Ubisoft’s new Champions Tactics game is an NFT smorgasbord with $63K ‘microtransactions’

Did you think the NFT train had all but passed us by? Would it have been unthinkable for a major AAA publisher to dip its feet into Web 3.0 years after the fad had gone by? Well, Ubisoft certainly doesn’t feel that way, ifChampions Tactics is anything to go by.

Granted, Champions Tactics is not the first time Ubisoft has attempted to push out an NFT platform. Some may recall the much maligned Ubisoft Quartz and its “Digits,” which were shoved into Ghost Recon: Breakpoint with all the grace of a walrus on stilts. Even though Quartz might’ve fizzled out basically immediately, Ubisoft appears to have had a different Web 3.0 project in tow all along, and that’s where Champions Tactics comes into the picture.

Champions Tactics is Ubisoft’s new attempt at managing a proper NFT platform

Its clumsy, confusing title aside, Champions Tactics might’ve been timed well had Ubisoft pushed it out back in early 2022. I may also be giving it more credit than it deserves, granted.

Whatever the case may be, Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles leverages Web 3.0 tech as the baseline of its figurine-collecting features. As per IGN’s detailed report, players need to either purchase these figurines (i.e. NFTs in thin disguise) using cryptocurrencies or the in-game Gold currency. Alternatively, one can attempt to craft them using the Forge, which is also leveraged using cryptocurrencies and/or Gold.

In a somewhat unsurprising turn, Champions Tactics‘ fast-developing in-game marketplace is already rife with opportunities to spend money on items best described as “questionable.” A Swift Zealot figurine, for example, comes in at about $63K, earning itself the title of the most expensive item on the market at this time. The majority of figurines will set you back just a few bucks a piece, though I myself find absolutely no comfort in knowing that.

The prerequisites for playing Champion Tactics are a Ubisoft account and a compatible crypto-wallet, though the game itself is ostensibly a free-to-play experience. Champions Tactics appears to run on the Oasys service, which bills itself as a “gaming-optimized and energy efficient blockchain.” The game’s entire schtick is, naturally, the collecting and trading of figures/Champions/NFTs, with a layer of PvP thrown in for good measure. There’s no single-player or PvE gameplay to speak of, note, so if you end up jumping in just to see what all the hubbub is, prepare to have oodles of fun.

The most curious bit of all, from my point of view, is how stealthily Ubisoft has approached this game. Champions Tactics has received virtually no meaningful marketing push at all, and most people missed its release date entirely. With that in mind, it’s not like Ubisoft’s been having a good time as of late. As far as Steam releases go, I’m okay with this one being left off the docket.