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June 1, 2024
Issue No. 106
CURATOR:
Welcome to this week's AtherXplorer, covering the latest in gaming, blockchain, and everything in between.
This week’s top picks include:
Artificial Intelligence
The Ather Collective Introduces Generative AI Platform ‘GAIA’
The Ather Collective unveiled its latest project “GAIA”, a modular AI-powered creation engine. According to posts on social media by Tin Nguyen, GAIA is poised to revolutionize the creative process through its democratization of generative AI.
At its core, GAIA is a multiplayer platform developed by Ather Collective to remove barriers for creators. It abstracts away the underlying technical complexity of cutting-edge AI tools. This allows users to solely focus on the creative aspects of production through GAIA's intuitive and powerful interfaces.
Ather Collective says GAIA has already provided significant benefits while being used internally for various projects. It is credited with saving thousands of man-hours by boosting productivity and collaboration. Experienced creators will now be able to access GAIA's growing toolkit of industry-specific AI workflows for applications across gaming, fashion, and more.
As a core initiative of the Ather Collective, the development team says their mission is to distribute GAIA as widely as possible. Creators and businesses are being offered early access through signup on the organization's website. Ather Collective emphasizes its commitment to equitable, accessible and open creation through GAIA and future projects. This debut marks an exciting next chapter in their vision of collaborative, AI-powered imagination.
Elon Musk’s xAI Raises $6B from Valor, a16z and Sequoia
Elon Musk's AI company xAI announced raising $6 billion in funding to advance its research and build infrastructure. This values xAI at $24 billion as it aims to launch its own supercomputer by late 2025. Major backers included Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and Prince Al Waleed bin Talal.
xAI has so far launched Grok, an AI chatbot available on Twitter, as a competitor to ChatGPT. Developing advanced AI requires tremendous computational resources. Reports indicate xAI will need over 100,000 of Nvidia's chips to power an upgraded Grok, costing at least $30-40,000 each.
Big tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI have also invested billions in AI. Microsoft struck a multi-billion dollar partnership with OpenAI, whose former CEO now seeks trillions to transform chip manufacturing. However, Musk is suing OpenAI claiming it abandoned its mission.
Musk said he prefers building AI products outside of Tesla unless given more control. Meanwhile, Tesla shareholders will vote on restoring Musk's $56 billion pay package tied to market capitalization goals. Securing the new funding rounds xAI for its resource-intensive AI ambitions.
PwC Lands OpenAI Deal, Becomes the First ChatGPT Enterprise Reseller
PwC has struck a deal to become the first reseller of OpenAI's ChatGPT Enterprise service. This allows companies to purchase subscriptions through PwC rather than directly from OpenAI. PwC can also upsell its own consulting services to help optimize ChatGPT implementation.
This partnership is part of PwC's broader investment in AI and expanding its ecosystem. It uses ChatGPT Enterprise itself with over 267,000 employees in the US and UK counted as subscribers. PwC says it utilizes ChatGPT for tasks like tax document review, proposal generation, software assistance, and report writing.
While some organizations simply want to experiment with generative AI, PwC can help those unsure of how to apply it by developing customized plans. ChatGPT Enterprise launched in August 2023 for large businesses, providing security, unlimited access to GPT-4, and customization options beyond the consumer version.
PwC is entering a "prove it" phase to actively showcase AI capabilities. It takes a holistic approach linking value to common patterns to drive greater impacts for clients through increased productivity and efficiency. Competitor Accenture has also partnered with an AI company to target the enterprise sector.
In Other AI News…
Gaming
Play Station’s State of Play Reveals a Ton of Updates and New Games
Sony held its State of Play livestream, featuring over a dozen game reveals and updates. Several notable announcements came during the showcase, including:
- Silent Hill 2 remake release date - The survival horror classic will launch in October for PS5 and Steam after an extended gameplay segment at a dedicated Silent Hill event.
- Astro Bot sequel - A direct follow up to the beloved platformer Astro's Playroom is coming to PS5 in September continuing its charm.
- Monster Hunter Wilds - A first trailer debuted dynamic open world gameplay and mounts for the follow up to Monster Hunter World, targeting a 2023 release on PS5, Xbox, and PC.
- God of War Ragnarok PC port - Sony confirmed the blockbuster will launch on PC this fall in addition to PS4/PS5 platforms.
- Dynasty Warriors sequel - Dynasty Warriors: Origins is in development for a 2025 launch.
- Until Dawn remake - The interactive horror is being rebuilt for PS5 and PC launching this fall.
- Marvel Rivals closed beta - Set for July, the 5v5 hero shooter draws inspiration from Overwatch.
And much more that you can find in the PlayStation Blog and State of Play.
Toys for Bob Teams up with Microsoft on First Indie Game
Toys for Bob, developer of the Crash Bandicoot and Skylanders franchises, has announced a publishing partnership with Xbox for its next game project. The studio recently became independent after splitting from Activision Blizzard.
Little information was provided about the new game, which is in very early development. It will release exclusively on Xbox platforms at an unspecified future date.
