Anima

Create, collect, play, listen, watch, wear, stream. (Paused).

[Warped Games @warped_games]

More love for the @SuiCommunity builders!

@act_nexus Transponder holders are whitelisted for the Warped Pioneers Package minting on @tradeportxyz

Starting Nov 20, 2025 6pm UTC

[Zac Peires @zpeires]

Anima Update and Post-Mortem (2):

Over the last week, I’ve had some time to reflect on why Anima failed.

There is a commonly said Silicon Valley trope that perfectly encapsulates our mistakes:

“First-time founders focus on product, second-time founders focus on distribution”.

My job was to steer the ship. The core focus - not in order - of the role included: (1) development of the platform/product; (2) fundraising; and, (3) sales and distribution.

Unfortunately, with my limited experience and having come from a product, brand and tech-research background, the weightings I placed on these were gravely incorrect.

I did not place anywhere near enough focus on sales and distribution - lining up revenue.

Now, it’s not to say this would’ve been easy; the Sui NFT market is tiny and we’d have had to actively grow the size of the pie. But, it was doable and should’ve been my sole focus.

Nonetheless, my obsession with product superseded time spent on sales and distribution. Beyond design, we went as far to integrate a CMS to allow teams and projects to edit data themselves - this was largely developed with the game distribution section in-mind - with the idea that the platform would function like LinkedIn or FB, with user accounts and business accounts.

Consequently, when it came to fundraising, it was very hard to convince VCs - Sui Foundation or otherwise - that this was a product worth investing in, as the feasible size of potential monthly profits did not and would not match the monthly runway costs of a company with even 3 developers on staff (a single experienced Sui Move developer today is very often more per year than our entire team’s year runway).

To our community, I’m sorry. I made a foundational mistake. Hard lessons have been learnt to the detriment of our holders (and team).

Nonetheless, I hope you can see the effort we put into the product.

Below, there are links to our build. To caveat, we have purged our DB owing to hiring a developer - we were in a bind - who was culturally and fundamentally misaligned; incorrect database structure and refusal to optimise images. As a result, in order to remove costs as we wound down the company, we purged our AWS infra which (nonsensically and wastefully) had terabytes of images and used an unsuitable non-relational database. The result, the collections listings page is not populated - but it did look beautiful.

However, you should be able to see some of the efforts we put into building a product that I believe, from a user perspective, would’ve been best in-class. This doesn’t mitigate my mistakes, but I thought I’d share.

There will be a follow up post-mortem, where we explore how we are going to distribute the codebase(s) and to whom.

What we released in the last 12 months:

ACT inventory (likely all seen. Run on desktop and click demo):
https://t.co/9leb2VHBAJ

ACT / Anima Genesis contracts:
https://t.co/KDblctFmS2

Anima Launchpad (creator flow is currently still gated)
https://t.co/nmrSDKj3qm
https://t.co/NVLOogX0My

Marketplace landing page:
https://t.co/3bE0w08Zjw

Marketplace item page:
https://t.co/lZpHi5mxgC

Marketplace drops page (unrefined and boilerplate):
https://t.co/t9QeLOU3uI

Marketplace dashboard (log-in to see):
https://t.co/OdefLyGlyK

I realise the above looks somewhat bare, but when it was filled with content and had the full scope of UI - lots of pieces not included, like game distribution page, bids, etc… - it really looked fantastic!

I bear full responsibility for what happened to Anima.

I’ll follow up in the next few days regarding code and even share some of our successes in the last year of trading - 12 month sales volume of tokenised assets (some taking place off-chain with IRL goods) - was strong.

[Zac Peires @zpeires]

Anima Update and Post-Mortem:

Today, with a heavy heart, I am announcing that we are pausing Anima. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we are no longer in a position that we can continue with development.

How We Got Here:

We launched our Genesis collection in September 2024. We regarded our NFT collection as the first step towards developing a Sui-native gaming ecosystem; fun-to-play games, interoperable assets and virtual worlds.

But unfortunately, upon release we sold less than 40% of the collection. From day 1 of our launch, fundraising was difficult to impossible, and we were short on cash. Nonetheless, the initial launch provided insights into some of the existing low-level issues within Sui’s nascent NFT ecosystem. We saw an opportunity and a potential route to profitability - solving the newly discovered issues.

In response, we pivoted towards NFT infrastructure development, regarding it as the fastest path to revenue. However, a series of missteps on my part - misaligned partnerships, rushed hires, and poor judgment - led to delays. Our second product launched late, consumed the limited cash reserves we had left, and shipped with major issues. We ultimately had to sunset it.

From that point on, we were operating on borrowed time. Our failure to get the marketplace live within the two subsequent months eroded our remaining cash. When we reassessed the market, the reality became clear: even with additional funding, the Sui NFT sector could not support our burn rate; indexer and node costs alone were unsustainable without significant market growth, a substantial cash reserve, and/or a validator to buffer the costs.

In the recent month, some of you will have noticed our exploration of a new directions, in part catalysed by Theo’s departure, but also out of a need to find a profitable and investable NFT-based business model. However, despite my greatest efforts, the borrowed time has now come due, we have been unable to fundraise and we cannot continue.

