JS does not have any thought leadership. They should not be driving a brand that is on fire and not in the hip way. It's burning down and most things are broken. My feedback for them to improve is to take the money they make from pet slot sales and hire someone amazing to purge old unused data and then move it over to HTML5. It cannot survive on the spaghetti code anymore, it limits it now that flash can't carry the site. Focus on keeping the people who actually stuck around through your bullshit instead of trying to bring people in with dumb shit like an animated show or NFTs. Who comes up with this? Remove them from any leadership positions and get someone else to step in. JS is lazy and incompetent. They love to be cheap and dirty because they just want to milk the IP. They never learn and they'll keep kicking the can down the road and milk the whales until the teat is dry.
Honestly I don't know why neopets didn't partner with build a bear in the 2000's-2010's. The only plushies I really remember was the ones that we got in happy meals. There is so much potential for different designs for the plushies considering how many paint colors and species there are. And with the recent success of the animal crossing plushies its probably do well
@@PSJulie I guess we can only wonder. But with the amount of build a bears and neocash I bought back then they definitely would have had me as a customer lol
BaB only likes to partner with big brands like Disney and Nintendo. They probably have big licensing fees and draconian agreements that only the too-big-to-fail are willing to get caught up in. Just speculation however
Actually, Neopets had a huge toy chain the past, and they sold a lot of their products at walmart. Before that, they sold them at Limited Too. I had a big fairy Kacheek and Kougra that talked (they had the ability to interact), as well as some medium sized petpet plushies. They also had action figures of the faeries. It doesn't surprise me that they have decided to bring them back yet. The plushies were high quality btw.
Jeez they've got all this nostalgia money they can't seem to figure out how to tap. Besides plushies, I think enamel pins would be a good idea. They're very trendy in fandom, cheap to produce in bulk, and Neopets has so much established, recognizable art they can use. Mostly I would love pins of the old, wholesomely-awkward early site art.
If neopets did a cross over with build a bear I would go feral. The team for neopets really has some major damage control. folks are cancelling their memberships and swearing off buying anything from neopets. The neopets team has some heavy back pedaling if they want to keep their user base. Thank you for shining some light on the situation.
I wish I could send the corporate team a gift basket. I don't think they chose this and now they're dealing with the fallout. It sucks so hard for everyone. I hope they can figure it out.
it's crazy thinking about neo's struggle with merchandising. imo they did a good thing recently with their Hot Topic collab, but it flew a little under the radar since they didn't promote it a whole ton. why not do a Box Lunch merch series? release campy neopets plushie backpacks? hell, i'd even love a blind bag figure set or neoboard avatar keychains! there's so much they could do, it's frustrating!
I like how everyone just forgets that Neopets is still meant for people 13+ which means that it is still advertising to young teens. Gotta get that hurdling crypto in early eh?
TNT has no idea how much money I would chuck at them just to be able to play a Mahjong knock-off that lets me buy pretty dresses for my dumb fake animals. I haven't played Koujong since Flash died, and I can feel the joy seeping out of my life.
Build a bear is a great idea. I grew up with the How to Train Your Dragon series and they were the only place I could find that sold the baby dragons as stuffed animals after the third movie came out.
Man, Neopets is the internet embodiment of a living fossil. You think it died a long time ago, but then you rediscover it and it’s still alive and kicking doing business. I’m tempted to log back into my old account and see if the STONKS I still left there are good.
Honestly, seeing Jumpstart latching onto yet another trend just further hammers home how desperate they are for Neo to be relevant as a kids product in 2021, which I genuinely can't see them succeeding with. Ever since Jumpstart bought Neopets, the quality of the product has plummeted and only the diehard adult fans have stayed with them. I'd genuinely love to see their playerbase/audience age groups, because I don't see actual children playing a game that has aged this horribly in terms of staying user friendly. Zoomers aren't as technologically savvy as those of us who grew up with the budding internet, something I can clearly see with my niece or even random teens whose online security is abysmal because all for all of their growing up with ipads and tablet PCs, their experience is streamlined and userfriendly compared to us learning HTML and having our ears yelled off with talks of strangers and staying safe online. I don't think my niece would be remotely interested in a forum game/browser based game where her imagination would do 90% of the work. Also I'm very anti-NFTs, if only because I think merchandise should stay physical in an age where [insert company who owns your favourite IPs here] can easily take away your ownership of a non-physical product (like Facebook can remove your ownership of your Oculus VR games if you break their TOS). I wasn't even aware of the first venture into Crypto by Jumpstart, despite my actively playing Neopets in 2018.. Everything I've read about this Metaverse is giving me bad vibes, like the last pathetic death throes of a once-great franchise because the competent people were fired and the management was outsourced to India. Literally. I'm not angry, just really sad. Neopets had such a huge impact on my early internet experience and my budding English skills. Neopets deserved better than this.
