TikTok NFTs, 505 Announcements, and TTRPGs for Reproductive Rights

This week in gaming news…

TikTok Influencer Raises US$8M for Confusing NFT Landlord Scheme
TikTok user Michael Le appears to have raised US$8M in a funding round for a confusing bid to become a video game NFT landlord. The influencer has over 50 million followers on TikTok and is known for making videos of himself dancing, having fun with his younger brother, and making sponsored content for Invisalign. Le has partnered with the co-founder of a company that produces sports earbuds to launch a startup venture known as Joystick, through which the duo plan to buy up large amounts of in-game NFT assets and rent them out to gamers for temporary use. At the time of writing the company’s website claims ownership of assets in a handful of games whose main selling points are their NFT integration and so called “play-to-earn” models. While media surrounding the company praises the way it empowers gamers to own and earn money from digital assets, the only “service” actually available right now are tokens that can be purchased online via the Ethereum cryptocurrency blockchain, money from the sales of which appears to go directly to the company.

505 Games Showcases Three Upcoming Indie Games
505 Games, publisher of recent titles like Death Stranding, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, and Assetto Corsa have revealed three upcoming indie titles at their first digital showcase. Among the Trolls is a survival simulator set in a troll-filled Finnish forest, Stray Blade is a 3rd person fantasy combat game with clear inspiration from the gameplay of the Dark Souls series, and Miasma Chronicles is apparently a tactical adventure set in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi wasteland. All three games were shown with new trailers or demos and none are set to be available this year.

New itch.io Tabletop RPG Bundle Supports Reproductive Rights
Dungeons & Dragons podcast Roll for Romance has launched a US$5 tabletop RPG bundle on itch.io in support of US reproductive rights organisations Planned Parenthood and the National Network of Abortion Funds. The bundle currently includes over 200 tabletop RPG titles normally valued at almost US$1400 individually and comes as a response to a leaked US Supreme Court opinion indicating that key protections for access to abortion were at risk of being overturned. Many of the titles included in the bundle are played similarly to popular RPG Dungeons & Dragons and have such wonderful titles as Beam Saber, Glitter Hearts, Village Witch, Offworlders, and In the Shadow of Tower Silveraxe.

Now for some upcoming releases…

May 19 brings…

• Deadcraft [PC, Playstation, Xbox, Switch]
• Eternal Threads [PC, PS4, Xbox]
• Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong [PC, Playstation, Xbox, Switch]

May 20 brings…

• Beekeeping simulator APICO [PC]
• Cotton Fantasy [PS4, Switch]
• Dolmen [PC, Playstation, Xbox]
• The Endless Summer – Search for Surf [PC, Xbox]

May 24 brings…

• Soda Crisis [PC]

May 25 brings…

• Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds [PC]