Fans ofFox’s “The Masked Singer” will soon be able to buy limited-edition digital collectibles of the gigantic, disturbing Baby character along with masks from characters that have appeared in all six seasons of the show.
On Wednesday,Fox Entertainment and its Blockchain Creative Labs launched The MaskVerse (maskverse), an NFT marketplace and community for the hit singing competition series.
It’s the latest bid by an entertainment company to catch the hype wave for nonfungible tokens (NFTs), which verify ownership of unique pieces of digital content using distributed blockchain tech. Also Wednesday, ViacomCBS set a spring 2022 launch for its own NFT platform, joining other companies including Warner Bros., DC and Lionsgate that have moved into the nonfungible-token space.
Fox’s MaskVerse site will charge $20 for a pack of three mask NFTs from “The Masked Singer.” The collectibles will be released in Mask Packs with character-card NFTs in weekly drops throughout the current season. Those NFTs can be bought, traded or sold on the MaskVerse site. For the launch of the MaskVerse, Fox is giving away a free NFT of Miss Masky, the digital mascot of “The Masked Singer.”
[UPDATE, 10/14: Fox said fans claimed all 10,000 of the initial Miss Masky free NFTs in the first 10 hours of launch. The MaskVerse site will drop a second edition of 10,000 Miss Masky NFTs starting Thursday at 1 p.m. PT.]
To participate in the MaskVerse’s NFT drops, users must first create a digital media wallet through Eluvio — the blockchain-infrastructure provider in which Fox is an investor — that will let collectors purchase NFTs via credit cards or cryptocurrencies. Buyers of “The Masked Singer” NFTs also will be able to trade or resell their cards in The MaskVerse’s marketplace as well as transfer NFTs to third-party wallets that are compatible with the Ethereum blockchain.
Starting in November, MaskVerse members also will be able to play a voting game, to try to correctly predict which characters will be eliminated in each of the season’s final six episodes. Winners will get the opportunity to buy Gold Mask packs for the revealed Season 6 characters.
once someone completes a full “Masked Singer” NFT character collection, they’ll get access to exclusive prizes including rare Crystal Masks and other perks. The MaskVerse’s common masks can be assembled into 11 collections: wilds, veggies, scalies, birdies, cuties, pets, monsters, foodies, fishies, crawlies and “others.”
Fox says The MaskVerse is the first of a number of NFT projects it has in the pipeline tied to its content franchises. In May, Fox Entertainment and Bento Box Entertainment entered the NFT business with the formation of Blockchain Creative Labs, establishing a $100 million fund to invest in new opportunities. In addition to The MaskVerse, Blockchain Creative Labs will launch a dedicated digital marketplace for Dan Harmon’s upcoming animated comedy, “Krapopolis,” which Fox says will be the first animated series to be curated entirely on the blockchain.
