Occasional Pachinko developer Konami is celebrating the Castlevania 35th anniversary with a series of NFTs that include video clips, music, and art from popular titles in the series.
For the unfamiliar, NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) are units of data stored on a blockchain that represent ownership of a scarce digital asset. The most popular NFTs are digital versions of music, videos, and illustrations, with some containing exclusive benefits conferred to owners.
These highly speculative digital assets are typically treated by minters and owners as collectable memorabilia. However, a lack of legal protection and constant high-profile hacks makes this practice extremely risky from a financial perspective.
14 NFTs will be auctioned by Konami on OpenSea from January 12 at 5:00 PM EST to January 14 at 9:00 PM EST. Interested bidders will need to connect a ERC-20 wallet such as MetaMask and deposit Wrapped Ethereum (WETH) to place a bid. Konami listed step-by-step instructions on the announcement page with more detailed information.
Five Castlevania 35th Anniversary NFTs include classic songs from the first three titles in the series, with alternate versions of Beginning and Bloody Tears from different regions. Six are video highlight reels showcasing game scenes with classic weapons and boss fights from Castlevania on NES, one is a pixel art map of Dracula’s castle, and the last two are images of official artwork for the GBA title Castlevania: Circle of the Moon.
In addition to receiving proof of ownership for these small video and image files, Konami stated that auction winners can have their names listed as the first purchaser on the company’s website. This is listed as “unlockable content” on each token’s OpenSea listing.
According to Konami, only one copy of each Castlevania 35th Anniversary NFT will be minted, ensuring their rarity for auction winners. However, they mentioned the possibility of minting new NFTs based on these and other Konami titles in the near future. Considering the fact that 2022 is also the 35th anniversary of Metal Gear, it seems likely that similar NFTs based around that classic franchise from an unknown auteur may be around the corner.
With this announcement, Konami is the latest major gaming company to express interest in NFTs, with more involvement than Square Enix but less than Ubisoft. Considering their actions in recent years, many fans are understandably cynical about what they see as yet another cash-grab from the video game company that seems no longer willing to make video games.
Using the title “Konami Memorial NFT” for this new business endeavor certainly doesn’t help— this implies that any titles or franchises listed there are essentially dead, only to haunt fans in undeath as a foul bastardization of their former selves.
