In a bid to realign with its core values, Neopets has made the decision to stop its metaverse game. 

This move comes as a shock because the project had received a substantial funding of $4 million from Polygon Ventures, Blizzard Avalanche Ecosystem Fund, Hashkey Capital, IDG Capital, and NetDragon Websoft earlier this year. It had also been sharing the progress of its metaverse game on YouTube. The most recent update is barely a month old (dated June 15th, this year).

What Really Happened?

Towards the end of June, JumpStart Games, which is the studio that brought us Neopets, was shut down by NetDragon, its parent company. The reason was that JumpStart no longer seemed like a great idea. They faced a dwindling user base, lack of resources, and aging site features. 

In a statement, the Neopets team shared that the company, under JumpStart’s management, had been operating at a loss for years. With JumpStart’s closure, the urgency for a rescue plan to re-engage users who had become dissatisfied with its Web3 vision and quit the platform increased. 

As the JumpStart ship was sinking, Dominic Law, a hardcore Neopets enthusiast who worked with NetDragon, convinced management to save the game. Now, the responsibility of managing the game has now been entrusted to a fresh entity known as The Neopets Team (TNT). Under Dominic Law’s leadership, TNT’s vision is to remind fans why they love Neopets.

Introducing World of Neopets 

Although Neopets Metaverse will be discontinued, resources are being channeled into the development of a new game. Named ‘World of Neopets‘, this new game will better reflect the desires and aspirations of the dedicated Neopets community.

World of Neopets’ is a social life-simulation game where players live as Neopets. They get to decorate their Neohome, explore iconic Neopian lands in 3D, play mini-games, and interact with their favorite Neopian characters. 

Unlike the planned metaverse game, this game has a traditional economy, and it will first launch on mobile platforms. It aims to offer an exciting and nostalgic experience for players of all ages.

Accusations of Rug Pulling

Some people show negative reactions to this new development. For example, they stated that the project is rug pulling, but the company stated that this is a big accusation. Reacting to the allegations, the company indicated that it had been transparent since inception and had always listened to user feedback. 

In conclusion, the company expressed gratitude to the loyal community. According to the team, although Neopet Metaverse is leaving, all NFT collections will still be available on the open marketplace, and their Discord channel will be active.