3A blockchain game Illuvium to go live on Epic Games tomorrow, open to all players.

The well-known blockchain game Illuvium will be listed on Epic Game tomorrow, marking the first step of blockchain games targeting mainstream players. After two years of bear market, the industry is gradually maturing, and perhaps the days of assessing game quality by playing the game rather than just reading the whitepaper are not far away.

What is Illuvium

Illuvium Game Ecosystem

Illuvium is a blockchain 3A project established in 2020, built on the Immutable X network. The initial game concept was similar to the game mechanics of Pokémon, where players can capture various creatures within the Illuvial game through adventures and battles, enhancing their overall abilities and engaging in battles with other players.

However, after several years of product updates, the existing game mechanics have become more complex and enriched. The Illuvium game ecosystem currently consists of four major games:

• Illuvium Overworld: An open-world game
• Illuvium Arena: Auto-battler PvP game
• Illuvium Beyond: Card collection game
• Illuvium Zero: City building game

Although each game is independent, their gameplay mechanics are interconnected. For example, in the "Zero" game, players can use blueprints obtained from land development as items in the "Overworld" game. Creatures captured in the "Overworld" can enhance a player's chances of winning in PvP battles in the "Arena."

Items, land, and Illuvial creatures within the Illuvium game are mostly tradable NFTs, and the official illuviDEX exchange has been established to provide a trading channel for players.

PVE Mode

The game's economic ecosystem primarily revolves around players purchasing NFTs and converting them into PvE rewards. However, the official release of Illuvium is expected to allow all players to play for free, aiming to attract a larger market. Free players will not be able to convert rewards into crypto assets.

The official release of the Illuvium game is scheduled for the first quarter of 2024.

Illuvium Listed on Epic Games

Illuvium Beta 3 Targeting Mainstream Users

Illuvium will undergo Beta 3 public testing tomorrow, the 28th, allowing players on the Epic Games platform to join the game. The platform boasts over 60 million monthly active users.

According to a report by a foreign media outlet, Illuvium co-founder Kieran Warwick believes that listing for free on mainstream platforms is the first step towards mass adoption and could witness the substantial impact of Web3 on existing business models.

The game content on Epic Games includes "Overworld," "Arena," and "Zero." However, it is important to note that the Illuvium Beta 3 public test will not retain records, will not be linked to blockchain assets, and users do not need to prepare a wallet. All real chain data will be linked when the official version is released.

Epic Games as Crypto-Friendly Platform

Due to the unique economic nature of blockchain games, there have always been many regulatory concerns and potential risks impacting existing business models. Therefore, the traditional gaming industry mostly remains cautious or even rejects Web3, with Steam being a representative case.

However, Epic Games has been actively promoting many Web3 initiatives, including the Fortnite metaverse project and opening up to Web3 game applications, demonstrating the company's expectations for the industry and attracting Illuvium to join the platform.

Web3 Games Facing the Real Test

After the hype of projects during the bull market, most gaming project tokens have seen significant losses, making the market appear more conservative in the past year or two. However, for the surviving projects, they now appear more grounded and are still striving to improve games and achieve their goals. It is expected that we will gradually see the results of other gaming projects in the near future.

What remains is to truly face the market test. After the token frenzy has subsided, the playability of the game itself is becoming increasingly important. Perhaps it is time to actually play the game to experience it, rather than just analyzing the whitepaper.