The iconic Mattel company that houses legendary Hot Wheels, Barbie, Masters of the Universe, American Girl, etc is gearing up to launch NFTs in partnership with Cryptoys NFT platform.
Cryptoys is the flagship product of OnChain Studio which garnered funding from a16z, Coinfund, Dapper Labs and others. It is slated to debut in the late summer of this year on the carbon-efficient Flow blockchain.
Mattel’s intellectual property will be transformed into playable avatars on Cryptoys, however it was not revealed which brands out of their iconic collection will be included in the NFT launch.
The playable avatar NFTs will debut in Cryptoys’ own metaverse. OnChain studio is also planning to develop P2E games featuring Mattel’s IP.
Cryptoys is actually intending to debut by launching NFTs for original characters: a cat, a corgi, and a panda. Their debut NFT drop will be followed by Mattel’s NFT launch.
The games developed for Mattel’s properties have yet to be disclosed, but they are expected to be similar to arcade-style, carnival-style, riddles, and infinity-runner games.
Cryptoys in collaboration with Mattel is on a quest to explore what the future of toys looks like in our ‘evolving world’. With this deal Mattel becomes the first toy brand to sign a partnership with Cryptoys.
Cryptoys will initially be restricted to 18+ due to the logistics of owning an NFT, opening a digital wallet, and so on, but will eventually allow parent-controlled wallets for minors. This is in contrast to the kid-friendly nature of Mattel.
While announcing the collaboration with Cryptoys, Richard Dickson, Mattel’s president claimed that Mattel is “the first toy company to launch NFTs.”
Richard Dickson added “No doubt about it, the playground is expanding. We want to be at the forefront of that evolution of toys in both the physical and digital worlds. Our business leads us to wherever the consumer is, and that includes the metaverse and NFTs.”
This isn’t Mattel’s first venture into the realm of NFTs. The brand auctioned three special NFTs for a Barbie collaboration with the luxury fashion house Balmain back in January. In March, Mattel dropped the exclusive Boss Beauties x Barbie collaboration NFTs for Women’s Day.
