Ubisoft
has
quietly
released
its
own
NFT
game
to
join
the
ranks
of
other
vaunted,
widely-played
blockchain
enabled
titles
like
Axie
Infinity
and...uh,
Ember
Sword.
Champions
Tactics:
Grimoria
Chronicles
launched
earlier
this
month
with
relatively
little
fanfare
or
marketing.
The
game
comes
two
years
after
Ubisoft’s
failed
bid
to
make
NFTs
work
in
Ghost
Recon:
Breakpoint,
a
solid
three
years
after
NFT
prices
and
purchases
fell
off
a
cliff,
and
barely
a
week
after
it
announced
it
would
disband
the
team
behind
the
critically
acclaimed
Prince
of
Persia:
The
Lost
Crown.
Surface
level,
Champions
Tactics
is
a
PC
strategy
game
where
players
assemble
teams
of
champions
to
fight
their
way
up
the
rankings.
Teams
are
composed
of
three
champions,
each
with
their
own
attributes
and
abilities
that
can
exploit
enemy
teams’
weaknesses.
At
the
beginning
of
each
round,
players
roll
dice
to
determine
combat
order.
Next,
they
select
abilities
for
their
champions
before
combat
plays
out
simultaneously.
Rinse
and
repeat
until
one
team
is
defeated.
All
in
all,
the
game
looks
like
a
surprisingly
decent,
if
generic,
tactics
game.
But
then
there’s
all
the
NFT
garbage.
Champions
are
the
game’s
NFTs
associated
with
the
Oasys
blockchain.
To
acquire
champions
you
have
to
either
forge
them
from
existing
champions
you
own
or
purchase
them
off
the
game’s
marketplace.
To
purchase
champions,
you
can
either
use
the
OAS
cryptocurrency
or
plain
ole
cash
money,
with
the
cheapest
going
for
about
$7
and
the
most
expensive
sitting
at
an
eye-watering
$63,000
whole-ass
American
dollars.
To
understand
what’s
in
it
for
Ubisoft
to
perpetrate
this
nonsense,
the
company
takes
a
six
percent
“royalty
fee”
for
every
marketplace
transaction,
and
there
are
about
2,700
active
listings
on
the
site.
But
wait!
There’s
worse!
Having
more
champions
increases
your
VIP
status.
The
higher
your
VIP
status,
the
more
experience
points
and
in-game
currency
you
earn,
thus
incentivizing
players
to
spend
money
accumulating
champions.
To
entice
even
more
dollars
out
of
customers,
Champions
Tactics
also
features
an
additional
exclusive
collection
of
NFTs
to
buy
called
warlords.
According
to
the
game’s
website,
owning
a
warlord
unlocks
access
to
“special
events”
and
even
more
in-game
boosts
to
earning
EXP
and
gold.
Players
can
use
their
warlords
as
their
in-game
profile
pictures.
Here’s
what
they
look
like.
1/2
Man,
that
sure
is
some
compelling
artwork
selling
for
around
$66.Image:
Ubisoft
Ubisoft
is
one
of
the
biggest
developers
still
apparently
all-in
on
implementing
blockchain
technology
within
video
games.
In
addition
to
trying
and
failing
with
NFTs
in
Ghost
Recon:
Breakpoint,
last
year,
the
company
announced
a
strategic
partnership
with
web3
gaming
platform
Immutable
after
reports
of
Ubisoft
employees
internally
criticizing
the
company’s
blockchain
projects.
The
tragedy
is
that
Champions
Tactics
seems
like
it
has
decent
mechanics
that’d
work
just
fine
as
a
mobile
gacha
game.
Purchasing
champions
and
forging
new
ones
seems
perfectly
suited
to
take
advantage
of
the
kind
of
microtransaction
activity
gaming
companies
salivate
over.
This
game
doesn’t
need
NFTs
to
make
the
kind
of
money
Ubisoft
is
after.
But
what’s
worst
of
all
is
that
Ubisoft
spent
money
developing
a
game
with
features
that
gamers
and
developers
actively
hate,
only
to
push
it
out
to
essentially
die
in
obscurity
mere
days
after
it
essentially
said
“No,
thanks”
to
the
people
who
made
one
of
its
best
games
in
years.
Yikes.
Original author: Ash Parrish
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