Konami Sold This Castlevania NFT (aka JPEG) for $26,538

A pixel art map from Castlevania which was created as an NFT.

Image: Konami / Kotaku

Konami has entered the NFT economy, also known as the hottest grift in the world right now. Yesterday, in an auction on OpenSea, the publisher launched its “Konami Memorial NFT Collection” and sold 14 items created to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Castlevania series. Somehow, someone decided to spend over $26,000 on a digital map of Dracula’s Castle from the original Castlevania.

As spotted by VGC, the entire collection “sold out” around 3 a.m EST on January 15. Other items sold via the “Memorial Collection” included some gameplay clips from Castlevania and virtual posters. Apparently, someone spent over $17,000 on one of these gameplay montages. Unrelated, but here’s a video of someone playing all of the original game that you can watch, right now, on YouTube for free.

After the dust settled, the entire collection sold at auction for a combined total of $162k. Konami will likely end up making more money in the future off NFTs as the company can also earn a royalty of up to 10% every time its NFTs are sold in the future. And Konami has more NFT plans following this Memorial Collection.

As a bonus for wasting your money on one of these NFT items from Konami, the publisher plans to list the names of the original buyers on a special website for 10 months. Wonderful.

Digging into the fine print on these NFTs, I found some interesting things. For one, minors aren’t allowed to buy any of these NFTs. Another thing, Konami basically covers its ass and says it doesn’t guarantee that the NFT you bought will be around in the future, stating:

Konami will only be responsible for granting the use of the NFT and purchaser benefits for the NFT and will not provide any guarantee for the NFT itself. (e.g. continuity, compatibility with other services.)

Oh and finally, Konami doesn’t guarantee your NFT will increase in value. Sorry.

NFTs have quickly become a popular way for video game publishers and other companies to try and make a quick buck by selling worthless digital items as exclusive, limited NFTs backed by the magical blockchain, which according to tech bros and NFT cultists will fix all our problems and allow you to own digital items like avatars, gun skins, and music. Ignoring the fact that people already buy and sell these things without NFTs getting involved, there’s also the whole nasty bit that NFTs rely on servers and other tech, just like all digital goods, so one day you might own a dead link to an ugly ape and be left with nothing but regrets.

source: gamezpot.com