In summary
- Space Nation launched a light version of its MMORPG Space Nation Online, built on Blockchain, with the goal of becoming the next Star Wars.
- The game will spend 12 weeks in a soft release phase to stabilize the game’s economy before a global release.
- Space Nation Online seeks to improve the classic MMORPG World of Warcraft by implementing a web3-powered economy, offering rewards for monotonous tasks and allowing players to purchase resources.
Space Nation, a budding transmedia franchise, has launched a light version of its massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Space Nation Online as it aims to become the next Star Wars. The developers believe that the newly released game, built on blockchain, will be the center of their growing sci-fi IP.
Space Nation Online will spend 12 weeks in this early release phase as the team limits player access and stabilizes the game’s economy. Once this is complete, the game, built on the zkEVM Immutable Ethereum scaling network, will prepare for a global release that will attempt to appeal to a broader Web2 audience.
The MMO will serve as the flagship experience in the broader Space Nation franchise, which has a series of animated shorts, spin-off games, and a television series in the works. While the sci-fi IP aims to become the next Star Wars, the game looks to improve on the classic MMORPG World of Warcraft by implementing a web3-powered economy.
Space Nation Online has you fighting for galactic domination. Image: Space Nation
Space Nation co-founder and CEO Jerome Wu previously worked as a senior project manager at Blizzard Entertainment in charge of World of Warcraft operations in China. From this, he believes he has identified what makes games of this genre work and where to improve them.
During his time at Blizzard, he noticed players complaining that World of Warcraft felt like work as they performed monotonous tasks for hours to rank up. Space Nation Online’s economy aims to improve this by making these tasks have a high return on investment, while the more fun and engaging tasks have much lower returns.
This means that players can choose to play the game like any other MMORPG, albeit with more rewards for monotonous resource gathering, or simply purchase these resources from other players to focus on the more fun parts of the game.
“[Some people]just want to be the leader of the guild, lead their team to success and try to become the conqueror of the galaxy. Those people just play for fun,” Wu told Decrypt. “But there are a lot of people who want to participate in play-to-earn games.”
For example, miners can spend hours collecting minerals that they can sell to other people who need them to create weapons and ships. In exchange, the miner will receive the CHR in-game currency that can be exchanged for fiat money at any time, meaning that users can participate in the game to win without directly interacting with Web3 technology.
“MMORPGs are a virtual society. There are different types of players, different types of people,” Wu explained. “There is a division of labor, and the players will be free to choose which positions they want to be in.”
The team aims to create a virtual economy worth billions of dollars, similar to World of Warcraft and Fantasy Westward Journey, a Chinese MMORPG that helped inspire Space Nation Online’s economic model. But Wu believes its crypto elements will make it more efficient.
“There will be a Web3 MMORPG game that will achieve a virtual economy at this level or even larger,” Wu told Decrypt. “I think this is very important for the human society of the future and for the video game industry of the future. Because the metaverse will come eventually, and (building) a virtual economy within a real virtual society will be super special.”
All of this will build up to an intergalactic battle within the evolving universe of Space Nation. Guilds organized by players will compete to occupy planets in the quest to become the dominant force in the galaxy. Wu explained that previous guild battles during the game’s closed betas have already seen 200 ships fighting each other, but he expects these battles to become even more epic in the new release.
Battle for your guild. Image: Space Nation.
Set in the Telikos Cluster, a distant galaxy, Space Nation tells the story of humanity taking refuge after the solar system is destroyed by aliens. The MMORPG continues from here as players face off against each other, enemy factions, and numerous aliens as they attempt to colonize the galaxy in the hopes of restarting civilization.
While the team is “fully focused” on the MMORPG, the other experiences are on hold. But several animated shorts have been released already—starring Zoey, one of Decrypt’s favorite characters in our previous tests—and a script for a prequel TV series is in the works by Roland Emmerich, known for directing the “Stargate” movies. “2012” and “Independence Day.” This is the beginning of the mission to make Space Nation a household name.
“When the United States and the Soviet Union started (the Space Race during) the Cold War, many sci-fi IPs appeared,” Wu said. “Now, with Elon (SpaceX’s Musk) and Blue Origin, with all these rockets and satellites, unfortunately there hasn’t been a new (sci-fi grand opera) IP. So I think this is a great opportunity for us.”
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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