Have you been wondering what ol’ Peter Molyneux has been up to lately? Well, in a move that very few will find surprising, the infamous designer is jumping into the world of blockchain gaming and NFT bullshit. His next game, Legacy, is built entirely around the technology and “crypto gaming.”
Molyneux, who once got a bunch of people to tap a cube for fun, announced yesterday at the weekend-long Gala Games’ Galaverse in Las Vegas that his company’s next video game is Legacy, which is described as a “blockchain business sim.” Raise your hand if you knew there was a Galaverse happening in Las Vegas.
According to Molyneux, he and his company — 22 Cans — had been working on Legacy when he was contacted by the folks over at Gala Games about possibly making something powered by the blockchain. It turns out Legacy was a perfect fit for “crypto gaming.” As Molyneux explains it, “every mechanic in Legacy was tailor-made for the blockchain environment.” How exciting..?
In a blog post from Gala Games and Molyneux, they explained what Legacy actually is. Or at least tried to explain it…
In Legacy, players will create digital products and buildings from thousands of available parts. These plans are then manufactured by an “army of workers” and after that players are free to trade “anything and everything” with other players around the world to “dominate” the open market.
Apparently, there will be in-game events and competitions that will (maybe one day…) reward players with money and other prizes. But before you begin “playing” this “game,” you’ll need to buy a Land NFT before you can start your own in-game blockchain business. And all of this will be powered by a new cryptocurrency, LegacyCoin, which exists on the Ethereum blockchain.
Legacy and another recently announced FPS, Last Expedition, are described by the creators and Gala Games as “play-to-earn” with the idea being that players can create digital content and goods and then trade or sell that stuff via the blockchain to make money. Which is an interesting idea that has existed without the blockchain for years in various games like CSGO, Roblox, and more.
Mixing blockchain technology and video games has quickly become a new hot idea among publishers and devs looking to make a quick buck wanting to innovate and change how players interact with games. We recently saw Ubisoft joining the NFT bandwagon, though as usual, the response from most folks was a mix of confusion or disgust.
NFTs, blockchains, and cryptocurrency have been heavily criticised by many over the last few years for a host of reasons, including the horrible amount of e-waste created by digital mining facilities, the continued strain miners have put on the chip shortage and of course, the fact that all the energy blockchains eat up is potentially accelerating global warming and is extremely wasteful.
But ignoring all that, much of what NFTs and blockchains promise, the ability to create and sell digital goods in games or virtual worlds, already exists and has for years without the world-burning technology. But as long as there are some folks out there willing to buy into all this, there will be folks like Molyneux willing to invest in it.
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