Yet Another Popular Solana Project Is Abandoning The Blockchain

Mass Exodus

Tiny Colony, a building and management game, is the latest NFT project to announce a shift away from Solana. It’s not just the crypto winter that’s causing the pain in the Solana ecosystem, but also a number of technical issues and high-profile hacks that have occurred over the past year. While Solana is home to a thriving NFT ecosystem and a growing gaming push, it seems that the turbulent times and 94% token price plunge have pushed some creators to look for greener pastures elsewhere. Tiny Colony is the latest project to chart a move to another blockchain, following a similar announcement from the creator of DeGods and y00ts.

Tinyverse Games, the developer behind Tiny Colony, announced its plan today to move its still-in-development NFT game from the Solana blockchain to the Ethereum scaling network, Immutable X. According to Tinyverse’s CEO, Arshia Navabi, “Immutable has been very gaming-focused since the beginning. They have an amazing development team and incredible technology focused around gaming.”

We’re fortunate that we haven’t lost any funds in the FTX fallout, but we do have significant SOL reserves that we’ll need to hold onto for a longer timeframe while the value of SOL and the market recovers.

— Tiny Colony is #onIMX 🅧 (@TinyColonyGame) November 17, 2022

The Tiny Colony

In Tiny Colony, players must build and manage underground humanoid ant colonies, and strategically farm, mine, hatch larvae, and defend their colony to survive. Players earn NFTs that can be used in-game or traded on marketplaces. An early version of the game was launched for testers on Solana last summer, but the full version will now debut later this year on Immutable X.

Tiny Colony is a relatively small project compared to Ethereum games that have respectively yielded over a billion dollars or more worth of NFT sales, such as Axie Infinity and the Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Otherside. However, the project has generated more than $3 million worth of NFT sales to date, according to Tinyverse. The game’s NFTs currently start at less than $5 worth of SOL apiece on the secondary market.

Immutable X

Tiny Colony will allow current Solana NFT holders to swap for an Immutable X version of the same asset through a process it’s calling a “burn-in mint.” More details on the redemption process will be shared “over the next month or so” as the technical process is finalized with help from Immutable X developers.

Immutable X is a layer-2 scaling solution that enables faster and cheaper transactions than Ethereum’s own mainnet. Navabi said that Immutable’s focus on gaming and the player experience was an ideal fit for Tiny Colony. While Solana was once considered an “Ethereum killer”, it seems that its buzz didn’t sustain throughout 2022, with network outages, increasing competition, and a lack of developer support all contributing to its decline. With Immutable X’s gaming-focused approach and strong developer support, Tiny Colony looks set to thrive on the Ethereum network.

Solana has issues

While Solana had once been considered a potential “Ethereum killer” due to its low fees and ability to handle a larger number of transactions per second, the platform’s recent struggles have led some projects to seek alternative solutions. The recent fall of FTX has also been a major factor in the decision to leave the blockchain by many projects and companies. FTX and Sam Bankman Fried were heavily invested in Solana and the connections between the company, individuals, and blockchain have been nothing short of devastating for Solana and its price point.

“Immutable has been very gaming-focused since the beginning,” said Tinyverse co-founder and CEO Arshia Navabi. “They have an amazing development team and incredible technology focused around gaming.”The full version of Tiny Colony is set to debut later this year on Immutable X.