Immortal Game Withdraws from Crypto and NFT Ventures Amid Cheating Concerns

Updated: 13 December 2023

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In an effort to combat rampant cheating and enhance the gaming experience, the online chess platform Immortal Game has announced the discontinuation of all its crypto-related features, including NFTs and the play-to-earn crypto model. The announcement, made in a Discord post last week and echoed on the game’s website, marks a significant shift for the platform. The Immortal Game team, including a developer known as “Luxo,” cited the negative impact of these elements on the platform’s integrity and user experience.

The platform, previously integrated with the Ethereum scaling network Immutable X, will cease accepting its Checkmate token (CMT), dismantle its NFT marketplace, and erase all crypto references from its website. Furthermore, crypto rewards for tournament victors are being discontinued, with these changes already in effect since Monday.

About Immortal Game

The Immortal Game is a reference to a chess game played in 1851 by Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky. It was played while the London 1851 chess tournament was in progress, an event in which both players participated. It is considered to be among the most famous chess games ever played and is frequently reproduced in chess literature to teach simple themes of gameplay.

The game “Immortal Game” was created by the team at Immutable and was said to “make asset ownership and commerce in digital worlds real, through the power of immutable NFTs.” Before these changes were announced, the game’s site stated that:

Immortal is a play-and-earn game — a key distinction. Anyone can play Immortal Game for free with starter pieces (referred to as Ageless Pieces) and rank on an Ageless-specific leaderboard to earn $CMT, Immortal’s utility token, as weekly rewards But only those who own Immortals can buy and sell pieces via auction while earning ETH, NFTs and more from the Immortal-specific leaderboard reward pool.

Stepping Back from its Crypto Ventures

Despite securing $12 million in funding last year from blockchain entities such as TCG Crypto and Kraken Ventures, and a total of $15.5 million overall, Immortal Game is stepping back from its crypto ventures. This decision comes amid a significant decline in CMT’s value, which has plummeted over 73% this year, particularly in the recent quarter, as per CryptoRank data. Though Immortal chess piece NFTs remain usable in the game, their functionality is now limited to the “Immortal mode.”

The Immortal representative elaborated on the original intention behind incorporating crypto features, which was to reward the community. However, it led to widespread cheating for financial gains, adversely affecting the genuine players seeking a fair online chess experience. He stated that:

We found that by offering large amounts of cash with no limit barrier to entry, we encouraged heavy cheating on the platform and degraded the user experience for our legitimate player base who want a fair and safe place to play chess online.

Now, players interested in managing or trading their Immortal Game NFTs must visit Immutable’s marketplace and website. Those holding assets in custodial wallets are required to transfer them to a self-custodied crypto wallet.

Cheaters, Exploiters and “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things”

Luxo added that

The unintended consequence of offering money to players has increased the unfair practices, and we have decided that we cannot stand by and let this cheating happen any longer. While we’ll still explore Web3 and decentralized technologies, particularly for anti-cheat measures and community engagement, our primary drive is to advance our chess platform, ensuring a fair and enjoyable environment for all players.

Financial incentives in competitive gaming have long been known to exacerbate cheating, with players often resorting to exploits for monetary gain. Immortal Game’s retreat from crypto aligns with a broader trend observed in the industry.

As we have previously reported, the DAO Game7 notes that 157 blockchain games halt development in 2022 and an additional 50 in 2023. Many games in the industry have either ceased development or have been put on hold by their creators. Additionally, there has been a trend of these games switching to different blockchain networks.

Other Web3 games, initially highlighting their NFT features, have scaled back, offering versions without crypto to comply with Steam store regulations. An example is Neopets and the fantasy MMORPG Gran Saga: Unlimited, which have also ceased their NFT-driven gaming ventures, moving away from crypto after initial funding from crypto investors.