Hollywood’s Baobab Studios has won nine Emmy Awards for its short films and virtual reality (VR) experiences. Now, they’re branching out into the world of Web3 with a family-friendly project called “Momoguro” and an accompanying Ethereum NFT collection.
Created by multimedia director and animator Martin Allais and writer-director Nico Cassavecchia, Momoguro is a colorful fantasy world where creatures called “Momos” can fuse together to form hybrid characters. Momoguro is releasing NFTs as well as a NFT roleplay game (RPG) where players can go on “quests” across a world called the Uno Plane to combine Momos.
The franchise is minting its genesis NFTs for 0.22 ETH apiece (about $365) Thursday, which are “Holoselves” players can adopt to later enjoy the Uno Plane, according to the project’s mint site.
The Momoguro RPG will be on ImmutableX, a layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution, and will include NFTs as a core game feature. The game is set to launch in Q2 of 2023.
Baobab Studios is not a Web3 company, but it’s exploring the possibilities of how NFTs can engage users in storytelling experiences.
“We believe stories transcend mediums,” Baobab Studios CEO and Cofounder Maureen Fan said in a statement.
“Baobab Studios’ mission is to inspire you to dream and bring out your sense of wonder. Make YOU matter. This begins by creating great characters and stories, like Momoguro, where you can be part of the story,” Fan added. “We aspire to bring the Momoguro IP to as many channels, streaming platforms, and widespread media as possible.”
Momoguro’s creators also believe their property’s lore carries an important message.
“Community plays a big part in this,” Momoguro’s Cassavecchia said in a statement. “Inclusivity is paramount for the franchise, from ethnicities, genders and body-types, Momoguro’s ethos is that everyone is welcomed.”
Baobab currently boasts having Pixar cofounder Ed Catmull and Twitch cofounder Kevin Lin on its board, and has raised over $31 million in total funding from the likes of Disney, Samsung, and Comcast, according to Crunchbase data.
Baobab isn’t the first Hollywood studio to release NFTs or Web3 content. Last fall, Warner Bros. released “Lord of the Rings” NFTs which gave buyers a digital copy of the first film. Lionsgate, Netflix, and Paramount have also experimented with NFTs for some of their biggest properties.
This is the beginning of your journey to discover the Uno universe! 🍄💎 Momoguro introduces a fantastical world where you collect creatures with unique powers. Choose which ones fuse with your Holoself avatar & gain their abilities as you merge together to fight to save Uno. pic.twitter.com/NEimOd5XFe
— Momoguro (@MomoguroNFT) November 28, 2022
That said, Baobab appears to be more interested in creating a sense of community than just raking in revenue—it’s already hosted Twitter Spaces for Momoguro fans, garnered a substantial Twitter following, and has nearly 50,000 members in its Discord server.