- "before you say 'julie, build-a-bear is for children!'" - me, 24 years old, with my K.K. Slider build-a-bear next to me: *sweating* i WISH neopets would release plushies! i miss my old mcdonald's plush collection, but more than that i *adored* my keyquest plushies! and keyquest itself... they could bring that back too... *coUGH* but in all seriousness, i think plushies would be the best way to go. i mean, i even only CALL them plushies because neopets taught me to lmao. i did buy some of the hot topic t-shirts that were released, but the neopets fandom has largely always shown an affinity for cute, usually fluffy things... since that's what neopets freakin' are! ngl, to me it already seemed trendy when they opted for stuffed animals with online codes for their keyquest plushies way back when, but it felt like it at least related to the core fandom. like you said, this just feels... a bit random, and like it totally misses the mark for most neopets fans. sigh. another chaotic turn of events in this corner of the internet lol.
I'm glad I kept postponing getting Premium for Neo. NFTs are absolute cancer, due to their environmental impact, the fact they're a platform for art theft, and because of the userbase they attract. Nobody on Neo wanted NFTs, all the people I've seen defending this s**t are shills that haven't played the game. Edit: Bro I f***ing called it, but seeing it in action is never fun. The s***heads running the company that is going to make the NFTs is absolutely disrespectful to the playerbase in their server. They won't let you swear, but calling queer people f****ts and POC "baboons" is totally fine, apparently.
I feel pretty bad because at 7:46 there was an incredible action shot of her jumping onto the window ledge and i blurred it out to put the emphasis on the quote. i promise you it was majestic.
you're missing the funniest twist in the story, in which the official metaverse twitter account retweeted some very bizarre nsfw-ish (definitely nsfneopets) content :P thanks for making the video! It's nice to have everything compiled in one video, and oh my gosh I wish we had a b-a-b collab with neopets...
The biggest issue with the Plushies is they seem to refuse to make plushies of their newer pets-and by newer I mean BORIES CAME OUT IN OCTOBER OF 2004 AND THERE IS STILL NO BORI PLUSHIES. If there were plushies of the "newer", at least semi-popular pets, there would be SO MANY PLUSH SALES. Heck, there's not a single piece of merch that has a bori on it!
I love the Build-a-Bear idea, so long as they focus on making characters people would actually buy. I was disappointed by the initial Animal Crossing x Build-a-Bear because only Tom Nook and Isabelle were in the first drop, so if they ever do a Neopets collaboration, I'm hoping there's more characters available to purchase. I also think that Neopets should focus on looking at what independent sellers on Etsy are making for fans, and go down a similar route. A lot of independent people are making and selling Neopets things like keychains, posters, hats, mugs, bags, stickers, etc. A lot of people like the nostalgic art, and I think people would flip out about seeing UC pets on official merchandise or as plushies, stickers, pins, etc. Also, I think if they did a re-release of something older like their larger talking plushies and petpets, trading cards, or keyquest plushies, people would also be happy.
Living for the fact that you got more worked up about the word "metaverse" than anything else in this vid xD I'd not known that their NFT examples seemed to be generated by using a fansite. It just speaks to the management penny-pinching that they won't pay a dev for the hour of work it'd take to knock up a quick page to generate a random pet. "We are constantly seeking new ways for players to engage with us"? Blatant lie, but also maybe players would engage more if the site was more coherent and they were adding actual site content rather than... whatever this is meant to end up being. In what way does this promote engagement outside of a buyer handing over their wallet? I could see it promoting engagement if TNT was intending to incorporate these NFTs as something gained from a new sub-game, but is there any indication that that's the intention? I'm curious to see how TNT actually implements these NFTs, because I haven't read anything solid about it - whether it ends up becoming part of site canon or if it ends up being TNT-endorsed "merch" on a third-party site (more likely tbh). I'd bet they won't be reneging on this decision/deal, as their projected profits from it likely far outweigh any losses they face as retaliation from the player base
I honestly don't think these NFTs and this partnership were devised or vetted by the Neopets' team. I believe it was a higher up decision suddenly thrust upon them.
@@PSJulie 100%, it's not the sort of decision anyone outside the c-suite would've thought made any sense. CEO's be out here like "the kids are always talking about blockchain this and metaverse that, and my nephew said this one NFT sold for 69 million [har har] - let's cash in on it!"
Oof, this is the first I heard about this and I'm not pleased. I'm skeptical of NFTs for both those reasons, and I've been playing Neopets for 20 years. If they want more engagement with the site they should focus on getting more games working again. There's just not much to do there at the moment. Highly agreed on Build A Bear btw! If they ever get around to making a Zafara plushie I'd buy it immediately.
neopets is dying in such a sad way. why try to drum up more engagement for your brand when the site is still broken? thats like, inviting folks to a house party when that house is falling apart
Your ability to story tell and effectively explain things is remarkable! Thank you for giving yourself the day to record this, I know I'm not the only one that appreciates it!
