TL;DR: With a new update or NFT collection being released almost every day, it’s clear the crypto ecosystem is constantly evolving. Pixelmon is one of the NFT collections paving the road to the digital universe — but it’s just the beginning. Knowing what brought it here and why it was created will lead you to make better decisions when investing or simply interacting with Pixelmon.

In this article, we’re gonna dive into the Pixelmon lore, answer all the Pixelmon related questions and even more. Prepare yourself for a fantasy story and a journey to the future of Pixelmon!

What is Pixelmon?

Pixelmon is an Ethereum Web3 game that leverages NFTs to create a mythical experience. The collection has 11,847 characters that live on the Ethereum blockchain.

Does the name Pixelmon rhyme with Digimon, or Pokemon? That’s because the collection is visually meant to offer the same diversity of creatures. The only difference is, owners get to name their creature and build a lore around it.

Pixelmon's art is a dynamic collaboration, divided into avatars, creatures, and environments, each contributing to the game's captivating visual appeal.

Avatars and Accessories:

Avatars, also known as trainers, don eye-catching gear and accessories that enhance the gaming experience. These meticulously designed avatars, including their armor, skins, swords, and other paraphernalia, are crafted by Hong, renowned as the lead character artist for Blizzard. Under the banner of Ultra Factory, these avatars are not just static images. They're fully rigged, 3D assets that offer a wealth of possibilities to their owners. Soon, these avatars will be unleashed to fast holders, giving them the opportunity to explore, animate, and customize to their heart's content.

Creature Creation:

Creature art is no small feat, particularly for Pixelmon, with its diverse lineup of 68 different species, each having three evolutions. That's nearly 200 Pixelmons just for the first generation. This complex task is tackled through a two-fold process:

High-Definition Pipeline: Cosmo Media and their team, based in Japan, are leading the charge to create highly detailed and high-poly creatures. These artistic marvels are destined for NFT holders, offering exceptional detail and visual richness.

Real-Time Pipeline: Recognizing that stunningly detailed creatures might slow down the gameplay, another branch, known as Parallel Studios, is developing a separate pipeline. This focuses on real-time retopology, ensuring that creatures can adapt seamlessly to various processors' capacities. The aim is for a smooth, uninterrupted gaming experience, even on mobile devices.

In this multi-pronged approach to art, Pixelmon is setting the stage for a visually impressive world that's brimming with diverse characters and exciting environments.

Owning an NFT is different than screenshotting a JPEG - just like holding an original Rembrandt is more valuable than owning a replica. As their name suggests, NFTs are non-fungible by design. This is different from digital tokens like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Fungible assets can be exchanged for another asset of the same type, much like BTC, ETH, or even fiat. NFTs, on the other hand, are unique assets where their ownership details are documented on the blockchain, ensuring digital scarcity and unique attributes for each asset.

But how exactly is digital scarcity being enforced?

The concept of NFTs first emerged in 2012 with the creation of Colored Coins, which could be used to represent real-world assets on the blockchain. However, Colored Coins only worked in a permitted environment, making it more similar to a database than anything else.

As the crypto industry became more popular, people have continued to experiment with the idea of a digitally scarce asset. This led to the creation of ERC-721 and ERC-1155.

The ERC-721 standard is like a set of rules for making NFTs. These actions help in making special tokens with their unique information, making them different from one another.

Behind the scenes, ERC-721 smart contracts keep a list of who owns which token, making it safe to pass tokens from one person to another. The contract also keeps count of how many tokens there are altogether and how many each person has.

As previously mentioned, Pixelmon NFTs are secured by the Ethereum blockchain. Ownership and transaction history are publicly visible on the Ethereum blockchain along with other important info such as the NFT's metadata.

Understanding how to access an NFT's metadata is essential for holders to grasp the specifics of what they're buying.

Metadata usually includes visual attributes like color, type, wearables, and so on. On the blockchain, it looks something like this:

Pixelmon have their own set of traits that make up their uniqueness. These are evolution, origin, rarity, species, state, hatched on, and luck.

Some traits are rarer than others, which makes a specific NFT stand out from the rest. For example, when it comes to Mythical Pixelmons, only 157 exist.

Pixelmons are further divided into elements (water, earth, wind, fire) and divided by species – Droot, Spout, and 66 more.

The Pixelmon NFT collection has been autogenerated. This means that out of the potential combinations, only 9,999 Pixelmon will ever exist!

In addition to the original mint, the founder has hand drawn 10 legendary Pixelmon. Skull Lords are the rarest of the rare and can be found under Uniqueness Index 1.

What is the utility of Pixelmon?

Pixelmon make for an awesome avatar pic, but it’s also your ticket to the Pixelmon universe.

As of 2023, Pixelmon is gearing up for the launch of Battle Arena, a real-time monster battler game. NFT owners will have the ability to take their Pixelmon into this metaverse and fight other opponents for points.

