PUBG and SETTLUS
The rumour is that Krafton, the maker of PUBG, is to venture into the Metaverse arena. Their offering is to be based around a "create-to-earn" ecosystem under which creators build metaverse artefacts that users can purchase.
These creations will be stored and traded as NFTs on a Cosmos app-chain. This will preserve royalty rights and provide transparency as well as bringing the typical blockchain utilities of trustlessness and interoperability. USDC has been billed as the native currency for settlement and gas fees. The working title appears to be "Settlus".
I expect there will be a significant AI element in the creation process, although I haven't seen anything specific mentioned so far. However it would be practically impossible to prevent AI input at this point. I would assume that the developer tools will include AI-tooling which would open creation to artists and world-builders of all stripes as well as developers.
If true, and it all pans out, this would be a significant development for the metaverse, the Cosmos ecosystem and for blockchain as a whole. PUBG has 30 million monthly users, a huge global marketing reach and, no doubt, the kind of developer resources that most blockchains can only dream of.
And as Hive has shown, a "create-to-earn" economy can flourish. Although in the case of purchased creations a good balance between creators and users needs to be struck to avoid a repeat of the NFT environment's prolific crash-and-burn.
However, there are lots of caveats for me at this point: I haven't seen any official announcements from Krafton; gaming communities can be tetchy about blockchain technology; the testnet isn't due until next spring; blockchain projects fail at the best of times.
However, Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Circle (USDC issuer) did tweet about it, which adds some weight:
https://twitter.com/jerallaire/status/1699195833483505999?s=20
- jerallaire
A link to the website, if you're interested:
https://settlus.org/
I can't yet see how they will get around the issue of creators copying and tweaking each other's designs, particularly as AI can probably do that instantly. Will the NFTs be permissioned with some form of user governance to validate? Or will it only be open to companies who bring in whole packages of artefacts and respect each other's territory? There are lots of details to be fleshed out.
All caveats aside, I find the idea of a create-to-earn metaverse truly exciting. I am going to have to get my AI skills up to speed!
Not financial advice, or advice of any kind. Please do your own research.