Did you know that Ubisoft just released a new game… featuring Rayman and NFTs?

You wouldn’t know it from Ubisoft Twitter/X Feed, their Instagram nor them official company news pagewhere they might forget to mention it, but the publisher of Assassin’s Creed and Rainbow Six Siege released a new game this week.

It’s called Captain Laserhawk: The GAME. It’s a top-down multiplayer shooter for PCs, and it’s a spin-off from a spin-off by a spin-off by Far Cry3.

There’s even a guest-starring role from Ubisoft mascot Rayman.

The likely reason Ubisoft is so mum is that it’s a Web 3 game CLTG.AME uses cryptocurrency and blockchain, the buzz technologies about digital ownership from three years ago.

This isn’t the first time Ubisoft has used the blockchain, but their previous efforts in Web 3 gaming went in a way that made you hesitant to talk about the new one.

In 2021, with blockchain gaming a magnet for millions of dollars of investment in the video game industry, Ubisoft called the technology “an evolution of real-life possibilities in digital spaces.” Digital ownership would be transformative, they said. Couldn’t people already buy things in games? Not the real real way the blockchain would make this possible, they and other advocates said.

Fans panned Ubisoft’s early crypto gaming foray. In late 2021, the company began offering Web 3 weapons and armor in its open-world shooter Ghost Recon Breakpoint, allowing players to sell those items to other players via the blockchain (which they hardly did).

No problem. Ubisoft was only “in research mode” for Web 3, CEO Yves Guillemot would say in September 2022.

It was easy to mock, but it wasn’t absurd to give them the benefit of the doubt. The open-minded optimist familiar with Ubisoft’s past had reason to expect that Ubisoft could make something better, maybe even figure out this Web 3 gaming thing.

In the past, when Ubisoft went into research mode with strange new technology, they produced some quality games. The one from Ubisoft early zeal for the weird Wii U used to result in a (no snark) cleverly designed game about fighting zombies while managing your backpack on a second screen. They chased the trend of virtual reality gaming and generated a multiplayer game about piloting Star Trek spaceships. They hopped on the toys-to-life-you-know-as-Skylanders bandwagon and produced a nifty sci-fi game that on Switch doubled as a great new Star Fox adventure.

What could Ubisoft come up with for Web 3 gaming, given enough time in research mode?

I discovered the answer after spending an hour jumping through the hoops required to play my second* Web 3 game of 2024 (disclosure: my first lasted a more than adequate minute or two with the crypto-powered revival of Flappy Bird).

Enter Captain Laserhawk (for $25.63)

The one from Ubisoft Captain Laserhawk: The GAME crypto game is unfortunately the most basic top-down shooter imaginable.

You are a participant in a futuristic battle arena. Most kills win.

Use WASD to move. Move the crosshair with the mouse. Left click to shoot. Right click to rush and stun opponents. Deathmatch and team deathmatch modes available. There is a weapon/gear/emote locker and a battle pass.

That’s about it, although it’s technically in early access.

I’m not sure if many people are playing because after three games yesterday I finished 10th in the world Captain Laserhawk player – from a ranking of 78 names (it now shows 19th of 94).

What about the Web 3 components? Where’s Rayman?

You need an NFT to play – at least for now. I learned this through Ubisoft’s parallel universe Captain Laserhawk promotion, which relates to a dedicated Twitter feed And some posts on Medium.

On December 11, Ubisoft started offering 10,000 Niji Warrior NFTs. I think I’m a Niji Warrior in this game. The NFT looks like a virtual ID card. Initially, you could get one of these cards for free (minus Web 3 transaction fees).

Then, between December 16 and 20, people who own a Niji Warrior NFT ID card will have access to a virtual photo booth on the official Captain Laserhawk: The GAME website (which, of course, edenonline.ubisoft.com) and use that to ‘reveal’ the card.

I must confess that I missed the free NFT offer. So I had to buy one on Marktplaats. I did this this week when I found the cheapest one available for .0055 ETH, which Google told me wouldn’t break my spending budget. I had never bought anything crypto-related before, so I discovered the fun of setting up my own crypto wallet and then using a regular old Visa card to buy the NFT (total cost: $25.63) .