To Our Community:

For this of you who have supported us, I’m deeply grateful for your continued support over the course of our journey. And, I am truly, deeply sorry that’s its come this. I’ve invested the last two years of my life, not to mention putting my accumulated savings and years worth of investments into Anima - I’ve given it everything I have. This decision has not been made lightly, but it has become a matter of necessity.

The game that initially drew many of you to us will continue to be developed under the talented hands of @Theo_de_Vaux. I have no doubt it’s going to be best-in-class.

As for the platforms we built at Anima (excluding the inventory system), we are open to sharing them with a select group of Anima’s largest community investors.

Anyone who’s bought into the project in any significant manner, please feel free to to reach out regarding our codebase and IP. We are currently exploring avenues and are considering handing over what we’ve developed to the aforementioned community members.

We will continue to support projects still live on our launchpad, alongside the ACT inventory system, albeit on low-power mode, in order to keep costs down.

To our community of holders, and the Generals in particularly, thank you for your unwavering support. I don’t know what is next for me - I hope to pick up with Anima again at some point in the future - but regardless, I will do my very best to repay your loyalty and support in whatever comes next, be it a continuation of Anima or otherwise.

Thank you for your support and belief in us along the way.

A special note to additional people in the Mysten/Sui space: I want to say a special thank you to @b1ackd0g and @NotCryptoBro. You have always given me the time of day and heard out my ideas, good and bad, with me frequently sharing unnecessarily long and verbose text documents. Deeply, thank you for the support.

To my my former co-founder, @Theo_de_Vaux, I love you dearly. I wish you the best of luck in everything moving forward and am always here to throw ideas around and help anyway I can. I know you’ve got this entirely in-hand.

To our engineering team, @treeshakes and @GioChocolateBro, it’s been beyond a pleasure working and learning together. The attention to detail, skill and emphasis on generating high quality user experiences is unparalleled. It’s been a journey and honour. Thank you for the trust and I couldn’t have wished for better partners on this journey,

To the rest of the Sui ecosystem, I wish you all the best of luck. The tech is fantastic and it feels like we’re at the tip of the iceberg. Keep cooking, and I hope to join you on the front lines again at some point in the future.

To everyone building, you have my utmost respect. It is not easy. I’m not a hugely public figure on Sui, but I’m intending to be more vocal in the future. Please feel free to reach each out regardless of topic. Thank you for the trust and faith. I’m sure we’ll be back with a vengeance.

P.S. We love you Big Dawg @CryptPope.

[Anima @animalabs_io]

At our event last week, from jewellery to paintings, we distributed 60 physical items backed by IP-NFTs.

IP-NFTs allow artists to create, license and distribute their works on their own terms, alongside tracking ownership and provenance throughout the lifecycle of the work.

[Anima @animalabs_io]

For the culture. It's #SuiSeason.

[POPE @CryptPope]

With the recent developments, @animalabs_io will be holding a town hall meeting on Telegram on August 12th at 1PM UTC. Be sure to join in , key updates and important information will be shared.

Incase you are not in the TG channel yet, do well to join here, Anima is migrating fully to Telegram, with infinite Light @act_nexus maintaining the discord.

So do well to join our telegram channel here: https://t.co/Qeiiz8piGq

[Anima @animalabs_io]

Theo is and will always be a core part of Anima.

The culture Theo co-created, the design flair he exuded and the joy he brought into the day-to-day work environment will be forever baked into Anima's foundations.

We wish him the best of luck and look forward to collaborating and supporting Theo and Infinite Light in the future.

God Speed, Sir!

[devaux.sui @Theo_de_Vaux]

I am leaving @animalabs_io to focus solely on producing and directing games.

Its been a fairly public secret for a hot minute, so I feel i should talk about this publicly here, in longform.

Working on Anima, and with @zpeires , has been an a world of experience - in some ways incredibly taxing, in some, incredibly rewarding, but if there is one thing the last two years has been, it's a lifetime of lessons for both of us.

Managing your co founder having to effectively leave for several months to handle severe heart problems in the middle of a dev cycle is probably one of the most difficult tasks I can imagine, but Zac rose to the task, and forged a direction for the company which at this point has come to define it - building out key infrastructure, with a vision of being the main hub of where Sui and the world goes to buy, sell, and mint its property, whether that's media or [REDACTED].

I came into the company with a singular passion - videogames. Those of you who know me, know that that's really where I start and end. I view videogames as the endgame of media, where visual, audio and interaction intertwine to create something greater than the sum of their parts - they can be profound, or they can be a rush of energy, or just a place for you to escape to. I've spent tens of thousands of hours in games, and that isn't going to stop.

Seeing the juggernaut Anima has become brings both happiness as sadness, as while I see the vision, and I admire the passion, it's just not where I want to go or be. I want to make games, and putting the workload required onto a team which has been crafted by Zac to be the best possible people at scalable infra, it makes far, far more sense for me to split off, and take my own direction for the games and the NFT collection, and explore what I can do there.

