An NFT-based cockfight that has been in development for a year has been unceremoniously canned (thanks, Kotaku (opens in a new tab)). Or in the words of developers Irreverent Labs, went into “indefinite hibernation”. The game would have starred “mechabots”: robotic chickens that were sold as NFTs to confirm each chicken’s uniqueness. It was intended as a so-called “play-to-earn” game where players would level the chickens and theoretically sell them on at a higher price. I’m not making this up.
This hype video shows (opens in a new tab) the production values weren’t too bad, but as soon as the matches start it’s pretty clear that this wouldn’t be a good game. But then the game’s cancellation is probably the least bizarre thing about this whole story. The studio behind the game has one of the most annoying websites I have ever used (opens in a new tab) and has pivoted away from NFTs to a new area of focus: AI. It may seem like exchanging one sorrow for another, but it is all the more astounding in light of that fact it raised $40 million in private funding to create MechaFightClub (opens in a new tab)disclosed in an SEC filing.
At least some of the cash still remains. The only thing that’s best for fans of MechaFightClub (assuming there are any) is that Irreverent Labs announced the cancellation along with a buyback program called, and again, I’m not making this up, Sol 4 Cocks.
It’s Sol 4 Cocks time: we’re buying back the Mechabots and putting the MFC to hibernation indefinitely. This was a tough decision. For more information, visit our official announcement here: pic.twitter.com/6YnO4g50T411 May 2023
Sol refers to the popular cryptocurrency Solana, which is currently trading at around $21 per unit. So the buyback offer values each robot chicken at $378. Look, I just work here.
Irreverent Lab’s official statement about what happened is equal parts misleading and delusional (opens in a new tab). It also says absolutely everything about this corner of the industry that the first two pages (out of four) are dedicated to the risk of fraud surrounding Sol 4 Cocks, before continuing to moan about the pesky regulators and how they made the NFT cockfighting dream impossible.
“The theme, culture, art, history and underlying goals of MFC remain with us, but we cannot continue to develop it as a blockchain game,” says Irreverent Labs. “Unfortunately, the regulatory and operating environment surrounding blockchain in the United States has changed drastically over the past two years.
“We are an American company, and lack of clarity makes it difficult for blockchain companies to operate here. In the current regulatory confusion, we simply could not create an in-game economy without worrying about the regulatory consequences. We have no way of knowing where how long this will continue, or when it will get better. We simply cannot ask you to wait any longer.”
It’s not that the bottom is falling out of the crypto market or that people have completely lost the trust they ever had in NFTs, then. It’s the government! It makes you wonder where that $40 million came from, and how much more money is sloshing around in crazy projects like this: Probably more than one would like to imagine. In this case, at least it didn’t end up in a total rye-pull.