Another release slated for 2025 this time is Hunting Grounds. Described as a Explorable World Role-Playing Game, the idea behind the game is similar to catching Pokemons. In order to join this experience, players will have to own a Trainer NFT.

Currnetly, Pixelmon has released a casual game for both NFT holders and non-NFT holders. Kevin The Adventurer is a Flappy Bird spinoff that features a flappy Kevin.

The team promises to offer Pixelmon holders a percentage of the revenue if their Pixelmon is featured in one of their works.

As the Pixelmon brand expands, NFT holders will be able to continually earn rewards. Whether you are hodling for a season or longer, the Pixelmon ecosystem continues to explore new ways of keeping holders engaged.

Who created Pixelmon?

Pixelmon was created by Hamiltonian Martin Van Blerk, a 20-year-old entrepreneur from New Zealand. His idea was to bring the Pokemon nostalgia to the metaverse.

Pixelmon is not his first venture. Martin has attempted to launch multiple projects with two of those coming close to going mainstream. He made an attempt at a card game known as Psycho Chickens, which may have been initially named Neon Chickes based on a now-deleted LinkedIn profile.

Psycho Chickens went to crowdfunding with the statement that the funds raised would be used to deliver and create his new game. However, this project never ended up going anywhere, regarding having over 70,000 New Zeeland dollars contributed, the comments and updates have been wiped out the face of the Earth. This makes sense, as the previous comments stated they never received the project they paid money to fund. Regardless, Martin didn’t let this failure deter him.

He would then attempt to launch a second card game known as “Slap The Deck.” This would too fail to gain the traction he anticipated, or even acquire 1/100th of the crowdfunding Psycho Chickens managed to raise — what a surprise.

Now, let’s get back to Pixelmon, a project that raised $70M at a moment’s notice during its mint. It’s worth mentioning that only a handful of these mints actually equate to the most money any one of Martin’s projects raised in the past. He was a millionaire in minutes.

According to the team, less than 5% of this profit actually went to them. But that isn’t the only distaste the Pixelmon team was left with. Much of the art behind the project has been deemed a reskin of the models from the Mesh Tint Studio that were converted to Voxel assets. On top of that, Martin had hired artists from UpWork and other freelancing services without informing them the art they were creating would be used in his new NFT project.

One of the artists commissioned to design dragons for the Pixelmon universe admitted they only finished work a day before Pixelmon was revealed. This artist said that out of the $70M raised, he was only paid around $6000 — not very good for a project doing $70M in a few minutes.

Buyers were literally pissed. They had paid 3 ETH per NFT only to have their eyes brutalized by some of the worst pixel art in existence. It was getting clear that Pixelmon would be yet another rug pull.

Martin stated that the artist models are not the actual models to be used in the actual game. These funds he raised would fund the actual in-game assets. His reputation makes these claims far-fetched, but it gets worse.

With a newfound wealth of over 400 ETH, Martin initiated a mass spending spree on blue chip stocks as well as blue chip NFTs from BAYC, Azuki, Invisible Friends, and more. When questioned why he was not paying the team a fair amount, he simply said he was “buying the dip.”

There is an interesting twist to the story. The Kevin character was such a meme that it inspired a series of derivative projects such as Bored Ape Kevin Club, Kevin Wonks, Kevin Punks, Kevin Funks, and many many more. This could have sent the floor price up due to the meme stock value.

And this is where the story should end; with a $70M fundraising gone wrong and only a meme to show up for it. Despite the poor execution, Pixelmon started out as a good concept, with plenty of ideas to build on top of it. This is what a Web3 studio thought too!

In September 2022, LiquidX took a leap of faith and acquired a 60% stake in Pixelmon. Giulio Xiloyannis, co-founder of LiquidX, took the entire project on his shoulders and set out to build what Pixelmon is today.

In a collaborative effort, the remaining ~$50 million from the mint was safeguarded through a multi-sig wallet arrangement.

The transition proved harmonious, with van Blerk seeking assistance and LiquidX identifying a promising opportunity they were ready to support for years to come.

The initial step in this journey involved the gradual reconstruction of trust from its very foundations. Daily AMA sessions on Discord played a pivotal role in this process. With this foundation of restored confidence, the path forward was illuminated, setting the stage for a comprehensive rebuild.

Who is developing Pixelmon now?

The team behind Pixelmon has undergone significant transformation and growth, positioning it as a powerhouse in the gaming industry. With over 50 members, the team is not only substantial but also highly transparent, as nearly all members are doxxed, providing a clear and accountable structure. At the helm of this operation is CEO Giulio Xiloyannis, a seasoned professional with extensive experience in investing, founding, and managing large companies, which includes a significant tenure at Zalora.

Some notable individuals within the team include:

• Stefan Ivanov (Art Director): Boasting 13 years of experience in game art and design, Stefan has contributed to well-known titles like Mortal Kombat, WWE Remastered, and Saints Row: The Third Remastered.

