After 14 years, Enjin drops guild site building tools in favor of blockchain and NFT tech

March 13, 2023 12:30 PM

It has been a very long time since the name of Enjin crossed our minds. Long-time MMORPG gamers will recognize it as a service that helped guilds form their own websites and forums. The march of time has apparently seen Enjin’s original intent leave it far behind, which has prompted VP of engineering Brad Bayliss to announce in January the end of the Enjin website builder – and a wholesale shift of business direction toward creating a tech stack for NFTs instead.

According to Bayliss, the technology to create a website has significantly improved, but back when Enjin first launched it was not so easy, and updating the Enjin site builder’s code would be “impossible” and disruptive to those who already have an established Enjin site. Combined with the company’s first forays into blockchain with the creation of Enjin Coin in 2017, sealed the service’s fate.

“This marks the end of an important chapter in Enjin’s history, one that will be eternally cherished by all of us here,” Bayliss writes. “The Enjin Team will still be here – our guild is still growing, but our raid boss is different.”

That “raid boss” is now a full face-first dive into the blockchain and NFT dumpster, including the aforementioned NFT tech stack, a wallet service, a marketplace, and its own blockchain platform.

As for existing Enjin sites, those will remain online until April 30th, after which point all Enjin sites will go dark. Those who have Enjin hosted sites will get the benefits of the Ultimate Plan for free until then. Incidentally, our tipster notes that those who have made an Enjin site are getting a QR code for a unique Enjin Website Builder Service Medal NFT via email, which can be redeemed until September 1st.

Considering the variety of other alternatives for guilds to coordinate and build a site, and considering how web3 is going, we suspect most MMO players will continue to ignore Enjin’s existence.