In November, Shiba Inu (Shib) Games project head Shytoshi Kusama said on Medium that “the future of gaming is Shib Inu.” Could Shib be a big metaverse winner?
Metaverse mania
Ever since Facebook announced it was changing its name to Meta Platforms in late Oct., we have seen a type of metaverse mania. The interest shown by Investors relating to stocks that might profit from the metaverse has soared.
Gaming tokens with their own “metaverses” have also seen huge booms. Decentraland jumped more than sixfold in just a few weeks. The Sandbox went up well over 8 times.
But while these metaverse cryptos were soaring, Shib was dropping. The meme coin was completely missing out on the metaverse craze. However, it seems that this will only be a short term situation.
Kusama’s Medium article released on Nov. 26 laid out his vision for Shib’s future. He asked: “What is Shib Inu becoming? How can Shib Inu grow into more than anyone thinks possible?” And his answer was that Shib’s destination is the metaverse.
Two big steps forward
Shiba Inu has taken two big steps forward in achieving Kusama’s vision. First, William Volk was added to the team as a consultant to lead the development.
Volk boasts an impressive record of creating games. He served as VP of technology for Activision Blizzard. He was over the creation of many successful games during his time with the business. Volk has also worked with many other gaming businesses during his long career.
Kusama’s Medium article hinted that an AAA gaming studio had been lined up. On Dec.7 as well, the identity of that studio has been revealed. Playside Studios said that it had agreed to an eight-month contract with Shib Games to “create a multiplayer Collectable Card game which is planned for release on multiple platforms.”
Playside ranks as the biggest publicly traded video games creator in Australia. It has created more than 50 games, including some with major studios such as Warner Bros., Pixar, Nickelodeon and Disney.
A monster metaverse winner?
The game that Playside is creating for Shib Games will target mobile users and won’t be based on the blockchain. However, Kusama said the game will only be licensed to the Shib decentralized team to add into the Shibarium layer-2 solution that was built on the Ethereum blockchain. Ultimately, this will transform into the “Oshiverse” — Shib’s own metaverse.
These efforts might put to rest some of the criticisms that Shib does not have any competitive advantages. Kasama claims that Shib “is positioned to be a top player in the gaming landscape this year.” That is probably a bit of a stretch, considering that the first game being created by Playside is not scheduled to be released until the first quarter of 2023.
On the other hand, Oshiverse might truly offer unique capabilities that help set it apart from its competitors. Will Shiba Inu be a big metaverse winner? Maybe eventually. But it is a waiting game for now.
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