None of this was intuitive, and I don’t get the sense that the Captain Laserhawk experience is for people like me who have never dipped a toe into crypto and don’t want to.

The game’s website informs potential players that they must be 18 years old and live in a part of the world where the game is not banned. The requirement to connect to a crypto wallet assumes you know what that means and which wallet is worth using. Any inability to set up the wallet, purchase the NFT, and link everything correctly will block Captain Laserhawk of loading.

Back to the virtual photo booth part: you take your NFT and then unveil it, which means customizing it with a cartoon portrait (based on some selections of favorite aesthetics). You enter a gender, an age and, for some reason, your favorite professional wrestler (options include real-life wrestler Kenny Omega and the slightly unreal “Diamond Dallas Pey’J”).

All these steps introduce scarcity, since the background of any Web 3 project is that it will produce rare things for users to buy and sell. We already work with a base of 10,000 Niji Warrior IDs with user IDs limited to two per account. The Photo Booth ID process will only be available for five days, after which Niji Warrior ID cards will be customized randomly rather than based on player choice.

The challenge here is to get there early and set something up in a way that makes it stand out in the market. Once you start playing, according to one of the game’s Medium postsyour progress through the game will further change the map, potentially making it even more special:

Plus, your Niji Warrior NFT is dynamic: it evolves by recording your in-game achievements, growing in uniqueness and value and showcasing your dedication and skills.

The appeal of this, as far as I can tell, is that playing the fairly simple game and excelling at it will result in a rarer Niji Warrior NFT that other people might want to buy because… I’m honestly not sure why.

Captain Laserhawk also has a battle pass or scheme of unlockable virtual rewards given out as you earn experience points and rack up victories. Some rewards can also be converted into NFTs. I unlocked a ‘Happy 2025’ emote that I can turn into an NFT. Anyone want to buy it?

An inspection of the Captain Laserhawk menus and marketplace suggest some interest in the game, but not a gold rush. A Marcus Holloway (Sight dogs 2!) alternative outfit for your character is available today for 6750 virtual coins. Five of the 600 of these have been claimed.

Some of the Battle Pass’s unlockable emotes, weapon skins, and outfits (like a Santa suit) can be minted into NFTs and sold to other players; so it’s not pay-to-win, but it can be pay-to-look special.

As for Rayman, he is the announcer for the game’s deathmatches. Players can also grab a ‘legendary’ Rayman profile photo for 7,500 virtual coins and then link it to their Niji Warrior NFT (9 of these have been claimed from a supply of 425).

There’s also a free side-scrolling runner game starring Rayman that you can play Captain Laserhawk‘s website as your card is revealed.

When I first came across this whole thing Captain Laserhawk project a few months ago, I was intrigued by what Ubisoft could do.

I’m skeptical of Web 3 games, but I was hoping the company that made a Wii U zombie backpack adventure and a Star Trek VR game would have a good idea for this technology. Why else would you bother?

In the few official descriptions I had found of it Captain LaserhawkUbisoft didn’t brag about any gameplay innovation, but they did talk about players shaping the game’s story, about choices in its direction. They also promoted player management, the idea that users will shape the future of the game.

The project description on the official websiteand, buzzwords aside, it sounded kind of interesting…

The GAME is a transmedia gaming adventure where the community drives the story through innovative governance.

Players take on the role of a citizen in the dystopian world of Eden – the totalitarian successor to the US. By overcoming challenges on various channels inside and outside the game, players can increase their citizen score and increase their power to shape the story.

As the story unfolds, the entire community will have the opportunity to influence the plot and participate in key decision-making moments.

Almost none of this is evident from the early access game that is now playable. The results so far have been disappointing.

As with other Web 3 games I’ve seen, Captain LaserhawkThe game’s development seems to have focused more on the Web 3 ecosystem without necessarily finding a gameplay hook that makes people want to play out of fascination with the game itself.

I had hoped Ubisoft would do better. The company has bigger problems to solve, but so far the Web 3 research mode isn’t taking off.