It turns out that the Eternal Dragons were not so eternal after all! After nearly a year and a half since delivering their first alpha, the Eternal Dragons team announces that they are shutting down the game.
Once again, amidst the generally positive news in the web3 gaming community, we have an unfortunate story to report. This one involves Eternal Dragons, who are shutting down their game entirely! Development on Eternal Dragons has already ceased. Closure of the servers, website, and Discord will follow in the coming weeks.
After soaring high last year, lack of players and ongoing funding has brought another game to a sudden halt. Despite being a pioneer in the idea of using NFTs as a support / profit-sharing mechanism for pro players, Eternal Dragons was unable to attract the audience they needed in order to maintain development.
But for those with Eternal Dragons NFTs, there is a glimmer of good news. The Eternal Dragons team says that they will buyback Genesis Dragons and Eggs from players. This will only affect NFTs from the Genesis collection, and new egg hatching has already been shut down. The team is offering $30 USDC for each Egg, and from $12 to $120 USDC for Dragons, based on rarity. And while this may not satisfy those who paid premium prices a year ago, it’s still better than nothing, which is what most item owners receive when a game shuts down.
Details on how and when you can exchange these NFTs is still not known. Keep an eye on the Eternal Dragons Twitter account for updates.
You can read the official announcement at https://eternaldragons.medium.com/eternal-dragons-final-chapter-83207c247820
Final Thoughts
Though sometimes it seems like it, not everyone can win. And unfortunately, Eternal Dragons is one of the losers. While personally, their game didn’t really offer much excitement, the concept behind their Player Cards is interesting, and potentially sets the path for future NFTs with similar ideas.
These Player Cards acted as a sort of investment into a particular professional player, allowing Card holders to claim a percentage of that player’s winnings from tournaments and other competitions. This is a great way to provide a funding avenue for pro players, while allowing fans to feel like they are part of the whole experience rather than just passive bystanders.
But, Eternal Dragons didn’t seem to bring this creativity into their game or how they utilized other NFTs, leading to a decreasing playerbase and lack of interest from outsiders.
What was Eternal Dragons?
Eternal Dragons was a web3-enabled, auto-battler game featuring teams of dragons battling across a grid map. Eternal Dragons first launched their alpha version in December of 2022, and featured NFTs on the Solana blockchain.