The game has not released Non-fungible Token first, how did Ubisoft do it?

Written by: Mu Mu

Editor: Wendao

In the cold winter, the Web3 circle suddenly sounded the call sign of “game summer”, and one of the signals of recovery is that the traditional triple-A game giant Ubisoft is making Web3 games, and the Non-fungible Token in the game is on the market first.

On December 19, The Warlords of Champions Tactics (hereinafter referred to as “The Warlords”), the Non-fungible Token series of Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles, was fully minted as soon as it was launched, with sales exceeding $2 million within hours.

According to Opensea data from the Non-fungible Token trading market, The Warlords Non-fungible TokenFloor Price is now trading at 0.18 ETH (equivalent to about 2,800 yuan). Currently, only 8% of the 9,999 Non-fungible Tokens are on sale, and the number flowing into the secondary market is not large. This suggests that most Addresses that minted the Non-fungible Token were holding it, not selling.

Champions Tactics has not yet been officially launched, and potential enthusiasm is lurking, largely due to the official release of information, the gameplay and production of this game tends to be a traditional chain game, and it has also reached a cooperation with Yield Guild Games, a Web3 game guild, which is also a well-known “gold mining commune” in the chain game circle.

This is a strong signal that the game is not only providing users with entertainment value, but may also have economic value, which is the “Earn” in Play To Earn.

Only 8% of the 9999 minted Non-fungible Tokens went to the market

Ubisoft’s own on-chain game Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles was revealed in July of this year, when the company released a trailer for the game and positioned it as a Web3 game.

For a time, the Web3 game circle began to reverse the Ubisoft, the traditional triple-A game giant.

On December 18, the Non-fungible Token series “The Warlords” of the Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles (hereinafter referred to as “Champions Tactics”) game came to the first round of priority list minting, and more who were not qualified waited for the next day.

On December 19th, The Warlords opened for public minting, and it was all completed in 20 minutes. Not long after, this series of Non-fungible Tokens appeared on the marketplace Opensea, generating $2 million in sales within an hour, and quickly topped the market’s “24-hour hot list”.

The Warlords are selling well

Official information shows that a total of 9,999 Warlords Non-fungible Tokens are issued, and the issuance chain of the series of Non-fungible Tokens is Ethereum, but the game “Champions Tactics” itself is deployed on the Oasys Blockchain compatible with the Ethereum network, of which 8,000 Non-fungible Tokens are minted by users, and only need to consume Ethereum fees (ETH) to mint, another 1,000 are provided to the Oasys community, and 999 Non-fungible Tokens are reserved by Ubisoft for future marketing.

In other words, only 20% of Non-fungible Tokens remain in the hands of groups with “team” attributes, and more Non-fungible Tokens are oriented to the mass market.

Non-fungible TokenSecondary Market Opensea, this pixel-art Non-fungible TokenFloor Price is now trading at 0.18 ETH, with only 8% of the total supply Non-fungible Token on sale, and almost 800 Warlords Non-fungible Token listed on the market by minters, and most mints seem to want to keep the Non-fungible Token.

In addition to the possibility of “holding coins and waiting to rise”, some people are waiting to use it, and it is not excluded that they are game users.

Because according to the official statement, holding Warlords Non-fungible Token is equivalent to getting a ticket to visit the game “Foundry”, and minting 5 characters in the “Champions Tactics” game for free at a later announced time; in addition, these “Genesis Non-fungible Tokens” also have “Airdrop”, “Casting Allowlist” and other rights attached.

Let’s take a look at how the game works.

The official positioning of “Champions Tactics” is a PVP tactical role-playing game, and users who have played “Honor of Kings” should be familiar with it. The game requires the player to have a battle strategy and call for a “champion” team battle of the character. From “Warrior” to “Wizard”, each champion has their own ability points, and players who take on these roles can use tactics and terrain to achieve victory.

Game characters are based on Non-fungible Tokens

The developers of Champions Tactics promise to provide a rich narrative experience, judging from the second half of the game’s title, “Grimoria Chronicles”, which means “Grimoria Chronicles”, the game will give a grand story, and Non-fungible Tokens will be the characters in the game.

With Non-fungible Tokens issued on the open public chain Ethereum and games deployed on the Oasys Blockchain, Ubisoft’s “Champion” is a true full-chain game, and with the French gaming giant’s triple-A production capabilities, it’s no surprise that the market is hot.

