Did you have a Tamagotchi or play Neopets as a kid? Or perhaps you were one of the millions who were obsessed with Pokémon GO? Now there’s a new virtual pet game on the block, but there’s a lot more at stake, and the target audience is definitely not young children.
CryptoKitties is one of the world’s first blockchain games, and the biggest. Created by Canadian startup Axiom Zen, CryptoKitties operates on the Ethereum blockchain network and turns the act of buying and selling blockchain into a game. Players can dictate the price of their kitties when they list them on the marketplace. The first (and most expensive) cat sold on the game had a value equivalent to $117,712 USD, but as of today you can buy a kitty for 0.0019 Ethereum - currently equal to $1.09. The most expensive kitty on the marketplace is listed at 100,000 ETH (over $57 million).
The concept might sound like a novelty, but the tech industry clearly sees a bright future for blockchain gaming. After spinning off from Axiom Zen to become its own company, CryptoKitties raised $12 million in a March 2018 funding round.