligence.
