The Akira Project: What We Know About RTFKT Studios' NFT Avatars

RTFKT studios recently announced their newest upcoming NFT project that will be a strong contender in the world of NFT avatars. Founded in January 2020 by Benoit Pagotto, Steven Vasilev and Chris Le, the trio began to redefine the meaning of NFTs by changing the perception of the metaphysical world.

They took over the internet by creating viral augmented reality videos that show off sneaker designs, wearable tech and a variety of other collectibles. RTFKT is innovating the possibilities for the physical and digital fashion industry. Their NFT collaborations have also broke headlines by working with emerging artists and gaming companies. The FEWOCiOUS x RTFKT Sneaker Project paved the way for NFT collaborations. Beyond the viral videos and the creation of some of the most sought-after NFT collectibles, the collective is building a new virtual world. 

In early August, RTFKT announced their most ambitious project yet: The Akira Project. The goal of the project is to create a next-gen Avatar project that is ready for the metaverse. "Our aim is to bring the NFT PFP trend into its next stage of evolution, with next-gen utilities and art," Steven Vasilev told ONE37pm.

RTFKT is already expanding into a variety of metaverses, including Decentraland and The Sandbox Game. On September 8th, they airdropped Akira hoodies to Decentraland players, which can be worn in the metaverse game. As metaverses continue to expand their user base, there will be more demand for wearables that players can use to stand out and customize their digital experience. 

Providing unique playable avatars for metaverses is something that the NFT community responds to because of the desire to flex their digital profiles. RTFKT’s Akira Project will be a contender in the NFT space, and with their position as innovators of metaverse technology, they will have a strong foothold as a potential leader with their avatar project. "This is our take on avatar projects, the core of your identity in the Metaverse. Combining our passion for Anime, Sci-Fi, and our usual over-the-top design, we’re building this full NextGen mode and not making any compromises," explains Benoit Pagotto.

There has been a high saturation of 10k NFT avatar projects that have roadmaps ending in playable characters for the metaverse that they are developing. As the race to create the next upcoming NFT avatar project ensues, many creators are aiming to be the first to provide playable metaverses that integrate their avatars. A variety of projects are already a step ahead by providing 3D files for their collectors, including Meebits by Larvalabs and CyberKongz VX. 

RTFKT is planning to expand on what has already been done within the world of NFT avatars and take this project to another level. "For the creative direction, I put together a top tier triple AAA game art team with artists who created skins for Dota 2, CS:GO.  The art had to be next level; 3D anime is something that is hard to pull off aesthetically. That’s why a lot of studios usually cheat the look by giving them a cell-shaded look to emulate the anime style. With project Akira, we didn’t want the cell-shaded look so we had to carefully plan the lighting around the faces and cosmetics of the avatar to make it appealing," Chris Le (aka clegfx) tells us.

With RTFKT's recent announcement, they aim to release the collection to the public by the end of September/early October.

The Akira Project will be made up of 20,000 avatars, of which 10,000 will be available for pre-sale to current collectors of RTFKT’s NFTs on Ethereum.