New York, April 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- [NEW YORK] Today, Ready — Building the leading distributed web3 gaming ecosystem on mobile — announced a new partnership with SmileyWorld, the lifestyle brand from Smiley that revolutionized Smileys in technology and EPIK Prime Team, leading global licensing agency putting brands into video games . The brands will collaborate together to create virtual fashion pieces for Ready Games’ app ICON Avatar Fashion Universe. This will be Ready and Epik’s third NFT partnership, having sold out their last NFT collection the weekend of DCentral Miami.
“Ready’s innovative NFT technology provides brands and creators the opportunity to elevate fashion collections in the digital space” says Christina Macedo, COO of the Ready group, ” Our vision is for our players to be able to express themselves through clothing and game assets. The Smiley World brand’s influential smiley emoticons couldn’t have been a more perfect fit for our first animated textured NFT fashion collection. This collection is fresh, playful and wonderfully iridescent — truly brilliant!”
As Smiley approaches its 50th anniversary, the ICON collaboration will play a part in the celebration with a bespoke collection of SmileyWorld virtual fashion. In the ICON app, users will have 21 SmileyWorld pieces to add to their virtual fashion closets and use as they develop their virtual presence on the avatar creation and social media platform in April. Outside the app through the Epik marketplace, ICON and SmileyWorld will auction off 6 rare NFT pieces, including one epik finalé dress at a later date.
“Launching a collection of SmileyWorld virtual fashions with Ready Games is an exciting leap into the metaverse for The Smiley Company,” says Lori Heiss-Tiplady SVP Digital at The Smiley Company. “The ICON app is the perfect launching pad for digital fashions from our lifestyle brand born in the digital universe and built on self-expression. The animated patterns and avatars made possible by Ready’s ground-breaking technology will allow users to express their moods in a bold new way with SmileyWorld, and the NFT auction of rare pieces powered by EPIK will be a key moment in our 50th anniversary celebrations.”
About Ready Games
Founded in 2016, Ready builds the mobile-first tools and technologies to democratize access to game creation — powering over 3000+ games and supporting over 2 million creators. In 2021, the company expanded its portfolio to support web3 mobile gaming and NFT creator tools with its Ready Games Network and $aura token. To learn more about The Ready Games, please visit ready.gg.
About SmileyWorld
The Smiley Company helped to create a new universal language in the late ’90s, launching the “Smiley Dictionary” — a list of Smileys which transformed ascii emoticons into something understandable to all. Smiley’s emotions have gone on to have an essential place in our society today, helping kids learn about themselves and their emotions (emotional intelligence). This became the starting point for how we use Smileys in technology and influenced the digital language we now use every day. Giving us a way to tell each other how we are feeling in a shorthand that is not easily expressed through traditional dialects. Smileys helped revolutionise technology, instigating a digital trend that now sees billions of them sent every day. Their legacy was a new brand made up entirely of thousands of expressive emotions, and by turning this innovation into an artform, SmileyWorld continues to create engaging products and promotions for market-leading partners that provide a unique platform for self-pression.
About Epik
With more than 300 video game clients, Epik is the leading global licensing agency putting brands into video games to produce premium digital items and experiences for over one billion gamers worldwide with the largest digital ecosystem with hundreds of the world’s most popular entertainment brands. Epik is widely considered to be the blockchain industry leader producing collaborations for premium licensed digital collectables, NFTs and exclusive experiences powered by an interoperable proprietary cross-chain technology. Epik was the first and only NFT company to do any deals with AAA gaming companies for NFTs. Clients include ViacomCBS, Warner Music, Garena, Tencent and Universal.
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