Mobile developers The Tiny Digital Factory are partnering with prestige car manufacturer Aston Martin to integrate three licensed vehicles into their Infinite Drive mobile game.
Infinite Drive is built around the metaverse concept, so these three vehicles will be available as NFT’s for players to purchase and then use within the game itself. As with previous NFT drops, these will allow players to access the Alpha version of Infinite Drive, with the game set to be fully free-to–play when it launches.
Founder and CEO at The Tiny Digital Factory, Stéphane Baudet said of the collaboration “Our vision for Infinite Drive has always been two-fold: enabling players to own and trade their dream car collections as so many of us have done using diecast models in real life; and to experience the sensation of taking them onto the track. It’s truly remarkable that this vision has resonated so strongly with one of the world’s leading carmakers in Aston Martin - so much so that they have chosen to launch their first ever NFT cars with us. We’re still early in our journey, but we’re confident that Infinite Drive will become a poster child for the meaningful use of Web3 technology in gaming and collectible digital assets.”
Dieing for NFT’s
Although the NFT marketplace, and cryptocurrency in general, has seen a shaky year, The Tiny Digital Factory are still optimistic about the future. The decision to brand their collectibles akin to die-casts reflects a very British sentiment of model-car collection. Die-cast cars of course being one of the major collectibles for British auto-enthusiasts. Aston Martin meanwhile is well-known as being the high-profile supplier of fictional spy James Bond’s regular transport.
As of now, the projected release-date for Infinite Drive is 2023, although as previously stated, NFT holders can access the Alpha early. Although the game is going to be free-to-play, it’s clear that the developers are pinning their hopes on the NFT, Web3 and Metaverse-style game to be a solid contender in the market as the team are hardly amateurs, with Baudet having previously been creative director of the Test Drive Unlimited franchise.
The decision to release the game for all audiences as free-to-play may be a smart decision too, bringing in a wider audience than just NFT-enthusiasts to create a stronger ecosystem.
Niantic, creator of AR games, have also been strongly pushing a metaverse angle with their latest project, NBA All-World, while stopping short of the NFT integration Infinite Drive utilises.
