Remember back when Star Trek Online announced that it was ending its six-year partnership with GamePrint, bringing to an end the service that allowed players to pay money for a 3-D printed customized model of their ships? That partnership ended on Halloween, following Cryptic’s explanation that “the business case for this program no longer makes sense.” But it seems that it is just the custom print jobs that are over, as we’re well into December now and GamePrint is still selling Star Trek Online ship prints. In fact, some of them now include NFTs.
For example, the Star Trek Online U.S.S. ENTERPRISE (E) NCC-1701-E model being sold by GamePrint for $99.99 has a 200-print limited run and includes the physical printed model as well as “an AV tag and NFC chip” for the company’s blockchain app. “The 3D-printed Smart Collectible Ship offers a unique bond of digital and physical collectibles, seamlessly merging the two worlds,” GamePrint says. “Each Ship has a unique edition number and includes a base and stand equipped with an AV tag and NFC chip for authentication, which can be scanned using the IRL Smart Collectible App. […] Authenticate your ship on the blockchain and engage in digital interactions through the IRL Smart Collectible App.”
The game’s Reddit was already rather annoyed about the loss of custom ships (just search the sub for GamePrint and you’ll see how many people made use of this service in the past to get a model of their ships) as well as at the fact that some ships have taken the better part of a year to arrive. But now it’s even more annoyed at GamePrint advertising NFTs. Redditors have pointed out that GamePrint was involved in a merger a few years ago, which presumably led to this business pivot; Cryptic’s CM was initially surprised to find out about the NFT when players asked about it, so he made inquiries and learned Cryptic was indeed “aware of it.” But it’s also not been promoting the ships, and some players now suspect this pivot was precisely why the studio cut custom offerings.
Cryptic hasn’t had the best 2023, of course, in spite of its top two MMORPGs performing admirably; readers will surely remember that its parent company, Embracer, lit itself on fire after a botched business deal and has been engaged in mass layoffs and studio closures ever since. We know that Embracer was considering selling Gearbox and therefore Cryptic, and then the MMORPG studio was hit by layoffs, after which it claimed its core MMOs were “not affected by these recent changes” and then admitted Cryptic had been transferred from Gearbox to the Berlin-based DECA Games, whose focus is “acquiring and operating older free-to-play games as a service” and whose most notable MMORPG is the rather tiny Realm of the Mad God.
DECA, however, has a whole slate of open hiring calls, including for remote workers on the Cryptic titles. For example, one call for a remote position seeks a senior software engineer to “develop free-to-play massively multiplayer role-playing games on PC and console, including Champions Online, Star Trek Online, and Neverwinter.” The hiring ad says DECA is a “remote company with over 300 people in over 30 countries globally.”
**Incoming Transmission to all Starfleet Personnel** 🖖
We are thrilled to announce that the iconic universe of Star Trek has engaged warp speed and is now the newest IP to join Smart Collectibles!
Start building your fleet 👇https://t.co/lBMQ7cAhWa pic.twitter.com/NyQWkdQiNk
— IRL Smart Collectibles (@IRLSmartCollect) December 5, 2023