Toys for Bob gained independence in February shortly after Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. By partnering with Xbox for its next title, the studio can maintain autonomy while still collaborating with a major publisher.
Prior to the separation, Toys for Bob worked on recent Crash Bandicoot games and the Spyro Reignited Trilogy for Activision. They will now leverage their experience in platforming and franchise games under the deal with Xbox.
Amazon Partners with Former Forza Developers For Open-World Driving Game
Amazon is expanding its video game publishing with a new partnership with Maverick Studios. Maverick is developing an open-world driving game as its debut title and is led by former Forza creative director Mike Brown. The game will launch for PC, PS5, and Xbox but doesn't yet have a title or release date.
Publishing has become a major part of Amazon's push into gaming. It has partnered with companies like Bandai Namco and Crystal Dynamics on upcoming titles tied to its media properties such as Lord of the Rings and Tomb Raider. Amazon is also developing an internal Lord of the Rings MMO at its Orange County studio.
Formed in 2022, Maverick currently has around 60 employees. Brown said Amazon and Maverick share a vision of giving developers freedom to innovate and craft experiences for players. The open-world racer will be the first game from the new studio composed of ex-Playground Games developers known for the Forza franchise.
Fans can likely expect future Forza announcements from Microsoft during its June Xbox showcase event. Amazon and Maverick's partnership points to Amazon growing its role in video game publishing and development.
In Other Web3 & Metaverse News…
Web3, Metaverse, and NFTs
Celebrities Jump into the Memecoin Craze with Their Own Tokens
In recent weeks, several celebrities including Iggy Azalea and Caitlyn Jenner launched their own memecoin projects. This has led to debate within the crypto community about the impact of celebrity involvement.
On one hand, some argue celebrity backing could help onboard new users to crypto. However, skeptics point to the track record of past celebrity-backed crypto ventures, which often saw little long-term success and were potential cash grabs.
There are differing views on the best way for celebrities to get involved. Some believe they should demonstrate knowledge of the space without an immediate token launch, such as by discussing projects they support. But others see potential value if high-profile figures promote crypto awareness.
Azalea's MOTHER token saw massive early gains but questions were raised about its large pre-launch allocation. While some gave her the benefit of the doubt, on-chain analysis and her promoters have led to ongoing skepticism from parts of the community.
The effects of celebrity promotion are still being debated. Supporters say it could introduce newcomers, but critics argue many launches seem extractive rather than building long-term user or developer engagement. Reasonable opinions exist on both sides of this issue.
Mythical Games Unveils Pudgy Penguins Mobile Game
The popular Pudgy Penguins NFT brand is expanding into mobile gaming through a collaboration with developer Mythical Games. Mythical is creating a "AAA" Pudgy Penguins game slated for release in 2025 on their Mythos Chain, a Polkadot-based gaming network.
Mythical is best known for games like NFL Rivals and Blankos Block Party, using their experience to appeal to mainstream audiences. Their engine powering Blankos will also build the Pudgy Penguins mobile title. Pudgy Penguins already has a web-based game on zkSync but the partnership will bring it to a larger audience through mobile.
Pudgy Penguins has seen retail success beyond NFTs, with plush toys now sold at major stores generating over $10 million in sales. According to Mythical's CEO, this crossover makes Pudgy Penguins well-suited for a mobile game that could reach the masses. The Mythos network is also nearly finished transitioning from Ethereum, with around 800,000 wallets currently.
Mythical views the partnership as mutually beneficial - Pudgy Penguins will gain millions more players on Mythos, while their large community and retail presence will drive further growth on the network in the coming year. Major organizations supporting Mythos include Ubisoft, South Korean publisher Com2uS, and esports companies.
MON Protocol Launches MON Token, Mixed Sentiment Towards Airdrop
MON Protocol's $MON token launched on Monday May 27th with its token generation event. Over 180,000 wallets were eligible to claim $MON, including Pixelmon NFT holders, presale participants, and PixelPals gamers.
MON Protocol mission questers received rewards on the original tokenomics schedule. The MON staking platform also went live, where stakers could earn points to spend on launch pools being announced post-TGE.
Community feedback was mixed, but mainly negative. X user @HouseofYogiX analyzed the FUD and made calculations that showed over 500,000 played for 6M+ minutes to earn a total $2.25M token reward distributed based on time spent. Per their calculations, this was equivalent to $0.50 per minute or $30 per hour.
However, many others expressed the opposite as the rewards received for time invested was way too low. For instance, @inhuman mentioned that this was one of the worst gaming airdrops due to the small allocation received. They had grinded for 2 months, while only earning $85 worth of MON tokens at their time of writing.
Others noted the game was free and optional to play for the rewards alone. However, many expressed discontent as the purpose of the MON protocol airdrop was to “pay” players for spending their time playing their games.
Comparisons were drawn between $MON's initial ~$55M market cap to other protocols, with some predicting $MON could reach a $1B fully diluted market value.
In Other Gaming News…
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