I subscribed to your channel for the virtual pets but wasn't expecting a marketing lesson while I am currently studying advertisement (which is inside mrkt) thank you for the knowledge about brand engagement.
I have a lot of feelings about the NFT launch and all of them are negative. I've been low-key following your videos for years, but after getting my own grasp on the NFT situation, I immediately wondered what you'd have to say about it and came to your channel, watched a bunch of other videos, and subbed so I'd know when this one came out. I'm sincerely hoping for some kind of update from TNT/JS about this because I feel incredibly defeated and upset about the topic and I definitely feel like they've done their userbase dirty, and frankly, I want to see an apology, even if not a cancellation. the sad thing is that I've seriously considered leaving the site over this and I'm still on the fence about whether or not I will (after 16+ years of being a loyal player.) I just feel so hopeless in regards to JS's handling of neopets and the complete lack of care the company seems to have towards the audience. I earnestly agree with a lot of your points and appreciate the integrity you have in acknowledging certain things even if you feel like you might not be able to speak about them from a good place. Your biggest concerns are the big concerns for me too, but I'm also in those two latter categories of skeptics you mentioned, about art theft and environmentalism. at the end of the day I feel like neopets has lost what made it special to me because I feel like its crystal clear the people behind it no longer care about the world itself. all businesses have to make money of course, but by now it feels like that's all neopets will ever be to someone who has charge of it. I don't want to feel like this, but I haven't seen anything that I feel like I can latch onto to hope for something better.
Oh my god, Neopets needs to seriously get it together. Stealing from their fans AGAIN? I didn't expect the first ever virtual pet site to become such a joke. :/
It really makes my 30-something year old heart happy to know Neopets still exists 🤣 I tried to log in years ago for a trip down memory lane and my account had been purged. Might let my daughter play it one day but she's too young now.
I haven't logged into Neopets in several years but I would buy a Neopets BaB in a heartbeat. It's not a product/collab that has ever occurred to me but it makes so much sense.
I swear that Neopets used to have plushies back in the day, because I had a yellow Kougra plush and it was one of my favorites as a kid. I think these plushies were made back when Webkinz was more popular. I didn't play Neopets the game very much, but I just really liked the plushie. If they just tried doing something like that again, I bet it would go great!
Why are TNT so dedicated to making their players hate the site they are so in love with that they’ve stayed throughout all of this bull shit. Loving this website is one of the most infuriating things.
Thank you for taking time to make a video about this, I was completely out of the loop cause I'm on a bit of a neopets break, so it was interesting to hear about!
Perhaps you could consider continuing to make videos in this format but not strictly limited to the topic of Neopets! I loved this video, and I'd love to see more videos from you like these on the topics of business and marketing.
Thank you so much for this! I had ~thoughts~ but I don't really know enough about the topic to feel comfortable sharing. You always cover topics in a super levelheaded way, which I appreciate!
This was very informative. I hadnt heard anything about this specific neopets nft situation and i really appreciate how you comprehensively brought me up to speed. Its too bad that the neopets team doesnt have more people like yourself on their staff who are in touch with the fandom, they could be a lot more successful than they are.
I've long thought the team would benefit from an independent panel of lore masters / game historians, but I think managing that would be beyond their resources.
@@PSJulie I would even prefer them have a few people such as yourself on as consultants on the business side. I recognize that this seemed like a "free" opportunity on their end and that making merch is costly, etc. However they are paying for this venture with the good will and trust of their fans, which is something that takes years to build. The uninformed and uninvolved crypto projects are not cost-free for them, and I wish they had people actually in touch with the fandom to help them see that before they jumped in with both feet. And perhaps the build-a-bear thing sounds like too much for them, but maybe they just need to really put all their out-of-game focus on that for a year, and seize on that excellent opportunity instead of buzz generators with low chance of financial success.
really appreciate how articulate and informative this video is!! also all of the marketing-related language has me wanting to learn more about marketing
Over the past few years I've bought a number of different Pokemon Build-A-Bear plushies. They've all been super high quality, and I honestly threw my money at Build-A-Bear with no hesitation when I first saw they were released. Around 35 USD for a high quality plushie that's way bigger than the Pokedolls you find at Nintendo NY? Sign me up. If Neopets ever did a Build-A-Bear collab I'd rush over on release day to give them my money. And this is coming from someone in their late 20s. Come on, Jumpstart. Give the fans what we want and are willing to spend money on! (I personally really loved their collab with Hot Topic last year and spent a bunch of money on Neopets shirts.)
I am sorry to hear this old game is changing with NFT. There will be a new Neopets block chain game in 2022 according to yesterday annual earning presentation.
