Indie game featuring Goblintown NFTs soars up on Twitch

Indie game “Only Up” took over Twitch by storm with its prominent integration of Goblintown NFTs. The platformer game went on trending last week, attracting over 100,000 viewers.

Developed by SCKR Games, the PC game takes inspiration from “Jack and the Beanstalk,” challenging players to navigate a dreamlike 3D world filled with peculiar elements like floating oranges, avocado halves and Shiba Inu dogs.

While player reviews on Steam have been mixed, highlighting issues with controls and player physics, the quirky and challenging nature of “Only Up” has instead contributed to its rise as a Twitch favorite.

On Wednesday night, “Only Up” reached its peak with over 109,000 total viewers on Twitch, featuring popular streamers such as Agent00 and Mizkif with around 20,000 viewers each. The game has consistently secured its spot among the top 10 most-viewed games on the platform, as it continues to delight tens of thousands of viewers.

I still can’t believe one of the most streamed games "Only Up!" on Twitch right now has a goblin from @goblintown on the back of the character and no one is talking about It.

NFTs really are dead. pic.twitter.com/9tQpdhiCie

— Jay🍌 (@BitBoyJay) June 15, 2023

What sets “Only Up” apart is its inclusion of Goblintown artwork and logos inside the game. Observant viewers with knowledge of the Web3 world will notice various Goblintown elements spread throughout the game’s environment. While there are no specific characters named “Goblintown” in the game, it does contain hidden references and nods.

For instance, the main character in the game wears a jacket adorned with a Goblin design on the back. Numerous walls within the game also feature expansive murals showcasing different characters from the NFT collection.

Although it remains unclear whether Truth Labs, the creator of Goblintown, collaborated with SCKR Games, the open-source Creative Commons 0 (CC0) license allowed the game developers to use the artwork in their commercial project freely.

“Tenk u SCKR Games for putin goblins in ur game Only Up,” Goblintown said on Twitter. The Goblintown Twitter account has actively engaged with the community, posting multiple screenshots and celebrating the game’s recent surge in popularity.

cₕₑₖ ₒᵤₜ gₒbₗᵢₙₛ ᵢₙ @SCKRgames #onlyup!!https://t.co/S3TAoHGwch pic.twitter.com/KAEaTsYXGj

— goblintown.wtf (@goblintown) June 14, 2023

Goblintown’s origin

Goblintown is an Ethereum profile picture (PFP) project released just last year during the NFT market crash.

The project stood out with its “weirdness,” complete with its almost unreadable description meant to emulate the broken language goblins supposedly speak.

“AAAAAAAUUUUUGGGHHHHH gobblins goblinns GOBLINNNNNNNNns wekm ta goblintown yoo sniksnakr DEJEN RATS oooooh rats are yummmz dis a NEFTEEE O GOBBLINGS on da BLOKCHIN wat?” reads the official description on OpenSea.

Despite the market’s declining interest, the project gained massive popularity as an NFT project. Within just a few days after its official launch on May 20, 2022, all 10,000 available pieces of the freely minted collection were claimed.

Soon after the sell-out, the floor price skyrocketed to over 2 ETH ($2,500). This sudden surge in value attracted numerous creators in the NFT space, leading to Goblintown derivatives appearing on OpenSea’s volume charts only a few weeks after the initial launch.

As time passed, the floor price steadily climbed to 4 ETH ($4,800), and individual NFTs within the collection started fetching prices in the tens of thousands of dollars. One notable sale was Goblintown #8995, which fetched an impressive $136,440.

Goblintown generated over $101 million in secondary trading volume following its free mint, as reported by CryptoSlam.

Season 2 to be released

Last month, Truth Labs announced plans to release Season 2 of the collection called Big Inc, comprising 15,000 units. The exact date and time of the mint are yet to be disclosed.

In an interview with CoinDesk, a representative from Truth Labs revealed that the collection targets “the worst traders in NFT land.” Preference will be given to collectors with a track record of unsuccessful trades or “rekt activity” in the NFT field.

To claim their free Big Inc acceptance letter, individuals among the 1,000 worst-performing traders in the NFT industry will have a 24-hour window. Owners of other NFT collections by Truth Labs, such as Grumpl, Illuminati and Goblintown, will enjoy exclusive benefits that allow them to mint their Big Inc tokens at no additional cost.

The Goblintown Season 2 collection revolves around the story of the fictitious corporation Big Inc, where animals are depicted as being brainwashed into working for the company. The artwork in the collection showcases animal heads with various facial expressions.

Process Grey, an artist and co-founder of Truth Labs, expressed that Goblintown Season 2 aims to acknowledge and honor the culture and community that established Web3, irrespective of the market’s bullish or bearish phase.

The co-founder added that the shared feelings of despair inspired the original concept of Goblintown during the initial market crash. At the same time, Big Inc intends to reward those who have persevered through difficult times.

Collectors interested in participating can apply to mint their NFTs. Truth Labs will evaluate their applications based on wallet data to assess the quality of their NFT transactions. Traders will be ranked on the Down Bad Board, which tracks the worst performers in the industry.

The Goblintown Season 2 collection aims to leverage the popularity of the meme coin $PEPE, which has seen a price surge of 2,100 percent in the past month, resulting in a market capitalization of $502 million. Traders can receive a discount on the token mint for Goblintown Season 2 by paying with $PEPE.

The participation cost for the mint is 0.096 ETH, approximately $175. However, traders paying $PEPE will receive a 50 percent discount, with NFTs being dynamically priced at 0.048 ETH, roughly $88.

Previously, Truth Labs faced accusations of “rugging” holders in April, as the project’s artwork was changed to animated GIFs featuring a hand with one raised middle finger and three other middle fingers. This move caused dissatisfaction among NFT traders due to the sudden change in artwork and trading restrictions.

Truth Labs adopted a sarcastic and mocking tone to express their stance against the trend of traders not paying full creator royalty fees when selling NFTs and the marketplaces that facilitate this behavior.

The creator has been calling for the enforcement of creator royalties. In addition to changing the artwork, Truth Labs has turned off all trading, bidding and listing of Goblintown NFTs on Blur and OpenSea, in anticipation of transferring its NFTs to a new smart contract.