• Pascal Luban (Lead Game Designer): With over 26 years of experience spanning 14 studios, Pascal’s achievements include the “Best in Gaming Award” at the 2009 Digital Media Awards for his work on The One Hope™, a turn-based action-adventure title.

• Sean-Li Murmann (Game Tech Director): With seven years dedicated to video game production, Sean-Li has had his hands in some of the industry’s most prominent titles while working at Streamline Studios, including Final Fantasy XV.

• Anthony Bray (Senior Producer): With nearly 30 years of industry experience, Anthony was part of the original Sony team tasked with introducing PlayStation in Europe.

• Moreover, the team has unveiled its Advisory Board, featuring industry experts such as the former head of game content at RuneScape. This diverse group brings their exceptional skills and insights to the table, encompassing in-game design, art direction, legal matters, and user acquisition. With a blend of seasoned professionals and fresh talent, the Pixelmon team is well-equipped to drive the project forward and continue making strides in the world of gaming.

• When Liquid X was considering Pixelmon and why they chose to be part of it and build upon it, it wasn’t a structured or straightforward decision at the time. However, in hindsight, they can break it down into three main pillars that influenced their choice:

• Tactical Approach: Liquid X aimed to establish itself as an organization capable of supporting founders in executing projects at a high level. To build that reputation, there’s no better way than taking on a project that appears unworkable. By successfully turning around a project that people believed couldn’t be revived, Liquid X could demonstrate their capabilities and prove their execution skills. It’s akin to a boxer wanting to prove their greatness by taking on the reigning champion.

• Challenging Task: Liquid X recognized that Pixelmon was indeed one of the most challenging tasks in the field. Undertaking a project that many perceived as insurmountable was an opportunity to prove their mettle. It’s in taking on the hardest challenges that they can showcase their expertise and determination.

• The decision to work with Pixelmon was driven by a combination of these factors, coupled with a long-term vision for turning the project into a success story.

• With the new company and the acquisition, they secured the IP along with over 123,000 NFTs that were in the company’s vault. From an operational perspective, it’s now almost entirely under Giulio Xiloyannis’s leadership.

• Regarding the game itself, the initial reception when Pixelmon was minted was somewhat lackluster. They even had humorous characters like “Kevin.” But with the art refresh, Pixelmon has a more professional vibe.

• A peek behind the scenes reveals that Pixelmon is diligently advancing its in-house capabilities. The latest addition in this quest for in-house excellence is the impending recruitment of an Art Director, someone with a seasoned background in creating stunning game worlds. They’ll be the visionaries responsible for crafting the intricate environments within Pixelmon. Imagine the artistic brilliance of studios like Ubisoft, known for their breathtaking game worlds, and you’ll get a glimpse of what’s in the pipeline.

• Investors are also an important component of any NFT ecosystem. Although they don’t get involved directly in the governance of the project, they do exert an influence over the brand’s expansion into the mainstream. As of 2023, Pixlemon hasn’t pursued any strategic funding.

How does Pixelmon make money?

Now, let’s get to the juicy part – how does Pixelmon make money?💰 (No, flipping and rug pulling are not the correct answers)

The answer to this question is strongly related to intellectual property.

Think of popular trademarks such as Mickey Mouse, Spider-Man, or Coca-Cola. Every time you see movies, books merch, or posters with them, know that the owners of the IP get a share of the profits. The same thing goes for NFT holders, in theory.

When it comes to NFTs, it’s quite challenging to fit them into the traditional framework of copyright law. To give more context, owning an NFT doesn’t mean holders have automatic control over the creative work. This creative control needs to be granted by the creator.

As such, NFT holders should pay attention to what IP rights, if any, come with owning the NFT.

As part of the Right-of-Game ecosystem, all owners of Genesis NFTs will have the right to commercialise the use of the associated intellectual property and receive a shared royalty for any commercial use of the same.

Another way of generating revenue is via royalties. As of 2023, Pixelmon enforces 5% royalties off secondary sales.

Monetization is a critical aspect, but Pixelmon's approach is to prioritize fun and gameplay first. Monetization will be introduced gradually once the game achieves mass adoption and has established engaging gameplay loops. The primary focus is on ensuring that the game remains enjoyable and fair.

The monetization strategy revolves around cosmetics rather than pay-to-win mechanics. Players won't be able to gain ecosystem advantages through payments. Instead, they'll have the opportunity to acquire various cosmetic items and experience-enhancing elements. Think of it as different skins for your trainer, Pixelmon, and other in-game elements. These could include faster movement options, unique animations, and more.

In essence, Pixelmon is aligning with the successful monetization models already used in Web2 gaming companies. The key difference is that the assets players acquire will be in the form of skill NFTs with associated IP NFT owners who receive a portion of the IP yield. This unique approach to monetization may require some guidance and education for players, as it represents a bridge between Web2 and Web3 monetization methods.

Where can I buy Pixelmon?

You can buy Pixelmon on OpenSea.