Casio pioneers its Metaverse entry, releasing its inaugural G-SHOCK NFTs on Polygon—for free. This coincides with the launch of its Virtual G-Shock Community, encouraging fan participation in watch design through a novel blockchain initiative.

Casio is dropping virtual G-SHOCK NFTs and will allow consumers to co-create timepieces in the virtual world. The well-known watch brand is making its own space on the Metaverse via Polygon NFTs as it would like to develop and nurture a community of collaborators.

The company’s virtual G-Shock Community was a blockchain-based community co-creation program that cooperated with creative services and software solutions company Polygon Labs.

Decrypt reported that as Casio makes its way to the virtual world, its first step is to release a collection of 15,000 G-Shock Creator Pass NFTs. These are free-to-mint tokens that holders can use to access the brand’s program’s newly launched dedicated Discord platform, where they can participate in a competition to co-create different designs for the passes. The company said the winner is selected through a community vote.

The watchmaker said it will release the NFTs this month via its website. Customers who have previously registered for a Casio ID have the advantage of early access. They can participate in the initial claim window or pre-distribution set for Sept. 23 to Sept. 26.

Casio will open the site for a public mint from Sept. 26 to Sept. 29. All the non-fungible tokens will be minted on the Ethereum scaling network, Polygon.

The news of Casio’s NFT drop comes shortly after it filed a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Its application for patent covers watches, virtual clothing, fashion accessories, virtual goods for avatars, and more.

In any case, Casio unveiled its first community initiative on Tuesday, Sept. 5. It now invites users to submit their design ideas for virtual G-SHOCK watches. Still, they must first claim their free NFT pass starting on the 23rd of this month.

“The community is designed to serve as a touchpoint between the G-SHOCK line of shock-resistant watches and users,” Casio said in its announcement. “An initial issue of 15,000 limited-edition G-SHOCK CREATOR PASS NFTs (non-fungible tokens), which allow the holder to participate in events held in the VIRTUAL G-SHOCK community, will be globally distributed for free via the Polygon blockchain.”

Photo by: Casio Press Release