Good work Julie! I really value your insights, looking forward to your upcoming video. Also yeah ready player one was such a horrible read... would not recommend hah!
I agree they are defiantly targeting a different audience, I don't think this is a bad business decision though. You mention how the people they're targeting won't be interested in playing this type of game, but this is straight up wrong. There are a ton of nft/blockchain games that are already about managing pets/creatures, battling, etc. So now they're trying to tap into that market while attaching a nostalgic brand name. People will play the game, if it makes them any type of money. You're right though in assuming people who already play neopets probably won't be fully interested in this, but some old fans might. It's not like neopets is anywhere near as big as it once was. Also the whole energy shtick is straight up BS that the mainstream media and banking system want people to be scared of, Cryptos are more energy efficient than the banking system but that's never brought up in the conversation... It's gonna take time to innovate. You clearly know what you're talking about though so I respect your opinion.
Oooh hoo hoo I am excited to wake up to this video, literally my first thought when the NFT official announcement dropped was "mmm wonder what pet simmer julie will have to say about this"
they are expanding a product because you og fans aren't pulling in enough money. Nothing personal but theyre about to make millions off this vs you guys not spending any money
@@PSJulie As a game and maybe as a job depending on what stats and raising methods would increase the value of my pets. There's no major videogame/web IP that has attempted their own NFT game and I believe there's definitely potential for Neopets to capitalize while also catering to new/old players in making it as enjoyable as normally playing. Plus our pets would still exist on the blockchain if something were to happen to the website or the company as a whole.
JS does not have any thought leadership. They should not be driving a brand that is on fire and not in the hip way. It's burning down and most things are broken. My feedback for them to improve is to take the money they make from pet slot sales and hire someone amazing to purge old unused data and then move it over to HTML5. It cannot survive on the spaghetti code anymore, it limits it now that flash can't carry the site.
Focus on keeping the people who actually stuck around through your bullshit instead of trying to bring people in with dumb shit like an animated show or NFTs. Who comes up with this? Remove them from any leadership positions and get someone else to step in. JS is lazy and incompetent. They love to be cheap and dirty because they just want to milk the IP. They never learn and they'll keep kicking the can down the road and milk the whales until the teat is dry.
I could not have said it better myself.
I think jumpstart is own by net dragon.
Honestly I don't know why neopets didn't partner with build a bear in the 2000's-2010's. The only plushies I really remember was the ones that we got in happy meals. There is so much potential for different designs for the plushies considering how many paint colors and species there are. And with the recent success of the animal crossing plushies its probably do well
I don't know either. Maybe they had initial introductions and it didn't work out.
@@PSJulie I guess we can only wonder. But with the amount of build a bears and neocash I bought back then they definitely would have had me as a customer lol
BaB only likes to partner with big brands like Disney and Nintendo. They probably have big licensing fees and draconian agreements that only the too-big-to-fail are willing to get caught up in. Just speculation however
Actually, Neopets had a huge toy chain the past, and they sold a lot of their products at walmart. Before that, they sold them at Limited Too. I had a big fairy Kacheek and Kougra that talked (they had the ability to interact), as well as some medium sized petpet plushies. They also had action figures of the faeries. It doesn't surprise me that they have decided to bring them back yet. The plushies were high quality btw.
Jeez they've got all this nostalgia money they can't seem to figure out how to tap. Besides plushies, I think enamel pins would be a good idea. They're very trendy in fandom, cheap to produce in bulk, and Neopets has so much established, recognizable art they can use. Mostly I would love pins of the old, wholesomely-awkward early site art.
The money is in the IP. But not the IP that the NFTs touch.
They do have enamel pins available!
If neopets did a cross over with build a bear I would go feral.
The team for neopets really has some major damage control. folks are cancelling their memberships and swearing off buying anything from neopets.
The neopets team has some heavy back pedaling if they want to keep their user base.
Thank you for shining some light on the situation.
I wish I could send the corporate team a gift basket. I don't think they chose this and now they're dealing with the fallout. It sucks so hard for everyone. I hope they can figure it out.
User base: Please fix your site - it’s broken.
Neopets: WHAT? PLEASE FIX THE SITE WITH NON-FUNGIBLE TOKENS? OKAY WE GOTCHU
They truly have selective listening.
Makes me think of the incompetence of the people running tumblr. Banning one of things we use tumblr for. Lol
it's crazy thinking about neo's struggle with merchandising. imo they did a good thing recently with their Hot Topic collab, but it flew a little under the radar since they didn't promote it a whole ton. why not do a Box Lunch merch series? release campy neopets plushie backpacks? hell, i'd even love a blind bag figure set or neoboard avatar keychains! there's so much they could do, it's frustrating!
I feel like they're really trying with the merch but that effort can only go as far as they push it.
