I’m sure regular readers guessed that I was unlikely to discuss my roundup of blockchain gaming in 2022 without going into some detail about DigiDaigaku.
Of course, the caveats are many:
On what basis did developer Limit Break raise $200 million?
Is CEO Gabe Leydon just playing us all on Twitter for his own devices?
How does the oft-mentioned Super Bowl advert fit into the strategy?
Is this just about ‘number go up’?
What is the eventual end game?
Is there even a game or is it all just game theory?
Despite such FUD, I’d have to say DigiDaigaku has been one of the most significant blockchain games of 2022 and that despite only launching in August.
For, if nothing else, it’s the most successful game project to promote a free mint launch and the wider “free-to-own” model that Gabe has popularized, if not perhaps entirely initiated.
But more important has been the relentless delivery. To-date, DigiDaigaku Genesis NFT holders have received:
a Spirit NFT, designed to be burned to generate a Hero NFT,
2 x Dark Spirit NFTs,
2 x Hero Dark Spirit NFTs (if a Hero NFT created),
and at least 2 x Villain Potion NFTs (if all Spirit NFTs burned),
plus special NFTs to access two unrelated games: Castaways and EtherOrcs.
That’s at least 10.5 ETH value (c.$12,500) to-date: not bad for anyone who managed to get the free mint, and we’ve got the Villain mint still to come, plus the dragon mint that will be the culmination of the Super Bowl ad campaign.
And all of this has been delivered within a very smooth user experience in terms of blockchain engineering.
If you really want to dig into external game theory, however, you would have actually been much better off selling out early and then buying back in. Pre-FTX collapse, a DigiDaigaku NFT plus Spirit (or Hero) NFT would then have been worth over 20 ETH (then around $32,000), although this premium is partly due to ETH’s higher price pre-FTX.
But that would be to fall into the trap that DigiDaigaku is just about ‘number go up’. Of course this isn’t to ignore that the project has been designed in such a way that number is very likely to go up in the short-term.
After all, there were only 2,022 Genesis NFTs at launch, with even fewer Heroes minted (1,873 from a possible 2,022) but which will expand to the standard 10,000 collection during the Villains mint.
This Substack is sponsored by Hiro Capital: investing in the future of games.
Such activity is all but guarenteed to discourage Genesis holders to sell; indeed none have sold on OpenSea since 21st December and only 56 are available to buy (2.7%).
But post-Villain and dragon launches, DigiDaigaku is going to have to switch from focus on game theory to the actual game.
Still, given the pedigree of Gabe during his decade making 4X mobile games at Machine Zone/MZ, I don’t really forsee this being much of an issue.
To that extent, DigiDaigaku is just getting going. I’ll be surprised if it isn’t one of the blockchain games of 2023 that I’ll be discussing this time next year.