Ex-Activision, Lucasfilms Developers Announce New Open-World Game With NFTs

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are getting more prominent in gaming, and MetalCore Foundation, a video game publishing company formed by developers who have previously worked at Activision, Disney, Lucas Films and Midway among others, has launched a new open-world game that prominently features NFTs. The game, named MetalCore, is a multiplayer combat game that aims to combine traditional gaming mechanics and GameFi-driven blockchain technology. As per reports, MetalCore will host its first NFT presale in January 2022, while a private alpha is expected to launch for limited PC players in early 2022.

Developed by Studio 369, the game follows a proven formula followed by a number of existing blockchain games. MetalCore will allow players to collect rare weapons, cosmetic nets, and skins that can be used in battle and traded as NFTs on the open market. Players will have the opportunity to earn in-game rewards and become virtual landowners too, where they will be able to mine in-game assets and generate tax revenue.

A brief trailer of the game shows robot-like war machines reminiscent of Titanfall, in an alien environment and avatars that control these war machines. The first-look trailer also provides a glimpse of the in-game items that will likely be tradable as NFTs.

GameFi technology is already among the most sought after in the crypto ecospace, and early investors can expect gaming-related collectables to power virtual economies. As the name suggests, GameFi is essentially an intersection of decentralised finance (DeFi), NFTs and the gaming industry and is attracting a lot of attention from the biggest of gaming guilds because of its most common feature being 'play to earn'.

Two of the biggest titles in the blockchain gaming space currently happen to be Axie Infinity and Decentraland — both ecosystems driven by GameFi.

Speaking of play-to-earn, Ubisoft during an earning call recently spoke about its intention of implementing a play-to-earn blockchain model in the future. Whether Ubisoft plans on rolling NFTs into the rewards structure of its existing open-world franchises or creating entirely new blockchain games is what we're yet to learn.