Yes, it’s another story about blockchain in gaming, and this time the focus is on Hi-Rez studios and the SMITE IP, though this one falls on the rumor side of things. The supposition spawns from a variety of business moves that the studio has made, all of which were outlined in a convincing timeline by a Redditor, which was first spied by MMO Fallout.
In March 2020, both Netmarble and Hi-Rez entered into a partnership with Forte, a company that specializes in helping blockchain integrate in games. Following that, the studio’s career page sought to fill an economist position, which specifically asks for someone who can develop economic models for NFT trading systems and looks for someone with “a high level of knowledge of blockchain and NFTs and their application to digital products.”
The final piece of the puzzle is a trademark application for a game called Cluckers, which by all accounts is a mobile game of some sort. The game’s title seems to suggest that the chickens from Realm Royale will be a primary feature, while the game itself is being developed by a new Hi-Rez sub-studio called Pot Pie Games.
The community’s assumption is that Hi-Rez will offer up Realm Royale’s chickens as NFTs (a la the infamous ape NFTs) and allow players to trade these chickens with cryptocurrency on a blockchain. Of course, this doesn’t really answer anything about what kind of game Cluckers will end up being, or if it will be a game at all. We also repeat that this is still on the rumor side of gaming news, as there are no official announcements right now. All the same, all of these moves line up a little too well, and we could hear more about this game at the upcoming Hi-Rez Showcase.
