Kitties Unchained: Initial results from the collaboration

The CryptoKitties and Gods Unchained partnership shows cooperation is good for business in blockchain

We recently wrapped up our collaborative event with Gods Unchained, the much-anticipated blockchain card game where players collect and battle mythical gods and beasts. The partnership saw Kitties unlock and influence a special item in Gods Unchained, and Gods Unchained-themed cats enter CryptoKitties.

This collaboration is an early example of interoperability, but a very promising one. In a space that can be dominated by “us vs. them” mentalities, it shows that cooperation isn’t just possible in the blockchain industry: it’s better for business.

There will be an in-depth retrospective soon. For now, we wanted to share some initial stats and insights.

Thousands of Cat Talismans later…

From January 10th to 28th, players could purchase a “Cat in a Pack” card set from Gods Unchained for 0.024 ETH and use any CryptoKitty they own to create a special Gods Unchained Cat Talisman. Over 8,700 Talismans were created during the campaign.

Every statue listed for sale below 0.1 ETH on the GUDecks marketplace was purchased. Until January 28th, anyone could have created a statue for a quarter the floor price and gotten a pack of cards to boot — but now that that is no longer an option, FOMO seems to be driving demand.

The audiences of both games broadened thanks to the collaboration. CryptoKitties players visited Gods Unchained and stuck around, and vice versa. Among those creating the Cat Talismans, distribution between the two communities was fairly even.

More lessons from the collaboration

• The community response to the campaign was positive: people enjoyed combining the CryptoKitties breeding mechanics with mini goals that manifested themselves in rewards they were willing to pay for (statues).
• We saw digital scarcity in action: once the time frame to create the Cat Talismans closed, sale prices quadrupled.
• Scarcity isn’t everything, though: Gods Unchained made more revenue selling thousands of card packs (US$2.50 — $3.00/each) than CryptoKitties made trying to sell a few hundred expensive (US$75/each) Aeoncats.
• Utility informs value: Now that the Hypurrion draw is complete and that utility has been consumed, Aeoncats — the Kitties whose purchase entered you in the Hypurrion draw — are being listed for 10–20% below their original price.
• Future value has weight: People are paying extra for the future value of flexing on opponents by having unique or cool looking cat statues in Gods Unchained (note that the Talismans aren’t implemented in the closed beta yet).
• 0x protocol is powerful: Within days of the promotion starting, a third-party Gods Unchained site created a unique marketplace for listing and buying the Talismans. People used this marketplace more than the generalized OpenSea marketplace, even though it functioned just as well.

This collaboration marks the first of its kind that CryptoKitties has participated in. Interoperability — the potential for items or features of one decentralized game to function in another — is one of blockchain’s most exciting capabilities and one we’ll be exploring much more deeply. It’s promising to see that even early examples of interoperability can offer so much.

As we said up top, keep a keen, cat-like eye out for a more in-depth retrospective in the coming days.