Author: Nancy, PANews
In recent days, the small images have reignited, and the NFT market has welcomed a long-awaited bull market. The old blue-chip NFT Moonbirds, which had been dormant in the trough, rebounded strongly after completing a new round of ownership change. This is attributed to both the overall recovery of sentiment in the crypto market and the assistance of new narratives and community rebuilding.
Moonbirds' floor price has rebounded significantly, with the new owner OCG becoming a key driver of the recovery.
Recently, the NFT market has heated up, and the once-silent veteran project Moonbirds has once again returned to the public eye.
NFT Price Floor data shows that as of July 22, the floor price of Moonbirds reached 1.55 ETH, setting a new high since December 2023. Although Moonbirds is still in a state of breaking, its trading activity has rapidly warmed up, with transaction volume ranking fifth among all NFTs in the past week, becoming one of the most watched IPs in the market.
The recent 'rebirth' of Moonbirds is inseparable from a key turning point: the transfer of P ownership. On May 31 of this year, the blockchain game development studio Orange Cap Games (OCG) announced the acquisition of Moonbirds, Mythics, and Oddities from Yuga Labs, planning to incorporate them into its Web3 gaming ecosystem.
Since OCG took over, Moonbirds' transaction volume has surged, and the floor price once soared over 437.9%. During the period of Yuga Labs' acquisition, it was almost stagnant, with the floor price lingering around 0.3 ETH for a long time, and the trading volume dropped to a fraction of the early peak.
Regarding the reasons for the acquisition, OCG CEO Spencer revealed in an interview with NFT NOW that, in addition to being acquainted with Garga, co-founder of Yuga Labs, for a long time, he believes Moonbirds is an IP with a story, which, despite its ups and downs, still possesses cultural value and community foundation potential. Although the project's history is complex, the remaining users represent real cohesion, and the high-quality unreleased artistic resources and brand assets of Moonbirds provide a solid foundation for the restart.
After taking over Moonbirds, Spencer became the project leader and quickly clarified the new strategy, focusing on reactivating the community, expanding the platform, and future product and IP development.
Spencer stated that the primary goal of Moonbirds is to reactivate the community. Although the community was very active in the past, its enthusiasm notably declined during the Yuga acquisition period, with some members choosing to fade away or fall silent. Reuniting the community is the foundation of all plans because without the support of internal stakeholders, any ecological expansion cannot be discussed.
While reshaping the community, Moonbirds is also advancing its platform expansion plan synchronously, but the overall pace is significantly different from the previous peak period. They have officially launched a Telegram announcement channel, released a daily crypto newsletter through the official website, continuously providing community users with industry dynamics and project updates, and plan to expand to broader social platforms such as Instagram, Giphy, TikTok, and YouTube, to break free from over-reliance on X and achieve multidimensional exposure and IP reach. At the same time, Spencer also revealed that the team is internally developing new products, expecting to launch collectible items in the coming months. Although it is not yet determined whether these will primarily take the form of trading card games (TCGs), they hope to showcase the potential of the Moonbirds ecosystem through these products.
Additionally, Spencer emphasized the open IP model of Moonbirds, welcoming other developers or publishers to use the Moonbirds IP, but under the condition that they must adhere to strict quality standards. This means that Moonbirds will not be limited to content developed solely by OCG but will become an ecological platform for external construction.
From a practical delivery perspective, the transformation of Moonbirds has already shown phased results. According to a post by Spencer, within 51 days of OCG taking over, Moonbirds topped the Ethereum NFT trading volume chart for 5 days in a row, gaining an airdrop from the social application Towns as well as free Pokémon cards; OpenSea's official Twitter account changed to a Moonbirds avatar; the established Telegram announcement channel gained over 25,000 members; $1.4 million was invested in a lottery activity for Moonbirds Telegram stickers; a $350,000 financing led by 1kx was completed, new team members were hired, and an official announcement is forthcoming. He also revealed that Moonbirds has secured three collaborations (two large-scale, one medium-scale).
Replicating the successful path of Pudgy Penguins? Attention and cash flow are the survival philosophy of NFTs.
After the acquisition of Moonbirds by OCG, the community's expectations have risen significantly, mainly due to the studio's capital resources and business execution capabilities.
OCG is a game and experience design studio dedicated to bringing IP into reality, with Spencer, the helm behind it, being an early blue-chip player in NFTs, having achieved hundred-fold returns through projects like BAYC and Cool Cats. Additionally, Spencer is the founder of the NFT venture capital Spencer Ventures and has purchased over a hundred chubby penguin NFTs during the bankruptcy auction of Three Arrows Capital in 2023. This laid a solid foundation for OCG's deep collaboration with Pudgy Penguins.
In September 2024, OCG announced securing $2 million in angel funding, with investors including Igloo, the parent company of Pudgy Penguins, Web3 consultancy Pacific Meta, Kyber Network founder Loi Luu, and NFT whale dingaling.
Subsequently, OCG launched a new trading card game Vibes featuring the Pudgy Penguins IP, introducing over 200 authorized chubby penguin images into online and offline TCG games, with total sales exceeding 4 million cards, generating over 1.5 million dollars in revenue from physical sales alone. This also showcases OCG's strength in successfully transforming NFTs from digital collectibles to tangible, experiential IP. As cooperation deepens, the interaction between OCG and Pudgy Penguins has become increasingly close, with Spencer even appearing alongside Pudgy Penguins at the Nasdaq opening bell ceremony this year.
Note: The second from the left is Spencer.
Shortly after officially announcing the acquisition of Moonbirds, OCG announced in June this year that it had secured $3.5 million in seed funding, with investors including 1kx, Yuga Labs, and IVC. Among them, 1kx was also a key force in supporting Pudgy Penguins early on, and this investment is viewed by the community as a signal of ecological synergy.
Because of this, the development path of Moonbirds today is believed by outsiders to replicate the successful model of Pudgy Penguins, from strategic models and capital injection to ecological construction.
Although it is still uncertain whether Moonbirds can return to its former peak, Spencer believes that the first rule of the crypto world is to survive. Many NFT projects struggle to continue due to depleted funds failing to sustain basic operations. Only by maintaining stable cash flow and profit margins can a project ensure its continued vitality. OCG guarantees steady revenue growth through continuous brand events and product releases. Secondly, NFT projects should simultaneously pursue attention and cash flow; if they only chase one, they will ultimately end up empty-handed. Ideal products can not only shape brand influence but also achieve significant revenue.
