Baby Shark sandbox Web3 game in development

It’s a bit grim, but you read that headline correctly.

Baby Shark, the children’s song that went viral a few years ago thanks to South Korean educational entertainment company Pinkfong, is getting an “open-world adaptation”.

The game will be a collaboration between Baby Shark Games, a subsidiary of Pinkfong, and Retro Future, a developer who specialises in pixel games.

The game, announced under the working title Baby Shark Universe, will allow players to “create their own content or enjoy content created by other players” by utilising Web3 and an “open-world ecosystem”.

There’s a lot of buzzwords in this PR release: “The game distinguishes itself from other existing Web3 games by providing gameplay guides through dynamic stories and adventures and empowering communities through diverse virtual lands, the digital spaces where players can develop their own content and stories.”

This sounds like the metaverse and blockchain. In addition to making your own content, players will also be able to “choose the occupation of their characters while creating and consuming items through economic activities”, so don’t fear! The game is also going to have its own marketplace, it seems!

From the description, it looks like Pinkfong is aiming for this to be similar to Roblox. And much like Roblox, Baby Shark’s target audience is children. Roblox has been accused of providing inadequate safeguards for children on its platform, which is something Baby Shark Universe will also have to contend with.

The Baby Shark Web3 game is currently in development for mobile and PC. Pinkfong hopes to launch an open beta in 2023.