Have blue-chip NFT projects fulfilled their original roadmaps?
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Have blue-chip NFT projects fulfilled their original roadmaps?
Doodles perfect, BAYC excellent, Fat Penguins underperform, Moonbirds last ... does the result match your expectations?
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: wale.moca
Translation: Alex Liu, Foresight News
Which NFT projects have actually delivered on their original roadmaps? After researching, I've reached the following conclusions:
BAYC, Score: 9/10
The team delivered on most of its initial promises: exclusive merchandise, an interactive club website, and Mutant Apes.
Until early 2021, their commitments were quite simple.
Pudgy Penguins, Score: 7/10
Before Luca Netz and the new team took over, Cole’s team had already launched several roadmap items, including merchandise, airdrops, and charity auctions.
Pudgy Penguins roadmap during Cole's era
Looking back, some of these were fulfilled before the new team took over.
They released their first batch of merchandise—though not exclusively for holders, it was at least completed. These included mugs, hoodies, T-shirts, and stickers. The airdrop and charity auction offerings were limited and cannot be considered fully delivered.
First wave of Pudgy Penguins merchandise
Azuki, Score: 7/10
Azuki opted to replace a traditional roadmap with a "mind map" approach.
Initially, they announced:
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3D experiences for holders.
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Exclusive streetwear, including skateboards and toys.
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Real-life events.
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Connecting physical and digital worlds.
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$BEAN token and DAO.
Looking back, some of these have become reality.
Azuki has launched exclusive merchandise multiple times and is well known for its IRL (in real life) events. They also innovatively bridged digital and physical worlds through PBTs (Physical Backed Tokens).
However, the 3D avatars and $BEAN token were never delivered.
Azuki merchandise
Doodles, Score: 10/10
Doodles has completed its original roadmap. Here’s an old image I found:
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Shortly after minting, they purchased their main mascot for 100 ETH.
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They added ETH to their treasury.
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They acquired Golden Wolf, a production studio.
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They formed partnerships with many major brands.
DeGods, Score: 6/10
I found an old Google Doc where Frank (?) discussed pros and cons of certain roadmap ideas, including DePalace, Merch, DeGods Welcome, and DeOath.
It reads interestingly:
Exclusive merchandise and "DeGods Welcome" (at least in terms of strong social presence) were actually delivered. Other ideas were abandoned.
An earlier Notion page documented parts of this:
Moonbirds, Score: 4/10
Moonbirds were marketed as a "utility-focused" PFP project, with commercial rights granted to holders. However, that promise vanished after their infamous shift to a CC0 license.
Beyond that, Moonbirds' direction has significantly changed since the original roadmap:
"Project Highrise" was never launched.
However, Moonbirds did deliver staking ("nesting") milestone rewards.
CloneX, Score: 9/10
RTFKT completed most of CloneX's initial roadmap, including delivering 3D files to holders, forging events, and airdrops.
Reflections on the Results
The actual delivery on roadmaps may differ from public expectations.
From today's perspective, there appears to be little correlation between current NFT floor prices and how well their original roadmaps were executed.
BAYC and CloneX had relatively simple initial roadmaps and largely delivered on them. Yet CloneX's floor price has plummeted; while BAYC attempted to deliver far more than originally promised—APE token, metaverse game, building a new chain—it still couldn't stop its floor price from declining.
Meanwhile, Pudgy Penguins—despite delivering little on its initial promises—has performed well thanks to IP promotion by the new team, children's toys sold at Walmart, and frequent airdrops.
Some even argue that PFP NFT projects suffer from "the more you do, the more you mess up," or that "art doesn't need a team behind it to add value." For instance, CryptoPunks’ collaboration on a new Punk IP series and airdropping it to holders was widely criticized by the community—"Yuga Labs ruined CryptoPunks; they can’t even do nothing right."
Three years have passed since the NFT boom and bubble of 2021. Where will more mature projects and rational participants take this space? Only time will tell.
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