In fact, before Champions Tactics, Ubisoft had been eyeing Web3 games for a long time, but it wasn’t very successful

Not marked 3A but injected with “gold” expectations

2021 is the “end year” of Ubisoft’s foray into Web3, when it was only testing the waters + investing, including building a platform that can support Non-fungible Token Ubisoft Quartz, and also launching a “playability Non-fungible Token” that can be used in the triple-A game “Ghost Recon: Breakpoint” to PC players on the platform; in addition, Ubisoft also spent $65 million to invest in Blockchain game company Animoca Brands.

The return on investment is unknown, but the Non-fungible Tokens awarded to users for free in “Breakpoint” did not impress PC players, and even attracted criticism from some users saying that “I don’t know what these Non-fungible Tokens are sent for”. In April 2022, the follow-up development of “Breakpoint” stopped, and the Non-fungible Token, which was already not hot, was gone.

But Ubisoft doesn’t intend to give up on the Web3 gaming market.

Baptiste Chardon, the company’s director of Blockchain products, believed at the time that in the long run, there were new opportunities in the convergence of games and Blockchain, "such as interoperability between games… We believe that Blockchain is the way for creators to put the value created back into the hands of players through games. ”

Ubisoft has always been known for its narrative ability and production ability in game masterpieces, and since it began to test the waters of Web3 games, Blockchain gamers have been looking forward to a big game with both 3A quality and chain game characteristics, in short, a chain game with good graphics, strong playability and “gold”.

But this requirement is not easy to achieve, because the current Blockchain network is far less silky than the traditional Internet bottom, and cannot support the 3A game of “vigorously producing miracles”.

The 3A production concept offered by Japanese game manufacturers has burned the visual impact and game experience with money, but whether it can return to its original cost depends on the market response. In recent years, Ubisoft has not been able to replicate the popularity of the triple-A masterpiece “Assassin’s Creed”, the Market Cap has continued to shrink, and even once had to use the classic IP to “fry cold rice”.

Against this backdrop, Ubisoft’s Web3 game has finally seen the light of day in Champions Tactics’ Non-fungible Token sales. If you notice, Champions Tactics isn’t labeled “AAA” either. And Ubisoft, which has been deeply rooted in Web3 games for two years, has finally figured out this market, whether it is the Non-fungible Token in the game or the chain needed by the game, it cannot be built on its own platform, but needs to use a broader open Blockchain, which is a huge pool of traffic and funds.

This is also the biggest difference between “Champions Tactics” and “Breakpoint” launched two years ago, the latter is that the game is online, Non-fungible Token is on the chain, the result of “two skins” is that users on both sides do not buy it, PC players cannot understand Non-fungible Token, and Non-fungible Token players go to the game and there is no “oil and water” to fish.

It can be seen that Ubisoft has also figured out that if it is only obsessed with designing Web3 games as “as good” as traditional games, then this is losing “watermelon picking sesame seeds”, comparing the weaknesses of Blockchain with the strengths of traditional games.

Speaking of the Web3 game circle, although developers are indeed holding back the “big production”, judging from the market reaction, the excellent picture of the triple-A level is not an absolute “elixir” that stimulates the nerves of players. This year’s hottest Web3 game “BigTime” is indeed a big step up from other chain games in terms of graphics and sound effects, and the TokenBIGTIME, which rose by 265% in a week, is the fuse that directly ignites the enthusiasm of the market.

Good production is the icing on the cake for Web3 chain games, but more importantly, the design of the in-game economic system can attract capital inflows. BigTime has attracted more than 20 gaming guilds, and more than $21 million has been invested in the game.

The most prominent attribute of Web3 games is value circulation, which is why it is called Play To Earn, and players go to play games on the chain because the time spent in the game can be realized through various non-fungible tokens and tokens.

Warlords Non-fungible Token kicked off the prelude to character collection, and Champions Tactics has attracted gaming guilds, which have partnered with Yield Guild Games (YGG), a well-known blockchain game guild that has generated over $100 million in monthly revenue in the phenomenal Web3 game Axie Infinity.

By partnering with organizations like YGG, Champions Tactics can undoubtedly accelerate the opening of the Web3 player market.

As for how quickly it can gain a foothold, it depends on when the game will be officially launched. One user on Reddit believes that the game can only be a significant milestone in the development of Web3 gaming if it can provide a new gaming experience and attract a large number of followers and active players.