Oh no! Ubisoft has announced it’s shutting down Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles, a Web3-enabled turned-based strategy game that launched at the height of the NFT craze in *checks notes* oh…oh no… 2024. The announcement of the game’s impending demise was shared earlier this week on the game’s website and Discord server, reading in part, “After careful consideration, we have made the decision to sunset the game. The Champions Tactics servers will officially shut down on October 30.”
Players of the game (and yes, there were players) have seen that this was coming for several months now. Back in May, Ubisoft announced that it would transition the game away from Web3 functionality due to unspecified changes to the game’s Oasys blockchain infrastructure. The whole point of Champions Tactics was that the units you used in battles could be minted and traded on the blockchain marketplace for cash or the Oasys cryptocurrency OAS.
For some reason, Ubisoft seemed stuck trying to make NFTs happen for several of its games despite an overwhelming majority of gamers absolutely hating the scam-ass technology. Ubisoft, perhaps seeing the error of its ways or in an attempt to reach people who wouldn’t touch a blockchain game with a 50-foot pole, did launch a different free-to-play version of Champions Tactics on Steam last year called Champions Tactics Reforged. That version removed the core NFT functionality, but judging by the game’s mixed reviews, the audience didn’t show up.
However, Ubisoft isn’t giving up just yet and is attempting to funnel players into its new collectible card game, Might and Magic Fates. That game launched in early access in February, and Ubisoft is offering high-ranked Champions Tactics players exclusive in-game rewards if they make the jump. Might and Magic Fates has more of a Hearthstone vibe but features a marketplace that will allow players to buy and sell cards for cash or crypto. But judging from some of the messages in the Champions Tactics Discord, there isn’t much hope for Might and Magic Fates either.