The developer of "Showa American Story", NEKCOM Games, refutes the rumor: It has not authorized any institution or individual to launch cryptocurrency.
Text | Liu Shiwu
On February 6, the developer of the domestic game "Showa Americana Story", NEKCOM Games, issued an official statement to refute the rumors that have been circulating on the Internet recently about "Oneness Labs acquiring the equity of NEKCOM Games and launching the $SHOWA cryptocurrency".
NEKCOM Games stated that the company has never had any business cooperation with Oneness Labs, and has not authorized any institution or individual to issue virtual currencies or financial products related to "Showa Americana Story".
Official statement of NEKCOM Games (Source: Weibo)
Previously, Oneness Labs announced the acquisition of the equity of NEKCOM Games and the launch of the cryptocurrency $SHOWA based on the "Showa Americana Story" IP. In the nearly one month after the $SHOWA token was launched, its market value reached 36 million US dollars. The official statement issued by NEKCOM Games on this matter denies this claim, emphasizing that the company has never had any form of cooperation or equity transaction with Oneness Labs.
The release of the refutation statement quickly sparked heated discussions in the game industry. As one of the most anticipated games in 2025, "Showa Americana Story" has attracted the attention of global players with its unique collision of Japanese and American cultures and post-apocalyptic narrative style.
This incident not only brought unnecessary troubles to NEKCOM Games, but also sounded the alarm for the game industry. According to media reports, a senior figure in the cryptocurrency circle said that this kind of routine of using popularity to hype the value of the currency is very common in the cryptocurrency circle, but this incident is the first time to use a major IP in the domestic game industry for speculation.
Source: Foreign website page
On the website associated with Oneness, there is still a material image marked with the "Showa Americana Story" NFT project (Non-Fungible Token), but there is no other specific information except this.
In the Web3 era, although the financialization of game IPs provides developers with new financing channels, it also brings potential legal and moral risks. Moreover, virtual currency transactions in China are illegal financial activities, making this financing model not applicable to all enterprises.
The statement of NEKCOM Games shows that the company always adheres to focusing on game content creation and quality improvement, and refuses to use the IP for illegal financial activities.
As of the time of publication, Oneness Labs and Troy Dunniway, the co-founder of NEKCOM Games, have respectively issued statements about this matter on overseas social media (see the picture below). 36Kr Games asked NEKCOM Games about this, and the other party said that the company's previous official statement is also valid for these messages, and the relevant developments are being further processed.
Source: Troy and Oneness social media homepages
Previously, some media reported that Troy Dunniway once served as the chief producer in well-known game companies such as EA and Microsoft, and his representative works include games such as "Age of Empires", "Command & Conquer", and "Red Alert". He was a core member in the early stage of the establishment of NEKCOM Games.
However, according to industry insiders, after the "Showa Americana Story" project was launched, Troy rarely appeared in the public eye, "and may have long not been responsible for specific business in NEKCOM Games."
In the Web3 era, how to legally and compliantly use Web3 to create value and avoid losses to the company and users due to Web3 is a topic that the global game industry needs to face together.
For players, we also do not want such a highly anticipated domestic quality game as "Showa Americana Story" to be disturbed by external reasons.
This article was first published on "36Kr Games".