"Completely Different From the Metaverse Envisioned by Gaming Industry" – The Strategy & Vision of AGLET, a Hot Topic in Japan

Since 2020, Fashion Tech News has been reporting on the updates of the sneaker app 'Aglet' provided by Onlife. The articles "『AGLET』による、メタバースなコマース体験の実現へ" and "メタバースと実空間両方でスニーカーヘッズの交流が生まれる？『AGLET』" have been released since 2020. In May, the number of users in Japan surged, and at one time, the app was the most downloaded in the Japanese Apple Store. Furthermore, Aglet recently launched their physical sneaker 'Aglet One' which sold out in seconds. This time, we interviewed CEO Ryan Mullins about the reasons behind the rapid expansion of their user base.

Integrating NFTs Into Daily Life

The user base seems to have expanded rapidly, mainly on Twitter, in early May. How do you perceive this situation?

After announcing our first NFT, we gained 250,000 players in two days and achieved top position in the game app ranking on Japan’s App Store. It's been rather wild. Our active player count has reached 3.5 million and we are working on localizing and accommodating the Japanese language, planning to reach more people with our experience. We were always focused on Japan from the time of app launch, but until we announced our NFT, we did not achieve significant breakthrough. We had wanted to launch NFTs from the beginning.

In fact, before we began fundraising and app launch in 2018, the company was called SneakerCrypt. The recent market growth has been extraordinary. One of the core themes of our company is that “games swallow the world.” Of course, games are very popular, and people play and spend lots of money in them. However, what we aim for is different. What we're saying is something even grander. We believe that game mechanisms and designs are now infiltrating the culture. Culture is now constructed and designed like a game. This can be seen in things like sneakers, streetwear, bags, figures, records, wine, NFTs, art, trading cards, and in-game assets.

When we deal with brands, we believe that people are participating in those brands' games. They compete with other consumers to purchase assets of scarce value. When these assets are arbitraged in various secondary markets, the metagame begins. It's the financialization and speculation of culture for better or worse. Initially, it's very exciting, but over time it becomes merely transactional and gets boring. Before launching our NFTs, we witnessed the same structure in the digital asset market and did not want to repeat it.

So we decided to make a game that could be played with fun and longevity by traditional means. We first focused on building the game and its utility, learning about player preferences, and then transitioned to incorporating Web3.0 features into the platform.

As people continue to move around the world, it becomes clear how NFTs can be integrated into daily life, not just sold online. Therefore, what we want is to incorporate games into the lives of people worldwide. That’s why we believe what we’re doing presents a much larger opportunity. We see chances in not only digital sneakers and apparel for avatars but in all kinds of trades. You can place NFTs in retail stores, concert venues, facilities, etc., by using maps. We are planning some fantastic partnerships this year to realize these things. Stay tuned.