Zac has been incredibly supportive here. Not only is he keen to continue to support the Genesis holders in Anima into the future, we have a very amicable split, which means that the Game IP and assets created under Anima will move to my new company, Infinite Light - this means I can hit the ground running, and continue with the work I was doing previously, which is invaluable. Rebuilding that inertia would be close to impossible.

This wasn't a decision made lightly, and the primary reason for it was for the holders. In short, you have effectively doubled your investment - Anima will be rewarding you, and Infinite Light will be keeping its goal of real utility.

To everyone who believe in me, support me, and are incredibly kind both on DM and publicly, I appreciate all of you. This kind of decision is scary, but ultimately, its made on principle, and I think it's better to follow my conviction and passion.

If you made it this far, thank you.

Any questions, I'll be available in the discord.

[neppah ti tel 💜 @neppahtitel]

SUI Happy Hour Episode #8 is tomorrow, July 16th 3pm UTC/11am EST

This week we're focusing on trading NFTs and memecoins with a touch of art with:
@nexaxyz
@zofaiperps
@animalabs_io
all frens are welcomed to speak

Spaces sponsored by @supersuiyan and @SuiPugwif

Set your reminders: https://t.co/fp9NvTiAUp

[Anima @animalabs_io]

Three letters: I.O.N

[Anima @animalabs_io]

Inbound @act_nexus. ⚔️

[Lucky Kat @LuckyKatStudios]

probably nothing. @animalabs_io

[Anima @animalabs_io]

🔥 IT’S HAPPENING: GAWBLENZ 07/15! 6PM PST 💧🧌

[Gawblenz @gawblenz]

GAWBLENZ GOES LIVE JULY 15TH
6PM PST / 1AM UTC 💧🧌
3333 GAWBLENZ
3 PHASES:
👑 OG — 5 SUI
👥 WL — 8 SUI
🌐 PUBLIC — 11 SUI

ART + COMMUNITY FIRST
No think... Just gawblen

[Anima @animalabs_io]

🚨 Atavistic Cuts lino prints are now shipping!

If you minted an NFT at https://t.co/6eNKQTDVoq, DM us on X, TG, or Discord to claim your physical art piece. 🎨✉️

[Anima @animalabs_io]

🚨 Just under 4 hours till @MichaHorgan's Atavistic Cuts drops! 🚨

🖼️ 62 unique NFTs, each corresponding to a redeemable, hand-pressed linocut
📦 Physical prints start shipping July 3rd
🧾 Hold your NFT to redeem your print!

🔗 https://t.co/KCxnQV1JJ2
More info in TG 👀🔥

[Anima @animalabs_io]

Definitely nothing... 👀

[Anima @animalabs_io]

Probably nothing... 👀

[Anima @animalabs_io]

🚨 Just under 4 hours till @MichaHorgan's Atavistic Cuts drops! 🚨

🖼️ 62 unique NFTs, each corresponding to a redeemable, hand-pressed linocut
📦 Physical prints start shipping July 3rd
🧾 Hold your NFT to redeem your print!

🔗 https://t.co/KCxnQV1JJ2
More info in TG 👀🔥

[Anima @animalabs_io]

Atavistic Cuts: Digital Series 🎨

A groundbreaking physical-digital fusion by British-born artist and writer @MichaHorgan.

🖌️ 63 hand-pressed lino-prints
✂️ 11 unique designs
🖼️ Each 1/1 NFT redeems a physical print

Minting goes live June 26th. ✨

[Anima @animalabs_io]

Snapshot coming Monday. 📸

[devaux.sui @Theo_de_Vaux]

So, time for an apology

Sometimes, as co founder, I have to hold my hands up and say that I've fucked up. This is one of those times.

When we took the initial blub snapshot, it was done by our good friend Jose, and he told me to make sure i processed the data, which i interpreted to mean "this is a a lot of raw data which you need to extract wallet addresses from to calculate airdrop". What he actually meant was that we needed to use the Ownership IDs to then get the wallet addresses, IMMEDIATELY. I Didn't communicate this to zac, because I actually didnt understand that was what needed to happen.

The TLDR of this is that the previous snapshot is not going to work. I've spoken to the @blubsui team, who are super understanding, but it means that we now have the opportunity to run a new snapshot, this coming monday, which all of our new holders can be a part of.

I've also expanded whats possible to get in the capsule, and I'm going to post some clips showing the stuff in game.

Thank you all for your patience

[Anima @animalabs_io]

https://t.co/DWSf9jcuYg

[Anima @animalabs_io]

Atavistic Cuts: Digital Series 🎨

A groundbreaking physical-digital fusion by British-born artist and writer @MichaHorgan.

🖌️ 63 hand-pressed lino-prints
✂️ 11 unique designs
🖼️ Each 1/1 NFT redeems a physical print

Minting goes live June 26th. ✨

[Anima @animalabs_io]

🚨 PSA: We're aware of the Slush issue and are fixing it ASAP!

The warning you see isn’t due to an unsafe transaction, it's a communication issue. 🔄 We’re working with @SlushWallet to resolve it.

In the meantime, you are still able mint with any other Sui wallet provider. ✅