Magic: The Gathering' Executive Leaves For Blockchain-Based 'Gods Unchained'

A former Magic: The Gathering executive has just gone public with his next move: to transition to Gods Unchained, a highly anticipated Hearthstone competitor based on the blockchain. Chris Clay had been a top executive at Wizards of the Coast since 2016 until he resigned on June 2 of this year due to personal reasons. Now we know what those reasons were: he’s joining Immutable (formerly Fuel Games) to be the new game director for Gods Unchained, a cryptocurrency-based collectible card game.

“I believe blockchain represents a new frontier for game developers,” said Clay in a statement. “Digital asset ownership on the blockchain lets developers support games and their communities in ways we’ve never seen before in electronic gaming.” Before his departure from Wizards of the Coast, Clay had been the game director for Magic: The Gathering Arena, the most recent digital version of the 1993 collectible card game. At the time of Clay’s departure, Arena had 3 million users and made up the second-largest source for Magic growth, and parent company Hasbro’s overall earnings, for Q2 2019. This is despite the fact that the game has not launched yet, and won’t for at least four more months. With this move, Clay is going from one yet-to-launch digital game to another, and this isn’t the only thing the two games have in common. Writing for MIT Technology Review, Mike Orcutt likened Gods Unchained to Magic: The Gathering Arena because of the way both games encourage players to collect digital cards and assemble their own personal decks. However, by harnessing the blockchain, Gods Unchained greatly alters the way that card ownership will occur by assigning each card its own cryptography-based ID, making each specific card unique.

Players can then store Gods Unchained cards in their digital wallets, where Immutable will have no ability to alter or influence how players choose to use, sell, or trade them. This unique ownership model has helped the game raise $2.4 million in funds from several cryptocurrency startups while selling 4 million cards and generating about $4 million in revenue—all in beta.

“A blockchain card doesn’t just sit in a database, it has the ability to travel the world and know where it’s been,” Clay said in a statement. “Esports pros, streamers, and artists alike can digitally sign and sell digital items to fans. Blockchain isn’t just for digital currency; it is laying the foundation for a whole new digital economy.”

While the game is based on the Ethereum (ETH) digital token, Immutable announced coincident with Clay’s move that the game will now allow purchases through players’ debit cards.