Box lunch is literally the best idea imo. They pretty much make their money from nostalgia properties and otaku weeb stuff.
Id definitely buy the keychains
I like how everyone just forgets that Neopets is still meant for people 13+ which means that it is still advertising to young teens. Gotta get that hurdling crypto in early eh?
I agree that the project makes no sense.
Buildabear X Neopets I need this foreal.
Let's start a letter writing campaign.
TNT has no idea how much money I would chuck at them just to be able to play a Mahjong knock-off that lets me buy pretty dresses for my dumb fake animals. I haven't played Koujong since Flash died, and I can feel the joy seeping out of my life.
We just want the games back!
this but kiko match :(
Build a bear is a great idea. I grew up with the How to Train Your Dragon series and they were the only place I could find that sold the baby dragons as stuffed animals after the third movie came out.
Thank you!
The irony here is that JS’s other big game is School of Dragons, a HTTYD edutainment MMO. Not that they have control over the brand, but still….
Man, Neopets is the internet embodiment of a living fossil. You think it died a long time ago, but then you rediscover it and it’s still alive and kicking doing business. I’m tempted to log back into my old account and see if the STONKS I still left there are good.
I wouldn't say it's "alive and kicking", it's more like a twitching zombie. One of these twitches just happened to be the crypto scam.
"Living fossil" is a generous description!
Honestly, seeing Jumpstart latching onto yet another trend just further hammers home how desperate they are for Neo to be relevant as a kids product in 2021, which I genuinely can't see them succeeding with. Ever since Jumpstart bought Neopets, the quality of the product has plummeted and only the diehard adult fans have stayed with them. I'd genuinely love to see their playerbase/audience age groups, because I don't see actual children playing a game that has aged this horribly in terms of staying user friendly. Zoomers aren't as technologically savvy as those of us who grew up with the budding internet, something I can clearly see with my niece or even random teens whose online security is abysmal because all for all of their growing up with ipads and tablet PCs, their experience is streamlined and userfriendly compared to us learning HTML and having our ears yelled off with talks of strangers and staying safe online. I don't think my niece would be remotely interested in a forum game/browser based game where her imagination would do 90% of the work.
Also I'm very anti-NFTs, if only because I think merchandise should stay physical in an age where [insert company who owns your favourite IPs here] can easily take away your ownership of a non-physical product (like Facebook can remove your ownership of your Oculus VR games if you break their TOS). I wasn't even aware of the first venture into Crypto by Jumpstart, despite my actively playing Neopets in 2018..
Everything I've read about this Metaverse is giving me bad vibes, like the last pathetic death throes of a once-great franchise because the competent people were fired and the management was outsourced to India. Literally.
I'm not angry, just really sad. Neopets had such a huge impact on my early internet experience and my budding English skills. Neopets deserved better than this.
- "before you say 'julie, build-a-bear is for children!'"
- me, 24 years old, with my K.K. Slider build-a-bear next to me: *sweating*
i WISH neopets would release plushies! i miss my old mcdonald's plush collection, but more than that i *adored* my keyquest plushies! and keyquest itself... they could bring that back too... *coUGH* but in all seriousness, i think plushies would be the best way to go. i mean, i even only CALL them plushies because neopets taught me to lmao. i did buy some of the hot topic t-shirts that were released, but the neopets fandom has largely always shown an affinity for cute, usually fluffy things... since that's what neopets freakin' are!
ngl, to me it already seemed trendy when they opted for stuffed animals with online codes for their keyquest plushies way back when, but it felt like it at least related to the core fandom. like you said, this just feels... a bit random, and like it totally misses the mark for most neopets fans. sigh. another chaotic turn of events in this corner of the internet lol.
I don't think it was a wise decision that took into consideration Neopets' long term goals.
We gotta applaud neopets for still surviving to this day into the modern era!
still kickin
Honestly, I thought it was definitely gonna die with flash
I'm glad I kept postponing getting Premium for Neo. NFTs are absolute cancer, due to their environmental impact, the fact they're a platform for art theft, and because of the userbase they attract. Nobody on Neo wanted NFTs, all the people I've seen defending this s**t are shills that haven't played the game.
Edit: Bro I f***ing called it, but seeing it in action is never fun. The s***heads running the company that is going to make the NFTs is absolutely disrespectful to the playerbase in their server. They won't let you swear, but calling queer people f****ts and POC "baboons" is totally fine, apparently.
