There's another NFT game coming, but this one's different. Where Steam banned NFT games for being "super sketchy," Epic Games has partnered with Gala Games to bring Grit to the Epic Games Store.Grit will be a third-person battle royale shooter set in the Wild West. It basically looks like Fortnite, but your characters will be limited to cowboys and girls rather than pop culture icons and music stars. Like Fortnite, you'll drop onto a map in solos, duos, or squads where you'll shoot everyone else until you take home that chicken dinner. Unlike Fortnite, however, your avatar is an NFT. Gala Games confirmed that it's selling 10,000 Grit Avatars in what it calls "The Gunslinger Box." Each avatar will have its own unique attributes and perks for use in game and players pay for ownership of each avatar in the form of an NFT. There's also NFTs for skins and cosmetic items, such as horses that characters can ride into battle.
At Grit's announcement during Gala Games' Galaverse event (which included a live bar fight), attendees were given the opportunity to purchase a Gunslinger Box for the low price of $600. That might sound expensive, but compared to what Founders Node License Holders will be paying tomorrow ($1,200), it's practically a steal. Grit's public sale of Gunslinger Boxes starts on June 9 with each one going for "50% of the floor price on secondary markets," but the lowest that price will go is $1,500.
Galaverse attendees were also given an exclusive cosmetic just for showing up. The "Galaxia" horse is an epic skin with only "500 in existence," according to one Twitter user. However, another Twitter user pointed out that the same horse is available in unlimited quantities as an asset in Unreal Engine for just $30.
Things get even sketchier for Grit when you read the terms of service, which flat-out tells you that Gala Games can't ensure that your $1,500 cowpoke won't become entirely worthless before Grit even becomes available to play.
NFTs and cryptocurrencies have suffered quite a bit in recent months, with NFT sales down 92% as of May 2 and one stablecoin losing 99% of its value. NFT games have generally failed to secure an audience even remotely approaching the same as more mainstream games, although none have yet to release on a platform with as many users as the Epic Games Store.