A major player like the car brand Porsche entering the Web3 space is often a cause for celebration among NFTs Pre-launch concern, however, quickly turned into a backlog of 1,800 NFTs this week when Porsche’s pricey NFT drop failed to sell, forcing the brand to announce plans to shift gears and reduce supply. .

Porsche’s project focused on the German automaker’s iconic 911 sports car, with an expected drop of 7,500 Ethereal NFTs that would celebrate the vehicle and allow holders access to exclusive events and merchandise. It would also let crypto-savvy car addicts loosely “help design the future of Porsche in the virtual world.”

But rumors about the project took a turn for the worse last Friday when Porsche announced that sell the NFTs for 0.911 ETH each, or about $1,475 as of this writing. That is a high asking price in an NFT market that has lost considerable momentum from the heights of early last year, particularly for a project with several thousand such NFTs on offer.

The backlash from Crypto Twitter was swift and severe. Notable builders and collectors in the space. answered calling the move “deaf dummy”, “clueless”, and “cash grabbing”, as the tweet amassed over a million impressions mainly through mocking actions.

Some suggested that 0.0911 ETH (around $145) would have made much more sense. But Porsche did not directly acknowledge the reaction in public and its plans did not change.

Shortly after public minting began on Monday, primary sales slowed, and in what is considered a death knell for any newly launched project, NFTs quickly resold below mintage price on secondary markets when the owners fled the scene. By this morning, only about 1,500 of the NFTs had been minted. So Porsche made its move.

“Our headlines have spoken”, official account of the project tweeted today. “We are going to cut our supply and stop the mint to move forward with creating the best experience for an exclusive community. More information in the next few hours.”

Just over 1850 NFTs have been minted as of this writing, with sale now scheduled to end at 6 am ET on Wednesday. The floor price, i.e. the cost of the cheapest listed NFT on a market, has fluctuated, briefly rising above the 0.911 ETH mark on the main OpenSea marketplace, but falling back below. Now, sits at 0.905 ETH (about $1,465).

It remains to be seen how Porsche proceeds with a smaller community of NFT owners. The company did not respond decipherrequests for comment both before and after today’s announcement.

Even the decision to announce plans to kill the mint but not do it right away was criticized by some. Rug Radio co-CEO Farokh Sarmad called out the project’s Twitter messages, writing“Whoever is running @eth_porsche, you are not helping the @Porsche brand and you suck.”

Porsche is the latest example of a branding effort in the Web3 world gone wrong. While some traditional companies have been praised for partnering with existing NFT projects, such as Budweiser Y adidas did, or use technology in ways that are not income-producing in and of themselves (such as starbucks Y Reddit), others have faced considerable criticism

Pepsi mic drop is a notable example, even as a free mint, it was criticized for clunky messaging and bizarre artwork. A recent release of Game of Thrones NFT was widely mocked for generic and glitchy artwork. And while it eventually sold out, a Tiffany & Co. NFT drop last year tied cryptopunks-era themed pendants criticized for its high mint price.

Celebrity-tied NFT projects have faced similar criticism in the past, whether or not they sold well. The recent collection of Donald Trump, for example, was widely mocked— even by Trump supporters — but ultimately they sold out and went up in value. A project inspired by Michael Jordan launched by his son last year in Solana cut off its own supply after slower-than-expected minting.

Generally speaking, Web3 proponents seem increasingly keen on brands trying to build on the space by giving away NFTs or making them affordable and accessible. Attempts by established firms and celebrities to simply extract value through high prices and minimal value often don’t pan out.

Porsche’s downfall, to many observers, is yet another example of the latter, and the brand may have learned a difficult first lesson on Web3 as it considers a modified path ahead.