Ubisoft dumps its NFT game on the market to little fanfare

Surface level, Champions Tactics is simply a PC strategy crippled wherever players assemble teams of champions to combat their mode up the rankings. Teams are composed of 3 champions, each with their ain attributes and abilities that tin exploit force teams’ weaknesses. At the opening of each round, players rotation dice to find combat order. Next, they prime abilities for their champions earlier combat plays retired simultaneously. Rinse and repetition until 1 squad is defeated. All successful all, the crippled looks similar a amazingly decent, if generic, tactics game.

But past there’s each the NFT garbage. Champions are the game’s NFTs associated with the Oasys blockchain. To get champions you person to either forge them from existing champions you ain oregon acquisition them disconnected the game’s marketplace. To acquisition champions, you tin either usage the OAS cryptocurrency oregon plain ole currency money, with the cheapest going for astir $7 and the astir costly sitting astatine an eye-watering $63,000 whole-ass American dollars. To recognize what’s successful it for Ubisoft to perpetrate this nonsense, the institution takes a six percent “royalty fee” for each marketplace transaction, and determination are astir 2,700 progressive listings connected the site.

But wait! There’s worse! Having much champions increases your VIP status. The higher your VIP status, the much acquisition points and in-game currency you earn, frankincense incentivizing players to walk wealth accumulating champions. To entice adjacent much dollars retired of customers, Champions Tactics besides features an further exclusive postulation of NFTs to bargain called warlords. According to the game’s website, owning a warlord unlocks entree to “special events” and adjacent much in-game boosts to earning EXP and gold. Players tin usage their warlords arsenic their in-game illustration pictures. Here’s what they look like.

Ubisoft is 1 of the biggest developers inactive seemingly all-in connected implementing blockchain exertion wrong video games. In summation to trying and failing with NFTs successful Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, past year, the institution announced a strategical partnership with web3 gaming level Immutable aft reports of Ubisoft employees internally criticizing the company’s blockchain projects. The calamity is that Champions Tactics seems similar it has decent mechanics that’d enactment conscionable good arsenic a mobile gacha game. Purchasing champions and forging caller ones seems perfectly suited to instrumentality vantage of the benignant of microtransaction activity gaming companies salivate over. This crippled doesn’t request NFTs to marque the benignant of wealth Ubisoft is after.

But what’s worst of each is that Ubisoft spent wealth processing a crippled with features that gamers and developers actively hate, lone to propulsion it retired to fundamentally dice successful obscurity specified days aft it fundamentally said “No, thanks” to the radical who made 1 of its champion games successful years. Yikes.