Change is coming: How ForthBox, the first game in the Bored Ape ecosystem, is leading the Web3 gaming revolution?
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Change is coming: How ForthBox, the first game in the Bored Ape ecosystem, is leading the Web3 gaming revolution?
The weak conform to the group; the strong support each other.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy: cece
The best time to plant a tree was ten years ago; the second-best time is now.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of Ethereum (ETH), from its conception by the founder to full project realization. It took ETH seven years to rise from an initial price of $0.3 to a peak of $4,800.
Take a look at the NFT artwork below—Bored Ape #4949, minted on the ETH blockchain. Its value surged from 0.4 ETH (worth about 5,000 RMB at the time) to 100 ETH (approximately 2 million RMB today)—in just one year.
After seeing that price jump and calculating an ROI approaching 40,000%, are your eyes popping out like the ape in the picture?
Don’t be surprised—there are 9,999 others just like it.
All Bored Ape series NFTs were issued by Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), currently the world’s hottest project with a market cap nearing $4 billion.
Let’s see who else has joined this exclusive club—
Rapper Eminem, billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, basketball star Stephen Curry, football superstar Neymar Jr., tennis champion Serena Williams, socialite Paris Hilton, pop icon Justin Bieber, and more.
Within their circles, Bored Apes hold the same iconic status as these celebrities do in our world.
Why has the Bored Ape NFT made such a massive impact?
As digital crypto art, it’s no longer just a collectible—it has become a symbol of identity, a subculture, and a form of self-expression for its enthusiasts.
"You know the President drinks Coke, Elizabeth Taylor drinks Coke, and you think, hey, I can drink Coke too."
In today’s industrial age of surplus production, nearly all our needs can be instantly satisfied. Everyone can drink the same-tasting cola, buy identical smartphones, and use the same payment methods for daily purchases. Life today is endlessly replicable—and so are boredom and stress.
Those apathetic faces, weary eyes, and the sense of being swept along by the times—take a good look at the bored apes. Don’t they resemble another version of ourselves?
The silent thunder of the real world has finally erupted within the metaverse of the Bored Apes.
By expressing “an existential kind of boredom,” Bored Ape’s early fans organically attracted more people into this cultural movement. Later, the Bored Ape Yacht Club was established, creating an exclusive, high-barrier community with its own dimension. From private yacht clubs and member-only merchandise stores to planned movie trilogies, IP rights licensing, and additional NFT and token airdrops, Bored Ape has evolved into a cultural icon combining art, investment, and social identity.
If we could add one more attribute to this mix, what should it be?
It’s gaming.
Now focus on Eastern Time, April 30, 2022, at 9 PM: Bored Ape Yacht Club publicly launched 55,000 plots of “virtual land” (out of a total supply of 100,000, with the rest reserved for airdrops to BAYC/MAYC holders and contributors). These digital lands sold out in roughly three hours, fetching over $300 million on the Ethereum blockchain.
What does Bored Ape Yacht Club plan to do with these virtual lands?
Build a metaverse game.
Now, among Bored Ape holders, is there anyone who not only owns a Bored Ape but also operates within both the metaverse and gaming space?
Yes. The eye-popping Bored Ape #4949 was acquired on May 11, 2022 (UTC time) by ForthBox—a web3 gaming aggregation platform.
This was a bold and intriguing move—a gaming ecosystem platform making a high-profile entry into the Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem amid a prolonged bear market.
How bold? They bought it near its all-time high. Why interesting? Because ForthBox’s mascot Ham NFT is also an ape—whose spacesuit evolves visually as users level up.
Yet, “even siblings differ in ability.”
ForthBox, entering as a metaverse gaming project, likely aims to become the final missing puzzle piece—the definitive “gaming” component—within the Bored Ape ecosystem. But what gives this ape the edge to pull it off?
Let’s dig deeper.
According to official announcements, ForthBox secured a $1 million seed round in April this year. Backers include renowned firms such as Fundamental Labs, Infinity Ventures Crypto (IVC), YGG SEA, and Crypto Gaming United (CGU), alongside prominent gaming guilds.
Notably, Fundamental Labs was an early investor in Coinbase, Avalanche, and Polkadot—being backed by them speaks volumes.
From a product standpoint, ForthBox already supports NFT minting, DeFi functions, NFT marketplace trading, and decentralized game reviews. Two of its 15 planned in-house games have launched, with SocialFi features and a mobile app on the roadmap. Compared to other blockchain gaming projects, ForthBox stands out as well-planned and comprehensively developed.
Third-party data shows nearly 10,000 real users monthly—and growing.
We must remember, user growth is an eternal challenge in the gaming industry. How hard? According to unconfirmed rumors, game publishers burn through $30 million daily just to get you to see “Zha Zha Hui” in those tiny web ads urging you to “hack and slash” him. In metaverse gaming? Growth is even harder—money alone can’t buy it.
Traditional games and metaverse games aren’t just separated by blockchain—they’re divided by user mindsets, habits, and behavioral barriers. Each new obstacle tightens the flow of traffic. That ForthBox achieved user growth while other blockchain games collapse and lose users suggests it may have discovered the “sweet spot” for operating a successful metaverse game.
With solid products, institutional backing, and consistent traffic growth, ForthBox had everything needed to ignite a breakthrough in the blockchain space—except one spark.
Clearly, Bored Ape Yacht Club delivered the spark—and ForthBox caught the wind.
Bored Ape Yacht Club rapidly built a community-driven brand effect using 10,000 apes with shared traits yet unique details, spawning a powerful subcultural identity. Similarly, ForthBox has the potential to cultivate its own distinct gaming culture and ecosystem effect.
Moreover, the IP rights of Bored Ape #4949 will be freely licensed in the future to contributors within both the Bored Ape and ForthBox ecosystems. This is a tangible benefit participants can directly experience—and a commendable, groundbreaking experiment for both projects, as well as the broader GameFi and NFT ecosystems.
Having benefited from Bored Ape Yacht Club’s ecosystem advantages, why not reciprocate by becoming the first blockchain gaming platform within its ecosystem? To remain vibrant and sustainable, every ecosystem must continuously absorb new energy and embrace innovation.
The weak seek belonging; the strong empower each other.
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