Your annoyance at nonsense / misused buzzwords is very palpable and appreciated
(the cat at 8:01 was also appreciated)
I feel pretty bad because at 7:46 there was an incredible action shot of her jumping onto the window ledge and i blurred it out to put the emphasis on the quote. i promise you it was majestic.
you're missing the funniest twist in the story, in which the official metaverse twitter account retweeted some very bizarre nsfw-ish (definitely nsfneopets) content :P thanks for making the video! It's nice to have everything compiled in one video, and oh my gosh I wish we had a b-a-b collab with neopets...
details? omg
@@dio1803 it’s still there on their Twitter. Four days ago. They also replied to JN’s tweet about it saying they were “taken out of context” lmao
Yeah, that was horrifying. 😑
The biggest issue with the Plushies is they seem to refuse to make plushies of their newer pets-and by newer I mean BORIES CAME OUT IN OCTOBER OF 2004 AND THERE IS STILL NO BORI PLUSHIES. If there were plushies of the "newer", at least semi-popular pets, there would be SO MANY PLUSH SALES. Heck, there's not a single piece of merch that has a bori on it!
I agree, we need more newer pet representation!
I love the Build-a-Bear idea, so long as they focus on making characters people would actually buy. I was disappointed by the initial Animal Crossing x Build-a-Bear because only Tom Nook and Isabelle were in the first drop, so if they ever do a Neopets collaboration, I'm hoping there's more characters available to purchase.
I also think that Neopets should focus on looking at what independent sellers on Etsy are making for fans, and go down a similar route. A lot of independent people are making and selling Neopets things like keychains, posters, hats, mugs, bags, stickers, etc. A lot of people like the nostalgic art, and I think people would flip out about seeing UC pets on official merchandise or as plushies, stickers, pins, etc.
Also, I think if they did a re-release of something older like their larger talking plushies and petpets, trading cards, or keyquest plushies, people would also be happy.
Living for the fact that you got more worked up about the word "metaverse" than anything else in this vid xD
I'd not known that their NFT examples seemed to be generated by using a fansite. It just speaks to the management penny-pinching that they won't pay a dev for the hour of work it'd take to knock up a quick page to generate a random pet. "We are constantly seeking new ways for players to engage with us"? Blatant lie, but also maybe players would engage more if the site was more coherent and they were adding actual site content rather than... whatever this is meant to end up being. In what way does this promote engagement outside of a buyer handing over their wallet? I could see it promoting engagement if TNT was intending to incorporate these NFTs as something gained from a new sub-game, but is there any indication that that's the intention?
I'm curious to see how TNT actually implements these NFTs, because I haven't read anything solid about it - whether it ends up becoming part of site canon or if it ends up being TNT-endorsed "merch" on a third-party site (more likely tbh). I'd bet they won't be reneging on this decision/deal, as their projected profits from it likely far outweigh any losses they face as retaliation from the player base
I honestly don't think these NFTs and this partnership were devised or vetted by the Neopets' team. I believe it was a higher up decision suddenly thrust upon them.
Also the metaverse thing makes me so so so so mad.
@@PSJulie 100%, it's not the sort of decision anyone outside the c-suite would've thought made any sense. CEO's be out here like "the kids are always talking about blockchain this and metaverse that, and my nephew said this one NFT sold for 69 million [har har] - let's cash in on it!"
We have the exact same perspective. There's no way anyone outside of the C-suite pulled the trigger.
Oof, this is the first I heard about this and I'm not pleased. I'm skeptical of NFTs for both those reasons, and I've been playing Neopets for 20 years.
If they want more engagement with the site they should focus on getting more games working again. There's just not much to do there at the moment.
Highly agreed on Build A Bear btw! If they ever get around to making a Zafara plushie I'd buy it immediately.
A zafara plushie would be a dream.
neopets is dying in such a sad way. why try to drum up more engagement for your brand when the site is still broken? thats like, inviting folks to a house party when that house is falling apart
The house is on fire and is also collapsing into a sink hole.
I bet college students can fix their website within a month with half of the games working.
I think the company's leadership and ownership gets in the way of solving problems.
Just look at Neopets classic, it’s a fan recreation of pre-conversion Neopets. It has dailies, shops, and some games
Doing my best!
Your ability to story tell and effectively explain things is remarkable! Thank you for giving yourself the day to record this, I know I'm not the only one that appreciates it!
Wow, thank you!
God I would kill an entire village for a Kad "build a bear"
Not just the men, but the women and children too?
Oh I would immediately do the same for a Barlow, not that they'd necessarily make one. So I suppose my nearest village is safe
I subscribed to your channel for the virtual pets but wasn't expecting a marketing lesson while I am currently studying advertisement (which is inside mrkt) thank you for the knowledge about brand engagement.
Let me know if you have any specific questions! There are a few digital marketing books i recommend to incoming professionals.
I would literally pay money to play the old version of neopets as it was when I was growing up 😩
Gotta say i dont know a lot about the NFTs but im looking forward to learning more about them from one of my favorite youtubers
Aw, thank you! I don't get too much into it because there are great videos out here on RUclips that explain the tech better.
