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Konami announced on Th that it would release a collection of NFTs inspired by Castlevania in honor of the series' 35th anniversary. The collection will get up for auction starting January 12, and it volition include 14 NFTs featuring gameplay footage, pixel fine art, central art, and background music from the Castlevania serial, the company said.

This appears to be the first entry in a program Konami referred to as "Konami Memorial NFT." In a Q&A accompanying the announcement, the visitor described Konami Memorial NFT as "an initiative to create art NFTs using dearest in-game scenes from Konami titles, and for our fans to preserve them for many years to come." The phrasing seems to suggest Konami could make more NFTs commemorating the anniversaries of its franchises. It'due south worth noting that the Metallic Gear series, like Castlevania, will likewise celebrate its 35th ceremony in 2022.

Castlevania fans on Twitter were quite vocal in their opposition to Konami jumping on the NFT bandwagon, with several replies berating the company for celebrating the historic franchise's ceremony in this style. The Castlevania series has been largely dormant since Lords of Shadow two was released in 2022. The only game to exist released since then was Grimoire of Souls — a mobile title. "If [releasing NFTs] isn't spitting on the corpse of your franchise, I don't know what is," said Twitter user Mystic Gengar in response to the NFT initiative.

With this announcement, Konami joins the ranks of Ubisoft and Square Enix as video game companies that have embraced NFTs. NFTs are a controversial topic due to their debatable value and potential environmental touch. Square Enix's CEO notably published a letter on January ane endorsing NFTs, which prompted a wave of backfire past the gaming customs. Interestingly plenty, the company'due south stock price besides surged by roughly 8% post-obit the alphabetic character's publication.