Gaming giant Ubisoft, known for publishing popular franchises such as Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance, introduced its first original NFT game, called Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles, on Wednesday.
Champions Tactics is a tactical strategy game that revolves around optional NFTs minted on the blockchain gaming network Oasys. The game is available for free on the Ubisoft Connect platform for PC. Players are challenged to assemble teams of fantasy-themed digital characters and engage in turn-based battles against online opponents.
The game can be downloaded and played for free using the provided “ethereal champions,” which are non-NFT warriors. These champions can be used in unranked matches and a limited number of times in ranked matches. By completing in-game quests, players can unlock additional free champions.
However, Ubisoft has also previously released 75,000 free in-game champions as NFTs minted on the Oasys network, and some of these champions are available for purchase on a secondary marketplace.
Starting at a price of just under $10 worth of OAS, the NFT champions can be used without restrictions in ranked mode and offer players additional rewards. Players can also create new NFT champions by merging two existing ones. Each NFT champion has unique visual qualities and attributes that affect their performance in combat.
In addition, Ubisoft released a series of Ethereum profile pictures (PFPs) inspired by the game in late 2023. Holders of assets from the Warlords collection, which includes the PFPs, also receive extra benefits in the game. The Warlords NFTs are currently priced at approximately $85 worth of ETH on secondary marketplaces.
Ubisoft has been involved in the blockchain space for several years, releasing various small experimental projects and supporting different blockchain ecosystems and Web3 startups. In 2021, the company launched in-game NFTs on the Tezos network for the PC version of Ghost Recon Breakpoint.
Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles is Ubisoft’s first original and comprehensive NFT game, but it won’t be their last. The company has also recently announced plans to launch Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E., a game inspired by its Netflix series, which features characters and scenarios from game series like Far Cry and Rayman. This game will be built on the Ethereum layer-2 network Arbitrum, and 10,000 NFTs are set to be released through the Magic Eden marketplace in the near future.