I have a lot of feelings about the NFT launch and all of them are negative. I've been low-key following your videos for years, but after getting my own grasp on the NFT situation, I immediately wondered what you'd have to say about it and came to your channel, watched a bunch of other videos, and subbed so I'd know when this one came out.
I'm sincerely hoping for some kind of update from TNT/JS about this because I feel incredibly defeated and upset about the topic and I definitely feel like they've done their userbase dirty, and frankly, I want to see an apology, even if not a cancellation. the sad thing is that I've seriously considered leaving the site over this and I'm still on the fence about whether or not I will (after 16+ years of being a loyal player.) I just feel so hopeless in regards to JS's handling of neopets and the complete lack of care the company seems to have towards the audience.
I earnestly agree with a lot of your points and appreciate the integrity you have in acknowledging certain things even if you feel like you might not be able to speak about them from a good place. Your biggest concerns are the big concerns for me too, but I'm also in those two latter categories of skeptics you mentioned, about art theft and environmentalism. at the end of the day I feel like neopets has lost what made it special to me because I feel like its crystal clear the people behind it no longer care about the world itself. all businesses have to make money of course, but by now it feels like that's all neopets will ever be to someone who has charge of it. I don't want to feel like this, but I haven't seen anything that I feel like I can latch onto to hope for something better.
Thank you for sharing such a thoughtful comment. ❤️ This is a really rocky scenario and I'm not sure how Neopets' is going to ride this one out.
Oh my god, Neopets needs to seriously get it together. Stealing from their fans AGAIN? I didn't expect the first ever virtual pet site to become such a joke. :/
I don't think any of us predicted this, the darkest Neopets timeline.
Your cat is really pretty, I got really excited to see them in the background. Also this video is great!!
Thank you!! 😊 But if I told her, it would go straight to her ego.
@@PSJulie oh of course 😄
A kougra build a bear…hnhgggg I need it
Build-a-bear Neopets is a big brain move ngl I wish their marketing team had you lol
I hear they recently got some new staff!
It really makes my 30-something year old heart happy to know Neopets still exists 🤣 I tried to log in years ago for a trip down memory lane and my account had been purged. Might let my daughter play it one day but she's too young now.
That's awesome!
Saving this to my "watch later" bc I don't wanna go to bed upset.
Good call! Let me know what you think.
I have never clicked a video SO FAST
Thank you!
God i fking love everything u do julie
Thank u soph ❤️🥰
I haven't logged into Neopets in several years but I would buy a Neopets BaB in a heartbeat. It's not a product/collab that has ever occurred to me but it makes so much sense.
I swear that Neopets used to have plushies back in the day, because I had a yellow Kougra plush and it was one of my favorites as a kid. I think these plushies were made back when Webkinz was more popular. I didn't play Neopets the game very much, but I just really liked the plushie. If they just tried doing something like that again, I bet it would go great!
Yes, they had plushies at Target and Limited Too while they were owned by Viacom. :(
Not sure why they havent made a new tcg with all the hype around tcgs in the last 2 years..
When I went to comic con, it was brought up. 🤷🏼♀️
Why are TNT so dedicated to making their players hate the site they are so in love with that they’ve stayed throughout all of this bull shit. Loving this website is one of the most infuriating things.
I feel that.. i miss the oldschool site look now its half mobile half oldschool which is honestly just weird
Thank you for taking time to make a video about this, I was completely out of the loop cause I'm on a bit of a neopets break, so it was interesting to hear about!
Glad it was helpful!
Perhaps you could consider continuing to make videos in this format but not strictly limited to the topic of Neopets! I loved this video, and I'd love to see more videos from you like these on the topics of business and marketing.
Thank you so much for this! I had ~thoughts~ but I don't really know enough about the topic to feel comfortable sharing. You always cover topics in a super levelheaded way, which I appreciate!
You are so welcome! I keep checking your channel to see if you've addressed it.
Great video. Commenting because I know comments are good for the algorithm and you're my favourite source of Neopets news.
You're the best!
This was very informative. I hadnt heard anything about this specific neopets nft situation and i really appreciate how you comprehensively brought me up to speed. Its too bad that the neopets team doesnt have more people like yourself on their staff who are in touch with the fandom, they could be a lot more successful than they are.
I've long thought the team would benefit from an independent panel of lore masters / game historians, but I think managing that would be beyond their resources.
@@PSJulie I would even prefer them have a few people such as yourself on as consultants on the business side. I recognize that this seemed like a "free" opportunity on their end and that making merch is costly, etc. However they are paying for this venture with the good will and trust of their fans, which is something that takes years to build. The uninformed and uninvolved crypto projects are not cost-free for them, and I wish they had people actually in touch with the fandom to help them see that before they jumped in with both feet. And perhaps the build-a-bear thing sounds like too much for them, but maybe they just need to really put all their out-of-game focus on that for a year, and seize on that excellent opportunity instead of buzz generators with low chance of financial success.
