Battle Royale for Bitcoin – It Could Happen Soon

No, it’s not part of Fortnite Chapter 2! Instead a blockchain-based games development platform, called Satoshis Games, is building a multi-player battle game called Lightnite. In the game, players will be able to earn the cryptocurrency bitcoin (BTC) but they’ll also lose it too.

Satoshis Games is a web-based, 8-bit style, gaming platform which has been developed on part of the Bitcoin blockchain, its transaction layer, the Lightning Network. This means its games can include micro-transactions of cryptocurrency and it is, according to the company’s blog, one of the first to experiment with such a feature in the gaming industry.

Many are excited about the potential combination of blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, and gaming. Blockchain’s secure decentralized ledger will be mean that cryptocurrency exchanged within a game, can be transferred outside of the game. And, even that in-game assets like skins can be “tokenized” turning them into a type of crypto token and enabling them to be moved from one game to another. The potential is huge, especially considering the roaring billion-dollar value of many of today’s top games. Even Ubisoft is getting in on the action.

Shoot to earn but lose if you die

In Lightnite, notably similar in name to uber-popular Fortnite, players can earn bitcoin by shooting other players and lose bitcoin if they are shot. Not just that but some in-game items like those dropped by dead players will have a bitcoin value. Players can purchase in-game items with bitcoin either from their game balance or from their cryptocurrency wallets. They will be able to see their balance at all times and quit the game when they want to and withdraw their bitcoin back to their wallets. The developers say the game can also be played without earning or losing bitcoin.

The game isn’t pay to play, says Satoshis Games, adding your own bitcoin to the game only updates the game balance but it does appear that you could lose your entire balance if you die in the game without exiting.

In non-Bitcoin mode players can join the game for free and earn in-game points which don’t have a value, purchasing items from the Lightnite store using normal payment methods.

Lightnite is “still under development” and Satoshis Games is running a crowdfunding campaign to, it says, “speed up,” the games development. Once launched Lightnite will be available on blockchain game platforms like Steam and Satoshis Games own platform, Elixir.

According to the visuals available so far, the game experience will be very different to Fortnite’s clean graphics, but the 8-bit style could attract those looking for a nostalgic game. Lightnite certainly could be attractive to blockchain fans and cryptocurrency users. It might even persuade some players away from Fortnite that are willing to gamble cryptocurrency on their gameplay. But then, who’d really want to leave Fortnite’s new Mythic Goldfish.