Limit Break will create free NFT mints during the Super Bowl commercial

Limit Break CEO Gabe Leydon wants to make history with his next Super Bowl TV ad.

Fresh from raising $200 million for his blockchain gaming company, Leydon announced in October that he planned to spend $6.5 million on a Super Bowl ad for Limit Break’s first game based on its DigiDaigaku NFT game.

And now he said in an interview with GamesBeat that the ad will include a QR code so players can use it to apply for a free NFT coin. Limit Break will be giving away a limited number of NFT-based dragon characters through the Super Bowl commercial QR code.

“We’re making an extremely small collection, especially compared to the audience — something like 50 million people are going to see the ad,” Leydon said. “There will be a QR code on the screen. And anyone can scan it and then make an NFT from the DigiDaigaku collection. I think this is going to be a really big deal because I think it’s going to change TV advertising .”

The ad will appear during Super Bowl LVII on February 14, 2023. The free coin will allow a limited number of viewers of the Super Bowl ad to receive one of an extremely limited supply of free NFTs. It will be a very exclusive event where only lucky viewers who are quick with the draw will get a free DigiDaigaku Dragon NFT, said Leydon.

He believes it will be the most anticipated free NFT mining event in history. Leydon has done Super Bowl commercials before. He and his Limit Break co-founder Halbert Nakagawa were also the founders of Machine Zone.

While CEO of Machine Zone, Leydon ran a pair of Super Bowl ads for the games Game of War: Fire Age and Mobile Strike. These ads starred model Kate Upton and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Leydon said it was the best marketing the company had ever done as people remembered the ads for years.

The company supported a “free-to-own” business model in which it gave away its DigiDaigaku non-fungible token (NFT) collection of anime characters. It has already posted several free collections.

Leydon said the campaign will add a new dimension by looking to television for Web3 advertising. Last year, Coinbase did a giveaway where it used QR codes in a Super Bowl commercial, giving away some Bitcoin to anyone who signed up for an account.

“I’m pretty excited about it,” he said. “No [in Web3] have done it this way on TV before. The point of it is to get a digital asset, and they’re going to be extremely rare and hopefully collectable as a result.”

Such giveaways are common in Japan, but not so much with Web3 in the US, where players have often viewed NFTs with derision. Of course, many people may be displeased if they don’t win the digital items in the giveaway, as Limit Break will only give away tens of thousands of items, but many more will see the ad with the QR code.

But Leydon is confident.

“I think this is going to be the norm on TV after we’re done. Because why wouldn’t you?” he said. “Why wouldn’t you include digital collectibles in your ads?”

Limit Break has already given away its DigiDaigaku female and male hero figures in previous giveaways. This time it will be giving away dragons. Leydon said the company is still working out some details such as whether players need a digital wallet to receive NFTs. Partners working in the background will try to make it a seamless experience, he said.

“We want Limit Break to be one of the pioneers integrating Web3 into marketing,” said Leydon. “It’s going to be a revolutionary experience.”

Some naysayers have pointed to the crypto winter and the weak economy as reasons to be cautious. But Leydon said: “We feel vindicated because what we do is radically different. Everyone thinks we’re making a video ad. We are creating a worldwide Web3 event in real time. It hasn’t been done before.”

Will this type of content appeal to the masses? Leydon said the company is putting out game assets before the game comes out, and he thinks they’ll be popular based on the reaction so far.

“There’s going to be a lot of NFTs out there and a lot of Web3 games out there,” he said. “We want to stand out as a premier studio with NFTs that people want.”