Yet another sizzling hot week for the metaverse is quickly drawing to a close – but not without notable stories. This week’s biggest stories surround Spotify’s dive into the metaverse with NFTs acting as playlist keys, the founder of Electronic Arts is making a foray into NFT gaming, and the new NFT marketplace, Blur, continues to take control of the industry – forcing OpenSea to slash fees to ZERO! 

Spotify’s Dive Into the Metaverse

For some time, NFTs have acted as digital tickets that unlock exclusive access to events only available to holders. Well, Spotify is looking to take advantage of that utility by locking exclusive playlists behind figurative doors with NFT keys. 

The news broke in tweets published by Kingship – Universal Music Group’s metaverse band. According to the tweets, Spotify is working on playlists that may only be available to the owners of NFTs. In fact, as part of the pilot program, Kingship released a playlist that you can only access if you’re a Kingship key card NFT holder.

So, why is this important?

The continued use of NFTs as digital keys opens up an entirely new opportunity for artists to optimize their earnings while creating relationships with some of their most diehard fans. We’re excited to watch this story evolve and witness the evolution it could lead to in the music industry as a whole. 

EA Founder Is Making NFT Games

You’ve heard of Electronic Arts – that is, unless you live under a rock. Well, the founder of EA, Trip Hawkins, is breaking into the NFT gaming industry. This is nothing new. There have been several key figures in gaming who have broken into the metaverse – but it’s hard to argue the notability of Trip Hawkins making the plunge. 

Hawkins recently announced that he’s the co-founder of Games for a Living. Games for a Living is a startup that’s centered around NFT-based gaming. Adding to the names behind Gaming for a Living, Hawkins’ partner in the endeavor is Manel Sort, the first vice president at King, the developer of Candy Crush. 

As these two gaming industry veterans team up, there’s no telling what they’ll create – nor the notoriety their partnership will bring to the metaverse. 

Blur Continues to Overtake OpenSea

Last week, we touched on the fact that the new NFT marketplace, Blur, is making waves. Those waves were so big that the company had more trading volume than OpenSea at times throughout the week. 

Well, Blur’s stab at OpenSea is far less blurry. The company seems to be taking over. 

Blur has only been around for about four months. However, the marketplace is doing something right. Last week, it took 82% of Ethereum trading volume – easily beating industry veteran OpenSea. 

OpenSea responded to Blur’s meteoric rise by slashing its fees to Zero, but that seems to have had no effect on market trends to date. The question here is, “Will Blur continue to take control of NFT trading or will OpenSea figure something out to protect its market share.”

We’ll See You Next Week

That’s it for this week. Come back next Friday for the top stories in the Metaverse.