Pixelmon Creator in Hot Water Following Unimpressive NFT Artwork Reveal

Syber, the creator of the Pixelmon NFT and blockchain gaming project, has incurred the wrath of investors who pumped their hard-earned money into the project’s $70 million mint, following its lackluster NFT artwork reveal. Some observers have accused Syber and his Pixelmon team of scamming investors.

Pixelmon Reveal Fails to Impress Investors 

After several months of seriously hyping Pixelmon, an Ethereum-based play-to-earn gaming project, with the team even going as far as describing it as the first-ever AAA quality game of the NFT industry, Syber and his team have attracted serious backlashes from investors, as well as observers on crypto Twitter, following a below-par NFT artwork reveal.

It will be recalled that the Pixelmon team conducted a hugely successful dutch auction for their in-game digital collectibles earlier in February, generating a massive $70 million from the sales of its NFT collections within a few hours. During the primary sale, some participants paid as much as 3 ETH for each Pixelmon NFT.  

“Pixelmon is sold out! After many months of hard work, the team is so excited for the many opportunities that $70 million will provide for the game and for holders. We now have everything we need to build one of the biggest games in the NFT space. It’s time to get to work,” tweeted Pixelmon on February 7, 2022.

It’s worth noting that investors purchased the NFTs based on concept art images initially released by the Pixelmon team. However, the recently unveiled preview of the Pixelmon 3D NFTs has left so many holders unhappy and feeling scammed, as the images do not look the same quality as the ones shown in the early concept art of the play-to-earn game.

Now, the Pixelmon project is attracting serious criticisms on Social media, with some even describing it as a scam project.

“So @Pixelmon raised over $70 million at 3 ETH per mint just for them to reveal like this. I think it’s fair to say all the buyers were rugged. Stop supporting cash grab NFT projects,” tweeted @zachxbt. 

Syber Promises to Make Amends 

In a bid to salvage the situation and save the battered image of Pixelmon, project founder Syber has apologized to holders, while also making it clear that the released images were created way before the team raised the $70 million from holders, adding that the designs will be redone.

Syber wrote:

“I’m not going to sugar coat it – we made a horrible mistake. We have endeavored to try something new and not done before on OpenSea with our 3D Pixelmon, beyond the regular image or video. Here is an example of what most Pixelmon currently look like in their 3D environment https://pixelmon.club/experience/3096”

“To put it simply, we are sorry, This is unacceptable. We felt pressured to push reveal and the reality is we weren’t ready to push the artwork. This does not represent the brand and we will fix this as we have let many people down with this reveal.”

Syber says the project will now carve out $2 million from the funds in its coffers to redesign the NFTs, adding that he remains determined to make the Pixelmon official launch successful despite this setback.

In less than a decade after the launch of the world’s first NFT, the industry has grown to become a multi-billion dollar space. However, the NFTs ecosystem is often criticized and even described as an over-hyped industry by skeptics. And these critics may not be entirely wrong.