77-bit: An NFT project at the intersection of anime collection and MMORPG

The gaming industry is often a source of inspiration for Web3.0 projects. MMORPGs (“massively multiplayer online role-playing games”) are virtually the first metaverses. And many elements of the game economy, such as the purchase of cosmetic elements, the conversion of traditional currency into in-game currency, the ability to sell to other players items found in the game and buy them, etc., open the possibility of integrating cryptocurrencies and NFT into the already proven video game mechanics. The 77-bit NFT project, formerly known as Ragnarök or Ragnarök Meta, is a project that includes an NFT collection integrated into an MMORPG.

77-bit Official Links

• Official site https://77-bit.com
• Twitter @77BitOfficial – over 89k subscribers,
• Discord @77bit – over 14k participants

What is 77-bit?

77-bit is a collection of 7,777 NFTs of the ERC-721 token standard on the Ethereum platform. The tokens are images of characters, also called Ronins. In the future, all of them should become game characters in the MMORPG of the same name, which is at the center of the project’s ecosystem.

It must be said that the implementation of the collection at the moment is different from the mechanics that the team plans to implement in the future. Apparently, when the 77-bit video game becomes available to the general public, NFTs will become playable characters with a separate set of typical in-game attributes, such as physical strength, speed, intelligence, belonging to a game class, etc. These attributes will vary depending on the type of Ronin and its level. The level of the character will increase over the course of the game. In addition, by defeating enemies and achieving in-game objectives, players will be able to find new weapons and artifacts.

Thus, in this system the player can acquire an NFT character with one type of weapon, find another, rarer one, and “link” the new weapon to their NFT, which should change the token’s metadata, its expected value and visual representation. At the moment, however, tokens are static images with fixed metadata. It remains unclear how these future plans will be implemented technically.

77-bit in numbers

• Minting of a collection of 7,777 NFTs took place at the end of February 2022.
• The total volume of secondary sales exceeded 20k ETH (more than $36 million at the current exchange rate).
• Floor price is 0.18 ETH (about $330).
• Average sales range from 0.16 ETH to 1 ETH.
• The most expensive Ronin #6104 was sold on May 29, 2022 for 25 ETH (about $45k at the time of sale).
• A total of 2,693 unique holders (35%).
• Only about 3% of the collection (202 items out of 7,777) are for sale, among them the offers range from 0.18 ETH to 5.5 ETH. This shows that almost all holders see the project as a great investment prospect and are not in a hurry to part with their assets at a lower price.

Data (including exchange rates) are given at the time of publication  (March 29, 2023)

77-bit types and attributes

The 77-bit NFTs have different attributes, of which there are a total of 232, and they’re divided into 9 categories. Among all the attributes there are fairly standard ones such as facial features, costume, backdrop, etc. More unique are such attributes as weapons and headgear, as they reflect the video game nature of the project.

And among all the categories, it is worth highlighting the types that define the character and purpose of the character in the future game world:

• Guys (4072),
• Girls (3205),
• Apes (420), reminiscent of Bored Ape Yacht Club characters,
• Punks (69) as a reference to CryptoPunks,
• Cyborg (11).

Who created 77-bit?

The members of the team behind the 77-bit NFT project prefer to remain anonymous and use pseudonyms, despite their relatively large staff. According to the project’s official website, the team includes:

• Board of Directors (6 members),
• Marketing and community management department (3 members),
• Artists (19 members),
• Developers (16 members),
• Game designers (9 members).

The manga that is part of the project was created by manga artist Yuichi Ogata and artist Fred McLaren.

Why is 77-bit popular?

The 77-bit NFT project has several features that attract the community, crypto enthusiasts, gamers and investors:

• Reference to anime culture which is popular among the project’s target audience. Many people like to identify themselves with anime characters and have an alter ego in that style.
• The promise that the project will grow into a full multiplayer video game, which adds value to participation in the project.
• The desire to create a multimedia narrative that attracts members of different communities, such as manga fans, etc.

77-bit Idea

According to the authors of the project, the initial idea was to fill the niche between AAA games and Play-to-earn projects. The latter allow players to earn cryptocurrency, but usually contain a minimal amount of gameplay. 77-bit should be a video game in the MMORPG style, where players will want to spend time due to the content and entertainment value. That said, almost all elements of the video game, such as game characters, artifacts, and accessories, would either technically be NFTs or be integrated into an NFT-based ecosystem. In this way, the economy of this game would be seamlessly integrated into the already existing blockchain economy.

The universe in which 77-bit events take place is a post-apocalyptic dystopia in which humans have been enslaved by cyborgs coming from a digital dimension. While most of humanity spends their lives having fun in virtual worlds, the brave Ronins fight the digital monsters, the Pixels, and their enslavers too.

