Second Life and Minecraft games were the first proper virtual worlds that ended up being phenomenally successful. They’re popular today as well. Users can build proper worlds in these advanced videogames. They can interact with others and even establish economies. They’re nothing like League of Legends or World of Warcraft and that’s why they've attracted a lot of interest. Ferrari wants in and it’s understandable why.
Dubbed as being the next-generation web interface (the Web 3.0) since 2009, nothing really important happened lately with these two games. That is, until the crypto hype came into fruition. Then the virtual world became the place to be if you wanted to be cool. Second Life was forgotten when Bitcoin, Ethereum and other altcoins like Bloktopia managed to pave the way for companies like Adidas, Nike or Pepsi to enter the craze.
These for-profit entities aren’t trying to support a new way of communicating or interacting, but they’re looking forward to having their products on this so-called decentralized virtual world – the metaverse. That’s why even former tech influencers are switching to this whole crypto thing. If this will be proven successful, then they’re already there and are ready to get their fair share of the pie.
The tests began with non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are essentially just digital images or animations sold on different platforms. You pay to have it written in some line of obscure code that you are the owner. The unexplainable prices some of these NFTs reached have attracted, naturally, a lot of attention. People wanted to find out why would someone ever spend so much real cash or crypto on something that anyone can download and have on their computer, phone or tablet. Is clout to blame here?
Photo: Ferrari S.p.A.
Nonetheless, even Lamborghini joined on the hype. We’ve recently learned that the Italian company had its first NFT bidding begin just a couple of days ago.
The madness doesn’t stop here. Ferrari wants a piece of it too. And they are ready to go all-in.
A brand-new world
The biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world – Binance – reminds us that the CEO of Ferrari, Benedetto Vigna, promised the company shareholders and investors late last year that they won’t be left out of the technological advancement. He wasn’t referring only to the imminent transition to electric propulsion. The SF90 already showed us the prancing horse is ready for the switch. No, Vigna did way more than that. He was planning the entrance into the metaverse and the adoption of blockchain technology.
Ferrari recently inked a multi-year deal with Velas Network, a Swiss blockchain start-up, which is geared toward establishing the brand in the metaverse. Velas will issue exclusive digital collectibles for Ferrari’s Maranello racing team. Moreover, there’s a whole new department at Ferrari that’s dedicated to digital technology as means of retail expansion. They will find ways of getting people to spend more money on digital experiences, rather than bringing them to Italy for days at a time.
Photo: Velas' Medium
“For sure, the digital technologies, the web 3.0 technologies that they’re using, the Blockchain, and the NFT is an area that is interesting for us, it deserves some attention,” said Vigna.
Like Lamborghini, Ferrari wants a cut of the sales of NFTs and other goodies like exclusive access to some things happening behind the curtains. There will sure be enough following if the metaverse entrance of the prancing horse is done properly.
But Ferrari should’ve waited before embarking on this journey.
Cryptocurrency and the metaverse are still in their infant years, even if they’re gaining more and more popularity as each day passes. A company with this kind of heritage shouldn’t force its way onto a digital world that maybe the Tifosi don’t even know exists.
In the end, the NFT craze won’t stop here. Facebook put gasoline on fire when it changed its name to Meta in a push for the metaverse and now even Disney will have NFTs and more digital assets. Twitter is using Bitcoin as a means of payment, while YouTube is trying to create its own metaverse with the help of its most successful creators.
There’s no denying that the metaverse will catch on at some point with the help of instruments like the Oculus Rift or whatever Facebook’s planning to do, but that shouldn’t mean carmakers can just hop on a trend that may prove to be even dangerous for their fans. After all, the hacks we’ve seen in the crypto space have left many people with no ‘investment’ whatsoever.
Car shows on TV and his father's Fiat Tempra may have been Florin's early influences, but nowadays he favors different things, like the power of an F-150 Raptor. He'll never be able to ignore the shape of a Ferrari though, especially a yellow one. Full profile
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