decrypt.co
Ethereum hero shooter The Machines Arena (TMA) will enter open beta next week after spending a year in closed beta. Alongside this, Directive Games has announced that the game—which runs on Ethereum sidechain network Ronin—will also be available to play on Android mobile devices.
The open beta will be available to download via the Epic Games Store, or through the TMA website for Android starting Tuesday, April 23. After this launch, the game will also be playable through Mavis Hub—the launcher of the Ronin gaming network on Ethereum—on both PC and Android.
“After months of hard work, fine-tuning, and incorporating valuable feedback from our dedicated community, we are finally ready to extend the beta to the public on more platforms and devices than ever before,” reads the announcement.
On top of gameplay tweaks, Directive Games has added a new “gameplay and collection feature” called familiars. These will be collectible companions that will aid you in battle. How exactly they work remains unclear at present, but more details are promised next week.
Up until this point, TMA hasn’t overly engaged in the Web3 side of its game. Last July, the team announced that earned skins could eventually be minted into NFTs. Then, two months ago, it allowed closed beta participants to finally mint them on the Ronin network.
Now entering open beta, TMA is taking another step into the crypto world by announcing a play-to-airdrop campaign that will be added later during the open beta stage. Depending on individual and team-based leaderboard rankings, gamers will be airdropped something—what, exactly, has yet to be confirmed, but the team has previously hinted at a potential token drop on social media.
Fortunately, it sounds like there will be lots of reasons for people to keep loading up the game as TMA promises a series of community events, competitions, and new content being added throughout the open beta’s life cycle. The announcement claims this will include new maps, skins, mintable collectibles, and more.
And if you’ve been playing the closed beta, then you have until the end of the day on April 22 to claim your rewards—otherwise they’ll disappear forever.
Edited by Andrew Hayward