Mutant Apes to be the lead characters in the Serum City Web3 game

Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFTs by Yuga Labs are not as popular as the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs. However, the founder of Novel Labs and Mutant Cartel, Lior Messika, believes that a gap can be filled by bringing more utility to MAYC NFT holders.

MAYC NFTs to find utility in Serum City

Messika is a major player in the Web3 industry and is a collector of MAYC NFTs. He has also invested in Yuga Labs through the Eden Block venture capital firm. Messika is now focused on bringing MAYC NFTs to the Web3 gaming industry.

Novel Labs will be working alongside Faraway for this project. Faraway is the developer of a Solana-based game, Mini Royale: Nations. The partnership will support the creation of a Web3 game known as Serum City. The game will run on the Ethereum blockchain and use ApeCoin as its native token.

Messika noted a gap in the MAYC gaming ecosystem that needed to be filled with this project. Mutant apes will be the lead characters in Serum City, and MAYC will be among the few NFTs that will provide utility to the owners who want to access the game.

The holders of BAYC NFTs will also gain access to the game alongside those holding the Novel Labs’ Genesis Oath and Mutant Hound NFT collections. The last two collections are not part of the Yuga Labs ecosystem.

Those who wish to participate in this game must own one of these NFTs. However, the project is also planning to open access with every new in-game season of content gradually. The launch of Serum City is key to the growth of Mutant Cartel. According to Messika, Mutant Cartel has been developing lore actively in the last 18 months.

An Ape-focused ecosystem

Serum City is a game set up in a dystopian world where Bored Apes are the “ruling class.” On the other hand, the Mutant Apes are the underlings after consuming the Serum. The storyline will explore the Mutant Cartel Expanded Universe and the Blaksoot and Darkfang characters.

The co-founder of Faraway, Alex Paley, said that Serum City would feature an “illustrated” and comic book-inspired aesthetic. Paley noted that while Serum City was a game, it would also be an immersive story.

The in-depth details about this game are still under wraps. However, in the past, Messika has been calling out early NFT-based games for having a simple concept and a superficial nature. As such, he has assured the community that Serum City will be a richer ecosystem with an appealing gameplay experience.

Messika also noted that the team had contacted Yuga Labs about this game. However, he said Novel Labs was not mandated to check in with Yuga Labs before creating Serum City. This is because of the IP license of BAYC and MAYC NFTs.