If you think about it, Star Trek’s Tribbles are a lot like NFTs. Their numbers expand exponentially. Some people get irrationally angry about them. And the prices on the furry little hairballs never really made sense.
So Thursday’s news that Paramount is launching an official NFT collection shouldn’t come as a complete surprise.
The NFTs’ initial drop, through the company’s paramount.xyz portal, will take place April 9, starting at 11:00 a.m. ET. You might get the keys to an algorithmically built starship for $250, for instance. In total, 20,000 Star Trek NFTs will be dropped—and the sale will last for only 24 hours. (Another 2,000 NFTs are in reserve, in case demand is higher than expected.)
Paramount and its partner Recur are calling this Season 0 of the NFT drop. Future “seasons” will let fans pay to collect a crew and begin exploring strange new worlds…in the metaverse. Ultimately, these Star Trek NFTs will be part of a play-to-earn game.
The Star Trek sale is just the beginning for Paramount, which plans to make NFTs for several of its “key franchises.” The company’s library also includes the Transformers, Indiana Jones, and SpongeBob franchises, but no specific other properties have been identified as being planned for NFT offerings yet.
“Fans should be able to engage with our content wherever they are, including the metaverse,” said Pam Kaufman, president of Paramount consumer products and experiences. “Paramount.xyz will offer one seamless digital collectible experience for fans across our key franchises.”
Seems logical enough. The question is: Will fans engage with the NFTs? The play-to-earn model has been met with severe skepticism by gamers, and video game NFTs suffered a big black eye Wednesday when Ubisoft announced it would stop supporting a game it had recently sold NFTs for.
Paramount, naturally, is hoping that any resistance is futile.
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