Kabosu, the fluffy Shiba Inu behind the immortal “Doge” meme, has inspired a $28 billion meme coin, a holy pilgrimage, and a bronze statue erected in her Japanese hometown. Now, she’s being honored with perhaps the grandest gesture yet: a sizable chunk of a digital game world.
Ethereum-based battle royale game OpenSeason has announced that it will soon feature a custom Doge-themed biome—a “realm where every nook and cranny barks the tale of Kabosu, the Doge, our beloved Shiba Inu,” according to a blog post.
The dog-dedicated digital environment for the Fortnite-like PC shooter was crafted in collaboration with Own the Doge, the NFT community that put together a meticulously orchestrated trip to meet Kabosu in Japan, and a “Dogumentary” chronicling the rise of the Doge meme.
As far as the aesthetic of the Doge biome goes, expect “Tokyo meets Dogelore,” Krypticrooks, OpenSeason’s pseudonymous co-founder, told Decrypt’s GG.
much excite 👀 pic.twitter.com/f3Mz1Ma61K
— Own The Doge 🐶🖼 (@ownthedoge) April 5, 2024
What, exactly, could that mean? Think Godzilla battling a massive Shiba Inu (MegaDoge, we’ve been told she’s called) in a compact Japanese urban environment.
Doge is hardly the first character from the cryptoverse to grace the digital ecosystems of OpenSeason. The Fortnite-like battle royale shooter features a Pepe-themed amusement park, Bored Apes and Milady avatars; in February, it even whipped up a flaming, wrecked ship labeled “OpenSea” to protest the NFT marketplace’s delisting of its in-game Ethereum NFT passes.
These homages to crypto users aren’t just for fun; rather, Krypticooks says, they’re fundamental to OpenSeason’s business model.
“We partner with all these cool communities and let them showcase our game, while we bust our ass to make a real good game at the same time,” they said.
MUCH WOW@FU_STUDIOS x @ownthedoge https://t.co/ZilKZECbDP
— Fractional Uprising Studios (@FU_STUDIOS) April 8, 2024
OpenSeason’s Doge Biome is set to debut in May. The game is available in early access via the Epic Games Store, but requires a Fractional Uprising Studios NFT membership pass to play. Later this month, the studio plans to release its own crypto token called “FUmoney.”
Edited by Andrew Hayward