New crypto Battle Royale dethrones Fortnite on Epic Games Store

Gunzilla's latest extraction battle royale, Off The Grid, has officially dethroned Fortnite on the Epic Games Store. While the new game has already garnered massive popularity, it has also been criticized for its blockchain mechanism. It might not seem so at first glance, but Off The Grid actually hides behind a paywall that includes cryptocurrency. However, regardless, the game has dethroned Fortnite as the number one free-to-play title on the Epic Games Store.

Read on to learn more about Off the Grid and whether this is the start of a new era that may change Web3 gaming forever.

Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and speculative.

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Off the Grid beating Fortnite on the Epic Games Store might be the start of the crypto gaming era

Web3 gaming was introduced to give players true ownership of all the in-game assets. However, it has always been criticized due to its pay-to-win mechanism, where the game hides behind a paywall and the players have to spend real-life currency to climb up the ladder. Although games like CS2/CS:GO have their own marketplace on Steam, all the assets that players can own are mostly cosmetics and don't affect gameplay.

Off The Grid is a Blockchain/NFT game (Image via Epic Games Store)

With Off the Grid now being the number one free-to-play game on the Epic Store, it has also become the biggest game that has a blockchain/NFT feature. The game is in early access, so the current blockchain method might not be very effective at the moment as it prioritizes gameplay over token distribution. However, Gunzilla plans to integrate NFT in a more effective way in the near future. While they have revealed that this entire feature is to ensure safe trading for in-game assets, some things are worrisome.

Read our detailed explanation of how the blockchain mechanism works in Off The Grid to understand the current scenario.

With the game garnering a massive amount of players, a new genre of gaming might be on the rise. Web3 gaming has always catered to a niche audience, and it didn't have a large amount of players hooked on it. Off the Grid is probably the first game that features NFT and still has a large audience. Only time will tell whether this is going to be the future of gaming or not. Regardless, there is no denying that this Gunzilla title is the first stepping stone of something big in the gaming world after a long time.

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Read our other Off The Grid news and guides:

• Best controller settings for Off The Grid
• How to increase FPS in Off The Grid
• Off The Grid vs Warzone: 5 major differences that you should know