Ubisoft was the first major video game publisher to release in-game NFT items with Ghost Recon Breakpoint in December 2021—and while the reception was decidedly mixed, the firm has continued to make moves in the Web3 world. Its latest? Today’s launch of Rabbids NFT avatars for Ethereum metaverse game The Sandbox.
The NFT release comes one year after Ubisoft initially announced plans to bring its popular Rabbids characters—which spun out of the classic Rayman game franchise—to The Sandbox. Ubisoft began the sale today for users who had already been added to an allowlist, while the public sale will commence on Wednesday.
Ubisoft is releasing 2,066 of the Rabbids avatars via Polygon, an Ethereum scaling network, with each NFT selling for 100 SAND—about $78 worth, as of this writing. The drop is themed after the Lunar New Year, given that 2023 is the year of the rabbit, and the Rabbids will feature various designs that will be unveiled to buyers this Friday.
On February 28, then, The Sandbox will launch a Rabbids game world in the current open alpha test, which houses a limited number of playable experiences. The avatars are billed as a “key to future utility” in The Sandbox, including access to potential future drops.
The Sandbox previously added Rabbids characters to its museum-like NFT Institute experience last September, and released Rabbids-themed NFT items and accessories. Today’s mint marks the first time that players can purchase Rabbids avatars for use in the game, however.
Ubisoft, the studio behind the Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance franchises, was one of the first major video game publishers to take note of Web3 and begin making moves around NFTs. The firm made a Minecraft-inspired NFT game prototype called
