Ready Player Me to release 3D avatars based on CryptoPunks

Metaverse avatar platform Ready Player Me is releasing a collection of 10,000 unique 3D avatars geared toward CryptoPunks NFT owners, with the idea of giving them a new level of utility.

The Ready Player Me avatars, called Ready Player Me Punks, can be used on various virtual worlds and will grant owners access to 1,000 companies integrating their avatars into apps and games, including VRChat, Somnium Space, TCL and Hiberworld. The company first teased the launch in late December; as noted at the time, the project has no official affiliation with Larva Labs, which created CryptoPunks. 

The avatars will possess attributes of the original CryptoPunks collection, featuring unique badges with Punk’s attributes. CryptoPunks and Ready Player Me Punks are separate collections, meaning a punk owner can “monetize” their CryptoPunk by buying the 3D version and then selling it to someone else for a higher price.

Avatars will be available for a minting price of 0.33 ETH, and half the revenue (including sales on the secondary market) will go to developers behind the apps and games compatible with the Punks and other NFT-based assets.

In December, The Block covered that Ready Player Me raised $13 million in Series A funding to let users create a single avatar to use across virtual platforms. Investors included Taavet+Sten, the co-founders of Wise and Teleport, with participation from Tom Preston-Werner, the co-founder of GitHub, Samsung Next, and others.

According to the company, in January 2021, Ready Player Me had 25 companies using their avatars, and that number has risen to 1,000 as of this year. The avatar platform has partnered with brands such as Dior and New Balance.