Between the abrupt recreation cancellations, lay-offs, and ongoing buyout talks, Ubisoft goes by a little bit of a PR storm in the intervening time. The beleaguered writer may actually do with one thing to regain a little bit of goodwill, so what with neon-soaked Far Cry 3 spin-off Blood Dragon being so fondly remembered by followers (in addition to Captain Laserhawk, the superbly respectable Netflix present set in the identical universe), you may see why they’d look to this IP as their saviour.
Enter Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E., a top-down shooter set within the Blood Dragon universe, and starring Rayman as a commentator (by way of Polygon). Here’s the catch: it is a Web 3 recreation that requires you to purchase an NFT to play. This NFT takes the type of your very personal ‘Niji Warrior’ card that improves as you play the sport, presumably making it achieve worth over time in order that at some point different gamers/NFT believers purchase it off you.
As is commonly the case with these NFT video games, all of the promotion on the official website and X web page (each of that are absent from Ubisoft’s primary social channels) focuses on the acquainted NFT guarantees reminiscent of “A world you may form and rework”, “the possibility to earn unique rewards of nice worth,” and “the whole neighborhood could have the chance to affect the plot and take part in key decision-making moments.”Â
But what of the sport itself? Well, Ubisoft appears to be taking part in the entire ‘free-to-play cell MMO’ trick of concealing gameplay as a lot as potential, as a result of neither the homepage trailer nor the separate trailer on ‘The G.A.M.E’ web page present any in-game footage. In truth, searching the location, I got here throughout only one screenshot of what the in-game motion appears to be like like—a few avatars taking pictures one another in a plain gray area; why is it that NFT video games all the time appear like these cheapie rush jobs that pop up day by day on Steam for $5?
Ubisoft’s early forays into NFTs have been met with dismay from followers and French commerce unions again in 2021, however that did not cease them persevering with to push into the area, final 12 months getting into a partnership with blockchain gaming platform Immutable. Clearly Ubisoft discovered one thing from all of the adverse suggestions round NFTs, as a result of at the least now it has the self-awareness to maintain these items sequestered away from its primary channels.Â
