By
Bena Ilyas
April 22nd, 2024
The Way of the Tiger, one of the gamebook genre pioneers, will be released with non-fungible tokens on VeChain Thor and will be backed by Microsoft.
A well-known technological giant Microsoft, Eidos which is a major game developer and gamebook Fabled Lands announced on Sunday their decision to jointly develop a blockchain card game that is based on a 1980s best-selling gamebook dubbed “The Way of the Tiger”.
The book was written by Jamie Thomson and Mark Smith and it is, as explained, set in the fantasy world of Orb. The reader plays the part of a young ninja that has a mission to take revenge for his foster father and recuperate stolen scrolls. The renewed gamebook will be renamed “Arena of Death” and will set pit player against player in fantasy card battles, with the same characters, skills, and magic as the original game.
However, there is something else new. Thomson who is also Fabled Lands’ chief executive officer has resolved to use blockchain technology explaining that he believes it is an ideal way for achieving his goal, much better than a traditional videogame.
He said:
“We were going to relaunch the series into a computer game format but this new technology (blockchain), just made more sense. Imagine playing Magic the Gathering but knowing if you owned a card, it really does belong to you. Or if we say there are only 100 editions of an item or skill, you know there really are only 100 editions.”
As per the announcement, the company decided to use non-fungible tokens (NFT) on the Vechain blockchain. Vechain is the public blockchain that derives its value from activities created by members within the ecosystem solving real-world economic problems. It has been also related to enterprises and supply-chain management — to ensure ownership of in-game assets. Also through Vechain, the player will be enabled to create cards and items that can be used in the game “without having to deal with all the crypto stuff,” said Thomson.
It seems that the whole tokenization of in-game assets is a growing trend nowadays. As per the announcement, during the last two years, the concept of owning Non-Fungible Tokens as part of the gaming world has been growing in its popularity with revenues of hundreds of millions as well. Games as Gods Unchained and Neon District have taken full lead of blockchain technology in order to make cards and items more valuable and money-worthy.
Last month, Blockchain game F1 Delta Time, licensed by the racing series Formula 1, had the F1 car-branded NFTs on auction.
Also, trading card game Gods Unchained that is based on the Ethereum (ETH) has surpassed CryptoKitties by volume after a censorship scandal that even involved game-developer Blizzard. It had reached approximately half a million daily NFT transfers.
The company Immutable that released Gods Unchained game, in October managed to raise $15 million in Series A funding to go forward with its vision for blockchain video games.
The Australian company has completed a $15 million Series A round led by Naspers Ventures and Galaxy Digital EOS VC Fund. Apex Capital Partners also followed.
“We’re building foundational products and technology to make true ownership of digital objects a new normal. This round of financing helps us accelerate the speed and direction by which we approach that reality,” said James Ferguson, CEO of Immutable.