"If you've, unfortunately, been subjected to the film or the book Ready Player One" best part of the video
I'm glad you feel me there 🙏
I could listen to you talking about marketing all day. I'd love more videos like this!
More to come!
I felt smacked across the face when you described Lisa Frank as chuegy! :D
I'm cheugy so it's all good in my book. It doesn't need to be prejorative!
really appreciate how articulate and informative this video is!!
also all of the marketing-related language has me wanting to learn more about marketing
Over the past few years I've bought a number of different Pokemon Build-A-Bear plushies. They've all been super high quality, and I honestly threw my money at Build-A-Bear with no hesitation when I first saw they were released. Around 35 USD for a high quality plushie that's way bigger than the Pokedolls you find at Nintendo NY? Sign me up.
If Neopets ever did a Build-A-Bear collab I'd rush over on release day to give them my money. And this is coming from someone in their late 20s. Come on, Jumpstart. Give the fans what we want and are willing to spend money on! (I personally really loved their collab with Hot Topic last year and spent a bunch of money on Neopets shirts.)
"if you were unfortunately subjected to the book or film Ready Player One"
why do you attack me like this
That book is uh.. how do you say.. not good
Of course, unless you enjoyed it
@@PSJulie i read it (and watched it) under social pressure
And it took me some years to admit that yeah, it wasnt good lol
I am sorry to hear this old game is changing with NFT. There will be a new Neopets block chain game in 2022 according to yesterday annual earning presentation.
I got build a bears when I was in my 20s. NFTs leave me deeply uncomfortable; but this video was highly informative.
Thank you! I'm glad you found value in it.
Me: what’s Buildabear? Is it for kids?
Also me: bought a Baby Yoda plushie on pre-sale
Now that you point it out I just don't get why they wouldn't do something similar to BAB, that would get them so much money from fans!
Good video for what you admitted was a bit a rush to film
I tried
Neopoints were the first cryptocurrency
a truer take has never been spoken
Good work Julie! I really value your insights, looking forward to your upcoming video.
Also yeah ready player one was such a horrible read... would not recommend hah!
Awesome! Thank you!
I agree they are defiantly targeting a different audience, I don't think this is a bad business decision though. You mention how the people they're targeting won't be interested in playing this type of game, but this is straight up wrong. There are a ton of nft/blockchain games that are already about managing pets/creatures, battling, etc. So now they're trying to tap into that market while attaching a nostalgic brand name. People will play the game, if it makes them any type of money. You're right though in assuming people who already play neopets probably won't be fully interested in this, but some old fans might. It's not like neopets is anywhere near as big as it once was. Also the whole energy shtick is straight up BS that the mainstream media and banking system want people to be scared of, Cryptos are more energy efficient than the banking system but that's never brought up in the conversation... It's gonna take time to innovate. You clearly know what you're talking about though so I respect your opinion.
Thank you for posting this video!! Definitely cleared some of my confusion on this
Glad I could help!
Something mean
Rude, sir. Blockt
Oooh hoo hoo I am excited to wake up to this video, literally my first thought when the NFT official announcement dropped was "mmm wonder what pet simmer julie will have to say about this"
I hope it lived up to your expectations!
@@PSJulie your videos always do! ❤️ You're one of my favorite RUclipsrs 😊
Thank you! I'm small but I try to be mighty.
look at that cat
She's a cat
9:34 bring cat back
I'll see what I can do.
So is this real? Looks like a major scam on Twitter the way that have gone about it
It does look like that, doesn't it?!
I hate NFTs, when you have thousands to millions of players/users how can you ever get the ones you like.. the answer is a hell of a ton of money.
I WAS JUST WONDERING WHAT NEOPETS IS DOING BAHAHAHAHA
Good timing!
I’m not a fan of Mark Zuckerberg either but for some reason I keep using his apps 😑😂
Definitely thinking about deleting my accounts.
something mean
why would you even go on the internet and share something mean :'(
MY YOUTH
Your thumbnail haha
did it go too far?
yet another game i'm gonna be playing only for free
they are expanding a product because you og fans aren't pulling in enough money. Nothing personal but theyre about to make millions off this vs you guys not spending any money
Interesting perspective. Let's check back in in a few weeks after the rug pull.
I would play Neopets full time again if it became an NFT based game.
What do you mean by "full time"?
@@PSJulie As a game and maybe as a job depending on what stats and raising methods would increase the value of my pets. There's no major videogame/web IP that has attempted their own NFT game and I believe there's definitely potential for Neopets to capitalize while also catering to new/old players in making it as enjoyable as normally playing. Plus our pets would still exist on the blockchain if something were to happen to the website or the company as a whole.