Yesterday I wrote about how Will Wright’s brainaic new game Proxi was dropping its blockchain elements, and during that process the thought did occur ‘Peter Molyneux?’.
Of course, they are deeply connected, and not just in my own brain, as two of the most high concept game designers of the naughties — Black & White, The Sims, Fable, Spore etc — but who also became coincidential in the 2020s — again especially in my consciousness — for adopting blockchain.
So it’s good timing for this newsletter that I’ve just received an email telling me that Peter Molyneux’s Legacy is due out on 26th October.
To be honest, though, my post-Wright thought was more along the lines that ‘I wonder if Legacy has been cancelled?’ than ‘I wonder when that’s coming out?’.
Famously, Legacy launched its NFT sales at the height of the crypto boom, selling a reported $53 million-worth of assets and then everything went quiet.
More recently, however, its publishing company Gala Games descended into farce with the two co-founders suing each other for tens of millions of dollars.
So the conditions for Legacy’s launch aren’t ideal. That said, given the floor price of a land NFT is now down to $50, I am tempted to pick up a ‘Shakespearean Country House’ or something similar just to see how the game plays out.
After all, this is a broad concept that Molyneux has been kicking around since The Movies, with Legacy specifically conceived as a game sans blockchain back in 2017.
And although he has a reputation for designing games that never quite fulfil their potential, I’m happy to spend $50 in the belief that despite the headwinds of Gala’s nonsense, Legacy could still be one of the more interesting games of 2023.
This Substack is sponsored by Hiro Capital: investing in the future of games
Calendar
Fableborne’s pre-sale starts — 29th September
Doctor Who: Worlds Apart’s public playtest closes — 29th September
Lamina1 launches its Open Metaverse month — 1st October
Mojo Melee’s Harvest of Doom season starts — 6th October
Axie Game Jam 2023 launches — 15th October
Synergy Land launches testnet early access — 16th October
Aavegotchi is going live in The Sandbox — 25th October
Phantom Galaxies goes into early access — 2nd November
Sugartown Going Live (Sorta) news
As with its free NFT mint, Zynga has geo-locked access to its Sugartown platform to those in the US, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. But for those with an Ora NFT and the ability to use a VPN, staking NFTs to generate energy to play the games within looks like it’s live.
I say “looks like” because while I can use a VPN, I don’t own an Ora NFT.
But maybe I will. The floor price is currently 0.25 ETH ($400), down from a peak of 0.4 ETH on 17th September.
I think the price will likely drop further as that’s what usually happens when a pure abstract trading asset collides with its functional actuality.
As for that actuality, as web3 mover and shaker Jonah Blake — last seen wining Wreck League’s founders event — has pointed out that at least some of the games within Sugartown are old Zynga titles such as Mountain Goat Mountain, plus what looks like a Geometry Dash clone and a poker game (Zynga Poker?).
Upland Goes Ethereum news
Mobile Monopoly-style world location game Upland — which boasts 3 million downloads and 30,000 DAUs — has been around for years. It was one of the first blockchain mobile games to be available through the app stores because although its economy ran on the EOS blockchain, players couldn’t directly access crypto; everything was done through IAPs.
But now that’s changing with developer Uplandme proposing an ERC20 token called Sparklet, which will be worth 0.001 of the in-app Spark currency. It will issue 1 billion Sparklet tokens on Ethereum, matched by 1 million new Sparks and operate a bridge between Ethereum and EOS — controlled by KYC and a 48 hour cooldown period — so liquidity can flow as the market directs.
The explanation is detailed but worth reading.
Ever The Hopeful news
Maybe I’m seeing the noise of green shoots not the signal but interesting to note that one year on from Azra Games — the core team behind EA’s Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes — announcing its Project Legends RPG, its PFP collection The Hopeful has seen a steady increase in floor price up over the past three months to 0.4 ETH ($650).
If nothing else, holders of The Hopeful — like me — are hopeful that they will be the first group to get their hands on the game’s first playable before the end of 2023.
As ever, remember the first rule of NFTs is that their worth is nothing to do with what they look like!
Additional Links
WAGMI’s Founder’s Packs aren’t selling: only 7% minted. Perhaps no surprise given the 0.189 ETH ($300) price.
Epic is laying off 870 employees, plus Basecamp and SuperAwesome will be spun out.
Another ridiculous example of SEC overreach, but one that might be coming to an end.
Amazing that Texas now accounts for 29% of Bitcoin hashrate.
Google Podcasts is going away so listen to all your podcasts in Fountain and get paid in Bitcoin.