New Dig Dug Game Targets Kids For a Limited Time, Includes Links to NFTs
Dig Dug is an arcade classic, and now there’s a brand new game available in the series…but only until June 30, 2025. It’s also only available as part of Gamisodes, a child-orientated service the company itself calls the “Netflix of Interactive TV Shows.”
Dig Dug New Frontiers is available on Google Play and the App Store, but through the Gamisodes app. It follows the structure of existing Gamisodes content by being a cartoon that’s interspersed with playable game sections. Dig Dug New Frontiers is also, at least at the time of writing, free to view and play.
“Dig Dug New Frontier has officially launched on Gamisodes! Ready to dig deep and become the ultimate champion?” Gamisodes posted on its official X (Twitter) account.
Classic Arcade Mining Action
Dig Dug was released in 1982 and originally handled by Namco (now Bandai Namco) in Japan, and by Atari in North America. Gameplay, of the original and numerous sequels and spin-offs, largely revolves around drilling through the earth. Enemies can typically be defeated by inflating, or squashing under rocks.
Dig Dug New Frontiers is the first entry into the main series in over 15 years after the last game, an MMO called Dig Dug Island, ended service in 2009 just a year after its official launch. Dig Dug New Frontiers sees a return to the side-on platforming action of yesteryear, with straightforward controls that kids can easily get the hang of.
Gamification on The Go
Gamisodes’ whole deal of showing cartoons that also include video games is unusual, but it does make sense. In an interview with California Business Journal at the time of the service’s launch in June 2020, Founder and CEO Davis Brimer outlined his idea for Gamisodes.
“Today’s consumers of digital content are virtually always watching a show, playing a game on their phone, and messaging with friends – all at the same time,” he said. “To the consumer, there is no division between the consumption of all three. However, each category of product offering was developed and matured into separate industries, in separate companies or divisions, with separate decision-makers and bottom lines – I think the time for a merger of these various mediums is now.”
“When we ‘wow’ the first 100 people, they tell their friends and so on,” he added. “Before you know it, we are the next generation entertainment platform – a one-stop experience shop for entertainment, gaming, and goods. Initially, we’re starting out with some of the most beloved characters from millennial’s childhood, and reintroducing them to the world while respecting what made them so great in the first place.”
Gamisodes is based in California, and launched at San Diego’s Comic Con in 2020 with news that it would be bringing classic episodes of Inspector Gadget back, but adding gamification elements. However, while episodes officially launched in 2023, Gamisodes’ barebones website currently lists it as “Returning Soon”, with a host of Inspector Gadget purchasable items (coins, gems, and power boosters) in the Shop also marked for return.
NFTs, But You Know, For Kids
The Shop also includes items linked with other content, including subscription passes for Baby Einstein/Ocean Explorers episodes, and character portraits from another series, EYEdentified (an animated talk show that must be purchased in-app to watch).
The portraits, which cost $9.99 each, are ironically eye-opening in that they’re also TV-MA rated NFTs. They all include details such as Reserved Mints, Minting Order, and P2P Sale Royalty Percentage. Unless Gamisodes is hoping its target audience of pre-teens and toddlers are all burgeoning crypto-bros, it’s an objectively weird thing to put into an app that is otherwise aimed at children.
The company does have solid links with the world of cryptocurrency, however. For one, it’s partnered with Dapper Labs, a video game studio that is built on Web3 blockchain technology, and counts Disney, the NFL and NBA, as customers. Dapper makes NFTs for these, and was behind Inspector Gadget ones for Gamisodes (these aren’t listed at the moment, but were released alongside the show’s launch in 2023).
The good news is that, at least for now, Dig Dug New Frontier appears free of such things. It’s officially licensed by Bandai Namco and the associated cartoon features a high standard of animation, and classic (albeit very basic) gameplay courtesy of Australia-based Spunge Games (the team behind a whole series of physics-based mobile games featuring a ragdoll player character called Phil Faily).
The Dig Dug cartoon is very short, and there are only two gameplay sections in it, but it’s possible to play a standalone version of the actual game – all without any in-app purchases in sight.
