🎁 Choose your fighter

Hey frens. 

It’s Wednesday, and we’re looking at an anime NFT collection’s mint for its promised game. We’re also diving into news about Gunzilla Games, GameStop, and more.

— Kate Irwin

P.S. Let me know how you’re liking The Drop! Send me an email at [email protected].

Azuki’s TCG takes shape

The anime-inspired Ethereum NFT collection Azuki is releasing its Alpha Starter Decks this week. These decks consist of mystery loot, booster packs, and cards that will be playable in the brand’s upcoming trading card game (TCG).

Each box — either a red “Shao” box or a blue “Raizan” box — will cost the equivalent of $95 of the ANIME token. Only Azuki community members will be able to buy these boxes, based on their predetermined status level. The eligibility snapshot was taken Tuesday morning, so it’s too late to qualify if you don’t own any Azuki NFTs.

Azuki’s Games Division Manager Jon Chao is credited as the mind behind the upcoming game. He’s been working for Azuki since late 2023. Previously, he worked as a game producer at Timi Studio Group, Riot Games and Ubisoft.

“A lot of collectors, a lot of degens [are] in our community,” Chao said in a video interview on why the Azuki team chose to build a TCG. 

“I do think we face major challenges that Pokemon or One Piece do not have which is like they have so much content and lore,” Chao said. “All that can just be translated into card art and gameplay mechanics quite easily.” 

There are three allocation tiers for this Azuki drop: Grand Tier, Legend Tier and Order Tier. Grand grants you the ability to buy one deck, Legend grants up to four, and Order tier members can buy up to eight decks — if you feel like dropping $800 on cards for an unreleased game.

Decks will come with a rulebook, but the team isn’t releasing its full guide on how to play the upcoming game just yet. That means we don’t know to what extent this game could feel like it’s pay-to-win when it finally comes out. 

If you got an allocation but want more packs (or didn’t get an allocation at all), you can enter their raffle to try to get one. 

After checking out, buyers will be given an NFT signifying they purchased a pack. Physical cards won’t be sent out until July at the earliest, according to a post from the team. 

These proof-of-purchase NFTs can be traded before the physical card packs are issued, but Azuki warns traders to do that at your own risk. Technically, though, if you get someone’s proof-of-purchase NFT, you would be able to claim a pack when redemption time comes.

The Alpha Starter Decks drop begins March 27 at 1 pm ET and is live until April 3 at 1 pm ET.

The Azuki team previously teased this drop two weeks ago via a blog post on their site, along with the note that different starter packs of cards will become available to the public later this year. They’re promising Waifus too, don’t worry. 

Chao said that more than a third of the game’s budget has gone to designing its artwork — though they are outsourcing some of that art design to third-party firms. 

They’re also trying to release some of the cards as physical-backed tokens, or PBTs, meaning each physical card is tied to a token on the blockchain.

The first Azuki collection launched back in 2022 in the form of 10,000 PFP NFTs. In 2023, they also launched the Azuki Elementals, a supplementary PFP collection with 20,000 NFTs. Azuki’s verified OpenSea page lists over a dozen different NFT collections in total, with some that were redeemable for IRL merch or other NFTs.

The Azuki Elementals were seen as controversial at the time of launch because of the quality of the art as well as the perception that the additional PFPs in a similar style were diluting the value of the original collection. The team also made $38 million in revenue from that second launch alone. 

The Elementals launch sparked the creation of the community-run AzukiDAO, but a hacker exploited the DAO’s governance token smart contract for 35 ETH. In 2023, Azuki’s X account was also compromised, resulting in the attacker swiping $750K in just 30 minutes by posting a malicious link to a wallet-draining scam.

The upcoming Azuki game doesn’t seem to have a different name yet — it’s just called “Official Azuki TCG” on social media. The game’s X account bio states that the TCG is still releasing this year. 

I’m used to waiting for games to launch in this space, so I guess I’ll just… keep… waiting.

Off The Grid’s studio buys Game Informer

Gunzilla Games, the studio behind the blockchain-optional battle royale shooter Off The Grid, has bought Game Informer and is bringing the gaming-focused media outlet back.

They’re not disclosing how much they paid for the deal, Gunzilla’s Director of Web3 Theodore Agranat told me. 

Game Informer, which had been around since 1991, was shut down by its prior owner GameStop last summer after rounds of layoffs. Now, the site is back, and the entire previous team of staff has been rehired. Plus, they’re planning to bring back print editions as well.

“The new owners insisted on the idea of Game Informer remaining an independent editorial outlet; they felt just as strongly as our team did that the only path forward was with an editorial group that made 100 percent of the decisions around what we cover and how we do so, without any influence from them or anyone else,” wrote Game Informer Editor-in-Chief Matt Miller.

“Game Informer remains completely editorially independent and launches with fresh vigour in its commitment to delivering the latest news, reviews, and insights from the ever-evolving world of gaming,” the Gunzilla team said in a statement, echoing that promise that Game Informer will remain separate from Gunzilla despite Gunzilla acquiring them.

Given the promise of editorial independence here, I’m left wondering whether Game Informer will ever cover Off The Grid again. Game Informer may choose not to cover Off The Grid because it’s the property of their parent company. Or, they might cover it again but add a disclosure.

It looks like they wrote about Off The Grid once way back in 2022 but haven’t really covered it since — or much else in blockchain gaming. In 2021 during the initial NFT boom, Game Informer published an opinion piece that criticized the gaming industry for trying to shove “ridiculous” NFTs “down players’ throats.”

Video games media outlets play an important role in the industry nonetheless — though it can be hard for them to turn a profit.

• GameStop has confirmed it will buy bitcoin and close more of its brick-and-mortar stores. GameStop has closed a quarter of its stores in the past year.

• The SEC has closed its investigation into blockchain gaming-focused firm Immutable, according to a post from the company. This comes after a string of similar shuttered SEC investigations into Robinhood, OpenSea, Coinbase and others.

  • Immutable says there’s “zero findings of wrongdoing,” and the case is closed.

• Pirate Nation studio Proof of Play’s Head of Business Development known as “Dith” is leaving the company to transition into an adviser role. Dith didn’t share a reason for his departure. 

• Saga and Chromo Games launch NFT marketplace dubbed KEX, where AI-powered game characters can be bought and sold.

Is it just me or does RavenQuest look like a video game from 1989?