Today, Tiny Colony declared its intention to transition its nascent NFT game—a blockchain-oriented construction and management simulator—from the Solana blockchain into the Ethereum scaling platform Immutable X.
According to Arshia Navabi, co-founder and CEO of Tinyverse, “Immutable has always been concentrated on the gaming industry with their impressive development team and revolutionary technology.”
In Tiny Colony, players are tasked with constructing and managing subterranean ant colonies inhabited by human-like creatures. The aim is to farm, mine minerals, and hatch larvae while defending the colony against enemies to survive. As they progress through levels of the game, participants will earn Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) that can be used inside the game or exchanged on different marketplaces. After releasing a trial version for testing purposes last summer over Solana’s blockchain network, the full release of this captivating experience is due later this year via the Immutable X platform.
Although Tiny Colony is a considerably smaller endeavor than Axie Infinity and Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Otherside, each of which has generated NFT sales of over one billion dollars, it still holds vast potential.
Tinyverse reported that, since its launch on Solana marketplace Fractal, the project had amassed more than $3 million in NFT sales. Currently, the game’s NFTs sell at $5 worth of SOL a piece on the secondary market.
NFTs are revolutionary blockchain tokens that stand for one-of-a-kind items. In video gaming, they can signify characters, extras, digital land plots, and more. NFTs also represent profile pictures (PFPs), artwork pieces, sports memorabilia, and exclusive access to occasions or experiences in other contexts beyond gaming.
Navabi added that Tiny Colony would provide a “burn-in mint” to enable current Solana NFT owners to convert their assets into an Immutable X version. In the upcoming weeks, they aim to finalize the technical procedure in collaboration with Immutable X engineers and shall share more details regarding the redemption process.
Why Tiny Colony chose Immutable X
Immutable is the mastermind behind the Immutable X network and Gods Unchained–an NFT-based card game. Its layer-2 scaling solution allows for much faster and more cost-effective transactions than Ethereum’s mainnet, making it a perfect partner for Tiny Colony, according to Navabi. Moreover, Immutable puts player experience first in its gaming focus, further solidifying its role as an ideal fit with Tiny Colony.
Frequently perceived as Ethereum’s main competitor, Solana has become a popular choice for constructing decentralized applications and NFTs, given its low fees and capability to process large amounts of transactions per second compared to the Ethereum blockchain.
Despite the hype Solana generated in 2021, its popularity was not sustained into 2022. Network outages, increased competition, and NFT market turbulence are suspected of having contributed to a significant descent of SOL token prices from November 2021’s peak at $260 down to today’s approximate rate of $16—a dip much more pronounced than those experienced by major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Just recently, Tinyverse addressed the decline of Solana on Twitter. They stated that while their funds were not lost in the FTX fiasco, they still needed to retain large quantities of SOL due to its low market value, and it would take a while for them to recover.
There is no doubt that Solana was critical to Tinyverse’s success. Navabi declared they “got everything we have today because of [Solana].” As soon as the conversation between Immutable and Tinyverse shifted towards their plans for games and NFTs, he became instantly hooked – “I was immediately hooked.”
Established in 2021, Tinyverse comprises gaming, film, and TV veterans who have built projects for companies such as Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video, and Paramount, not to mention renowned gaming brands EA Games, Capcom, and PlayStation.
As Ethereum’s technical shortcomings have made it less suitable for numerous Web3 games, scaling networks like Immutable X and Polygon are becoming popular among creators to enable gaming experiences that allow users to own their assets without experiencing exorbitant transaction fees.
Navabi said Immutable X is his ideal choice due to its lack of gas fees, making it easier and more user-friendly than other networks for traditional (or Web2) gamers who may not understand what using gas entails.
Navabi proclaimed that game developers and producers should cease expecting Web2 gamers to comprehend the core elements, instead seeking to make it a haven for them. He further stated that Immutable X’s strategies, timelines, and concentration align with this plan: creating games akin to their familiar Web3 environment.
Hard times for Solana?
Last month, DeLabs announced that two of Solana’s most successful PFP (Proof-of-Fungibility) projects, DeGods, and y00ts, would transition to other platforms.
DeGods is set to transition to Ethereum, and Polygon Labs (previously known as Polygon Studios) will be supporting y00ts migration to their platform with a $3 million grant. President Ryan Wyatt also affirmed that they have reached out to several projects in multiple chains. Although precise details remain unclear, it appears that this move could substantially benefit both participating parties.
Navabi declared that even though Tinyverse did not receive immediate financial aid for its transition, Immutable will be granting IMX tokens dependent on milestones achieved once the project is launched and running on Immutable X. He further clarified that taking their business away from Solana had nothing to do with money; it was simply a necessary step towards growth.
He declared that money wasn’t the focus, noting that if it had been, we would have already shifted to Polygon or other blockchains offering attractive financial incentives for us.
