Immortal Game Ditches Chess NFTs, Crypto Token Over ‘Heavy Cheating’
On-line chess platform Immortal Recreation is now not engaged on any NFTs or play-to-earn crypto parts for its sport as a result of such parts “inspired heavy dishonest” on the platform, the workforce introduced in a Discord publish final week.
Immortal Recreation, which was constructed on Ethereum scaling community Immutable X, will now not settle for its Checkmate token CMT, is eliminating its NFT market, will take away any references to crypto on its web site, and can now not reward match winners with crypto prizes. The modifications took impact Monday, in accordance with the publish.
“After cautious deliberation, we have now determined to cease growth on play-and-earn and NFT collectibles associated options on Immortal Recreation,” pseudonymous Immortal developer often called “Luxo” wrote in the neighborhood’s Discord server. The announcement was additionally posted on the sport’s web site.
Regardless of elevating $12 million final yr from blockchain traders like TCG Crypto and Kraken Ventures, Immortal is ditching crypto. The platform has raised a complete of $15.5 million in funding.
CMT’s value is down over 73% this yr, with a lot of the losses coming from this quarter, in accordance with CryptoRank information. Gamers had been beforehand capable of earn CMT by successful video games on the platform. Immortal chess piece NFTs can nonetheless be used within the sport, however solely in “Immortal mode.”
The Immortal rep defined that the workforce initially created crypto parts for its platform out of a want to reward its group—however discovered that cheaters exploiting the platform for cash had been ruining the enjoyable.
“We discovered that by providing giant quantities of money with no restrict barrier to entry, we inspired heavy dishonest on the platform and degraded the person expertise for our official participant base who desire a truthful and secure place to play chess on-line,” the Immortal dev shared.
Gamers will now need to go to Immutable’s market and web site to handle or commerce their Immortal Recreation NFTs, and any customers with custodial wallets should switch their property to a self-custodied crypto pockets.
“The unintended consequence of providing cash to gamers has elevated the unfair practices, and we have now determined that we can not stand by and let this dishonest occur any longer,” Luxo added. “Whereas we’ll nonetheless discover Web3 and decentralized applied sciences, notably for anti-cheat measures and group engagement, our main drive is to advance our chess platform, making certain a good and gratifying atmosphere for all gamers.”
Dishonest is an enormous downside throughout practically all aggressive video games—however monetary rewards can improve the motivation for gamers on the lookout for a fast buck to cheat or set up exploits that manipulate a sport’s final result of their favor.
Immortal isn’t the primary studio to ditch its crypto plans, nonetheless. A Game7 report discovered that almost 50 blockchain video games have stopped growth this yr. Different Web3 video games initially placing their NFT parts within the forefront have since taken a step again, providing crypto-free sport variations to stick to the Steam retailer’s restrictions.
Again in July, Neopets deserted its NFT-powered gaming plans after getting funding from crypto traders, with its CEO beforehand telling Decrypt that its group on the entire doesn’t care about crypto. And in October, the fantasy MMORPG Gran Saga: Limitless additionally stopped creating its NFT-powered sport solely.
The Immortal workforce didn’t instantly reply to Decrypt’s request for additional remark.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
