Ni no Kuni to continue its long series with a new blockchain game

Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds, the first blockchain game developed and co-produced by Studio Ghibli, was recently released to the global gaming community. 

Ni no Kuni is a role-playing game series developed by experienced Japanese game developer, Level-5, who have made games from the Professor Layton and the Yo-Kai Watch franchise, to name a few. It is also the first game series that was co-produced with Studio Ghibli.

The first game, Ni no Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn was originally released as an exclusive for the Japanese market for the Nintendo DS on December 9, 2010. An enhanced version was released in November 2011, titled Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch for the Playstation 3 console; Wrath of the White Witch was released nearly 2 years later in North America and other regions. Later, on March 23, 2018, the sequel to Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch was simultaneously released worldwide for PlayStation 4 and PC platforms, titled Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom.

Created using Unreal Engine 4, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds is the first blockchain game in the sequel of Ni no Kuni. The game introduces new players and longtime fans to a fantastical world with vibrant characters and beautiful sights. What makes Cross Worlds different from its predecessors is its inclusion in a “blockchain ecosystem”. Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds is a free-to-play, auto battler mobile MMORPG and has features that connect players to Netmarble’s blockchain ecosystem, MBX (also called MARBLEX) and MBX Wallet.

The entire RPG takes place in a virtual reality fantasy game dubbed “Soul Divers”. Set in the world of Ni no Kuni, players assume the role of beta testers in “Soul Divers” and are greeted by a mysterious AI character named Rania. Waking up in a burning city with a mission to save the world, players will fight against various monsters, complete a variety of quests and optionally fight against other players among many other tasks to earn in-game resources, Territe (resource from PvE related content) and Asterite (resource from PvP related content). Then, they can exchange both of these resources into crypto tokens $NKT and $NKA respectively once players have linked their Cross Worlds account to their MBX Wallet.

Even if you’re not a fan of video games, spending time in Ni no Kuni can be an enjoyable experience. The world of Ni no Kuni is where the acclaimed Studio Ghibli presents stunning animation, beautiful visuals and serene music by legendary Joe Hisaishi (Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle) to all travelers in “Soul Divers”.

The game is currently in Public Beta. Any prospective players can access and download Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds on either PC or mobile devices. During the opening first 2 weeks of launch, the game has achieved more than 1M downloads and was globally the second highest-grossing game in that period, which speaks a lot about its popularity. To check out the trailer of the game, please click here.

Ni no Kuni is one of the many Web2 games that made its way into Web3. With all the recent happenings, things seem to be moving in the right direction. The role-playing video games series is following a phenomenon trend of bringing the game to the chain of blocks or blockchain-ize, which is gradually become the norm in the gaming industry in the recent 2 years. 

Inspired by the parabolic growth of Axie Infinity blockchain NFT game in 2021, which turned the 2018-born project to be the leading crypto application generating 8-digit in USD revenue every month, there’re now more and more games adopting blockchain-based & play-to-earn model as a part of their go-to-market strategy.

The ease in raising funds and growing initial user-based is the #1 why games want to set foot in blockchain. Before No ni Kuni, Ubisoft’s Rabbids announced their appearance in blockchain game. New fresh sources of capital are also poured in the field. For example, Framework Ventures, at the end of 2021, led the $5M investing round in Dynasty Studios with the purpose of taking traditional games into blockchain.