Crypto gaming startup Pixelverse announced Tuesday that it will introduce a Pudgy Penguins character to its widely-played Telegram game, PixelTap. This move brings one of the most recognizable figures in the crypto world to a game that has already attracted millions of players in recent weeks.

Pudgy, the face of the successful Pudgy Penguins NFT collection on Ethereum, will join other crypto-inspired characters like Doge, Solana’s Mew, and Avalanche’s Coq Inu in PixelTap.

Pudgy Penguins has seen more crossover success than most NFT collections, landing its toy line in stores like Walmart and Target and reportedly selling more than a million units to date. It has also drawn millions of followers to its social media efforts via viral content, and is developing multiple Web3 games.

Pixelverse's PixelTap game has experienced explosive growth, with over 50 million users registering within the first month of launch. The company says that the game now boasts more than 10 million daily players amid a Telegram tap-to-earn gaming boom.

On Monday, Pixelverse announced that its PIXFI token will launch on The Open Network (TON) on Thursday, July 18. However, the company played coy on airdrop details, telling Decrypt’s GG that they’re intended for long-term rewards and that it would not disclose user allocations.

“Players will be able to claim and receive PIXFI tokens and in-game assets, but the exact details of how this will work are still unknown,” said Pixelverse co-founder Kori Leon.

Editor’s note: This article was written with the assistance of AI. Edited and fact-checked by Andrew Hayward.