This Week in Crypto Video games: Planetside Dev's 'Reaper Precise', What's Subsequent for 'MapleStory Universe' – Decrypt

It is robust to maintain tabs on the ever-changing crypto gaming house, because of the fixed move of stories: all the things from massive recreation launches and enjoyable degen experiments to token worth swings and occasional undertaking collapses. It is lots to comply with.

Fortunately, we’re plugged in at Decrypt‘s GG. We cowl the most important happenings all through the week, after which this weekly roundup gives a fast approach to catch up, in addition to discover a bunch of different little bits of stories from all through the week.

High tales

Reaper Precise revealed: Recreation trade veteran John Smedley has launched Distinct Risk Studios with a brand new blockchain-integrated first-person shooter referred to as Reaper Precise. The PC-based open-world multiplayer recreation options what Smedley mentioned is the biggest FPS map ever created—4 instances bigger than Name of Responsibility: Warzone’s Al Mazrah.

Set on the war-torn island of Marova, gamers change into “Reapers” who improve and defend bases whereas navigating conflicts between 5 AI-controlled factions. The sport combines parts from Name of Responsibility: DMZ, Escape from Tarkov, and Rainbow Six Siege, Smedley informed Decrypt.

Following a $30.5 million funding spherical, the pre-alpha Basis model is about to launch quickly, requiring gamers to buy a limited-edition base—both as an NFT on Tezos layer-2 community Etherlink, or by way of supporting Web2 platforms. The complete launch arrives early subsequent yr with an analogous entry scheme, earlier than going free-to-play roughly six months later. Gadgets might be tradable on each Web3 and Web2 marketplaces.

“That is the kind of recreation that may convey hundreds of thousands and hundreds of thousands of individuals in, if the historical past of the video games I’ve labored on are any proof,” mentioned Smedley. “We’re going to have the ability to promote Web2 gamers on this concept of Web3 achieved proper.”

MapleStory strikes forward: MapleStory Universe is the crypto-powered evolution of the beloved 20-year-old MMORPG franchise. The ecosystem facilities round MapleStory N, a PC-based recreation that recreates the unique side-scrolling expertise for its 260 million-strong participant base, with in-game gadgets as NFTs on the Avalanche-based Henesys L1 community.

Developer Nexpace plans to launch over a dozen cell and internet experiences by Q1 2026 to enhance the core recreation, Nexpace Head of Technique Keith Kim informed Decrypt. These lighter purposes will enable gamers to grind, degree up, and improve gadgets throughout commutes or breaks, addressing the fact that the unique fanbase has grown up and has much less time for intensive PC gaming.

The imaginative and prescient mirrors EA FC’s Final Workforce mannequin, the place cell apps assist console gameplay. An online app for merchandise enhancement launches in late July/August, adopted by a personality rental system by Q1 2026. Kim mentioned that third-party builders will assist construct a few of these experiences utilizing API keys, with the sport ultimately transitioning to a permissionless system with NXPC token rewards.

ICYMI

• Ubisoft added AI brokers to its Arbitrum-based blockchain recreation Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E., in a team-up with developer LibertAI. Tied to NFTs, the brokers can vote on behalf of gamers within the recreation’s governance issues.

• Main esports workforce Ninjas in Pyjamas has established a Bitcoin mining unit, and expects to mine upwards of $6.5 million price of BTC month-to-month primarily based on its whole hashrate.
• Bitcoin layer-2 community Botanix launched its mainnet final week, together with an academic recreation referred to as Bitcoin 2100 that pays out actual BTC rewards to gamers.
• Token Yugijo, a coin-flipping betting recreation, launched on Ethereum layer-2 community Optimism. Bella Protocol’s recreation options an AI companion.

• Scor on Candy, a Telegram gaming app, has launched Flappy Racquet—a Flappy Fowl-inspired tennis recreation that includes real-world tennis stars like Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios. The SCOR token airdrop is on the horizon.
• Ronin recreation Realms of Alurya has shut down for good, simply weeks after builders mentioned they’d misplaced funding and had been on the lookout for methods to maintain constructing.
• Meme coin undertaking Floki launched its long-awaited Valhalla metaverse recreation final week.

• The upcoming Steam launch of Off the Grid will start on the GUNZ testnet, providing an analogous degree of behind-the-scenes blockchain integration because the Xbox and PlayStation variations. Steam has limitations on crypto and NFTs, nevertheless, so Gunzilla says it should “work with Valve to satisfy platform pointers.”
• Infinite Clouds launched its END token airdrop tied to Treeverse, with token claims opening up Friday.
• The Xai gaming community handed out about $1.25 million price of XAI tokens to NFT holders.
• The Echelon Basis burned 11 million PRIME (about $26 million price) to try to “right-size the PRIME ecosystem” PRIME is the token behind card recreation Parallel.

Weekend reads