Dead or Alive producer replaces cheesecake with NFTs in new game

by James · July 12, 2022

Ninja Gaiden producer Tomonobu Itagaki has announced a brand new development studio and game project, and that’s bad news if you’re not a fan of Web3 nonsense. Warrior is a game to make money with (you guessed it) its own NFTs and token system, and it will arrive in beta in Q1 next year.

So Ninja Gaiden producer Tomonobu Itagaki is an NFT brother now?

It probably seems that way. Despite protests from people like Chroma Squad developer Mark Venturelli and the digital distribution platform Itch.io, some gamers from the gaming industry are apparently still thinking of Web3 as the future of gaming, and it now looks like Tomonobu Itagaki is one of those people. Earlier today, Itagaki let out a tweet announcement of its new gaming venture Apex Game Studios, as well as the studio’s first project, Warriora game to make money full of the usual Web3 junk: NFTs, earning tokens and everything that goes with these systems.

Some of the NFT servers available in Tomonobu Itagaki's new game Warrior — Natural, *Ninja Gaiden* Producer Tomonobu Itagaki’s new game will have characters like NFTs.

Warrior is about Mob Servants, NFT characters that can be used in battle and upgraded with new skills. In addition to these servants, all other assets in Warrior can be traded with the game’s WDT tokens. Itagaki also provides a roadmap for this highly anticipated (cough) project; his team is planning an NFT pre-sale in Q4 this year, followed by a beta launch of Warrior in 2023. In the fourth quarter of that year, Itagaki also unveiled a buzzword-filled promise to “implement a multi-chain framework to increase the impact and activity liquidity” of the game. Do not worry; you are not alone if your eyes were glad to read it. Itagaki also says that he wants to “solve the performance and security issues of GameFi 1.0 and achieve GameFi 2.0”, which sounds extremely exciting and fun, right?

NFTs and Web3 in play: at best a controversial story

The gaming industry has what can best be described as a controversial story with Web3 and NFT (read: no one likes them or wants them in games, but companies continue to push them because they are a speculative financial bubble). Mobile games like Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds and NFL rivals is built around blockchain games and NFTs, and industrial fixtures such as Keiji Inafune also make their own NFT collections. This is despite the fact that NFTs almost always give a huge negative reaction from the gaming audience, which leads to companies like Team17 and Chaosium feverishly going back to the plans to make NFT series.

Worms WMD, a game created by one time NFT seller Team17 — Team17, best known for anarchic multiplayer strategy game *Worms*is just one of several gaming companies that back pedals furious at NFTs after a negative reaction from society.

Obviously Tomonobu Itagaki’s NFT game Warrior may be the biggest thing that has happened to the gaming industry and may on its own convince skeptics that Web3 is a valuable bet when it comes to gaming. Somehow, but judging by the confused narrative introduction on the game’s website and the complete lack of information on how Apex plans to deal with the monstrous ecological effects of NFTs, I doubt it. Time will tell, I guess. In the meantime, stay tuned to TechRaptor for more information on this project.