Ubisoft releases new Blood Dragon game... with NFTs

Between the abrupt game cancellations, lay-offs, and ongoing buyout talks, Ubisoft is going through a bit of a PR storm at the moment. The beleaguered publisher could really do with something to regain a bit of goodwill, so what with neon-soaked Far Cry 3 spin-off Blood Dragon being so fondly remembered by fans (as well as Captain Laserhawk, the perfectly decent Netflix show set in the same universe), you can see why they'd look to this IP as their saviour.

Enter Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E., a top-down shooter set in the Blood Dragon universe, and starring Rayman as a commentator (via Polygon). Here's the catch: it's a Web 3 game that requires you to buy an NFT to play. This NFT takes the form of your very own 'Niji Warrior' card that improves as you play the game, presumably making it gain value over time so that one day other players/NFT believers buy it off you.

As is often the case with these NFT games, all the promotion on the official site and X page (both of which are absent from Ubisoft's main social channels) focuses on the familiar NFT promises such as "A world you can shape and transform", "the chance to earn exclusive rewards of great value," and "the entire community will have the opportunity to influence the plot and participate in key decision-making moments." 

But what of the game itself? Well, Ubisoft seems to be playing the whole 'free-to-play mobile MMO' trick of concealing gameplay as much as possible, because neither the homepage trailer nor the separate trailer on 'The G.A.M.E' page show any in-game footage. In fact, browsing the site, I came across just one screenshot of what the in-game action looks like—a couple of avatars shooting each other in a plain grey arena; why is it that NFT games always look like those cheapie rush jobs that pop up every day on Steam for $5?

Ubisoft's early forays into NFTs were met with dismay from fans and French trade unions back in 2021, but that didn't stop them continuing to push into the space, last year entering a partnership with blockchain gaming platform Immutable. Clearly Ubisoft learned something from all the negative feedback around NFTs, because at least now it has the self-awareness to keep this stuff sequestered away from its main channels.