The 77-bit world is divided into two types of zones:

1. Cities are spaces resembling typical metaverses. Players can have fun here in peace, socialize, including with guests from other metaverses, participate in trades, etc.
2. Chaos, where the main action of the game unfolds. And there players come to fight monsters and collect loot in the hope of acquiring rare artifacts and boosting their character.

77-bit Roadmap

The project published a roadmap twice during 2022, according to which it promised the following:

• A demo with multiplayer. Visitors to the NFT Paris conference recently had a chance to experience a demo of the game, but it is unknown if they were able to interact with other players.

• The minting of the first collection (minting took place at the end of April 2022).
• NFTs will become playable characters. The game has not yet been released to the public, so there is no way to use NFTs as in-game avatars yet.
• The ability to breed and create new Ronins (not yet implemented).
• Own marketplace (not yet implemented).
• The first chapter of a manga about the world of 77-bit. The manga was created and released a few months ago. It can be purchased as NFT, which was gifted to all Ronins holders. Manga token holders will also receive a physical copy of the comic as a gift.
• First in-game monsters, battles and loot (not yet implemented).
• The opportunity to pump characters and choose in-game classes (not yet implemented).
• NFT-formatted items (not yet implemented).
• Player battles with each other (not yet implemented).
• In-game economy based on the $RAG utility token, the name of which was given before the rebranding (not yet implemented).
• “Pixel Dimension”, a virtual space with the ability to purchase housing for your character, rent billboards, etc. (not yet implemented).

77-bit Ecosystem

At the moment, the project technically includes two NFT collections:

• 77-bit, the main one,
• 77Bit Comics which contains approximately 6,571 copies of a single token, giving access to the first chapter of the manga which tells the story of the 77-bit universe. Total sales are only 2 ETH, and the floor price is 0.0085 ETH.

Basicaly, the ecosystem of the project should be built around a video game, but apart from the plans of the developers, there is nothing to add about it, because it does not yet exist in the public domain.

How much do 77-bit NFTs cost?

The collection was released at the end of April 2022. That same month, the collection began trading on secondary markets, where there was great demand for it.

To visualize the price dynamics, we made a slice of the average price for 1 NFT:

• In May 2022: 1.4 ETH;
• In July 2022: 0.5 ETH;
• In November 2022: 0.12 ETH;
• In February 2023: 0.17 ETH.

At the moment, on March 29, 2023, the floor price is 0.18 ETH. On average, the latest sales range from 0.16 to 1 ETH. And the total volume of secondary sales amounted to more than 20k ETH (more than $36 million).

The Most Expensive Sales of 77-bit

The most expensive sales are led by the following NFTs from the 77-bit collection:

1. Ronin #6104 was sold on May 29, 2022 for 25 ETH (about $45k at the time of sale);
2. Ronin #2388 was sold on May 25, 2022 for 19 ETH (about $37k at the time of sale);
3. Ronin #1671 was sold on May 11, 2022 for 17 ETH (about $40k at the time of sale);
4. Ronin #3857 was sold on May 11, 2022 for 15 ETH (about $31k at the time of sale).

Where to buy 77-bit?

Currently, 77-bit is only available on the secondary market, on marketplaces such as OpenSea, X2Y2 and LooksRare.

How to buy 77-bit?

1. Remember that initially you need to connect your crypto wallet with self-storage to the marketplace of your choice.
2. Next, find the official collection using the search bar on the marketplace.
3. Analyze and choose the NFT you want to buy; click on it and then on the “Buy” button.
4. Or you can bet on the token you like. Make sure you leave enough ETH for gas or transaction fees. If the seller approves your bid, the deal goes through.

Should you invest in 77-bit?

Over the last year, the total capitalization of the collection has gradually declined by a third without any spikes, which is not too bad considering that the creators of the collection have not published any significant updates all this time. Apparently, the holders of the collection are confident enough in the project not to collapse its value.

On the one hand, the team currently has no clear deadlines or promises about the future of the NFT project. On the other hand, a key aspect of 77-bit, namely the online game, is definitely in development and ready at least at the demo level. In the case of this project, this means that once the game is released, interest and sales should grow quite significantly, even if the game is released with a minimal set of features and elements.

In any case, do your own in-depth analysis and research when investing in NFTs, and then make your own decision.

Opinion of NFTmetria

The 77-bit NFT project combines some very successful ideas, such as borrowing traditional elements of online games and referencing to anime culture, but its ability to fulfill all its promises remains an open question. However, if you pay attention to the number of subscribers and the size of the community, it is safe to say that the project has enough loyal fans who patiently wait for updates and development.