Gaming giant Ubisoft—the publisher behind such franchises as Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance—launched its first original NFT game called Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles on Wednesday.
Built around optional NFTs minted on blockchain gaming network Oasys, Champions Tactics is a free-to-play PC game available through the Ubisoft Connect platform. The tactical strategy game challenges players to select teams of fantasy-themed digital figures and then enter battle against other online opponents in turn-based combat.
Anyone can download and play the game for free using the provided “ethereal champions,” or non-NFT warriors, which can be used in unranked play and also a limited number of times in ranked matches. Additional free champions can be unlocked by completing in-game quests.
However, Ubisoft also previously released 75,000 free in-game champions as NFTs minted on the Oasys network, and some of these are available for purchase through a secondary marketplace.
Currently starting at a price of just under $10 worth of OAS, the NFT champions can be used without limits in the ranked mode and provide players with added rewards. Players can also forge new NFT champions by merging two existing ones. Each NFT champion has unique visual qualities and attributes, the latter of which will impact their use in combat.
Ubisoft also released a series of Ethereum profile pictures (PFPs) inspired by the game in late 2023, and holders of assets from that Warlords collection also receive added benefits in the game. The Warlords NFTs currently start at a price of about $85 worth of ETH on secondary marketplaces.
The gaming giant has been playing in the blockchain space for several years now, releasing multiple small experimental projects in the past while supporting a number of blockchain ecosystems and Web3 startups. The firm launched in-game NFTs on the Tezos network for the PC version of Ghost Recon Breakpoint in 2021.
Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles is the publisher’s first original, full-fledged NFT game, but it won’t be the last.
Ubisoft also recently announced plans to launch Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E., a game inspired by its recent Netflix series based on characters and scenarios from game series including Far Cry and Rayman. That game will be built on Ethereum layer-2 network Arbitrum, with 10,000 NFTs set to be released through the Magic Eden marketplace in the near future.
