The upcoming economic simulation Legacy fully relies on the use of NFTs and cryptocurrencies. You should even be able to earn money while playing. The concept has already attracted numerous players – enough to generate over 48 million euros before release.
What kind of game is this? In Legacy, you build your own factory along with the necessary infrastructure and design your own products. You compete with other players using these products. By playing, you can hire NPC workers and automate your production.
Roughly, it sounds like the popular construction game Factorio with a strong focus on multiplayer. It is being created by game guru Peter Molyneux, who has previously been responsible for Black & White and Fable.
With your products, you should be able to earn real money in the form of cryptocurrency, the LegacyCoin. This runs on Ethereum’s blockchain, an already established currency. However, you must first purchase a piece of land through so-called NFTs.
Where does all the money come from? Land ownership in Legacy is managed through its own shop by publisher Gala Games. There, various “ownership certificates” are available for purchase in different sizes.
Payment is made in cryptocurrency – such as the native coin GALA, BAT, or Ethereum. The current availability as of December 16 looks as follows*:
- Startup for 0.802 ETH or 2,902.19 euros (2,000/2,000 sold)
- Enterprise for 1.685 ETH or 6,097.50 euros (1,403/1,500 sold)
- Firm for 4.584 ETH or 16,588.11 euros (824/850 sold)
- Corporation for 15.28 ETH or 55,293.69 euros (234/250 sold)
- Conglomerate for 30.56 ETH or 11,0587.37 euros (60/60 sold)
- Heart of London for 220.607 ETH or 798,309.84 euros (1/1 sold)
Yes, the most expensive item costs almost 800,000 euros and is already sold. Overall, Legacy totals 13,374.998 ETH or approximately 48,400,062.34 euros from all sales. And that’s before the game is even released, as the release is scheduled for 2022.
*The exact prices fluctuate with the price of Ethereum. We checked them at the time of writing at 19:12 on December 16
A city in Legacy 
A factory with workers 
A city from above 
The available “certificates” in the shop
Properties belong to players, not the game
What are NFTs? The idea behind NFTs, or “Non-Fungible Tokens,” is that you actually own the items you acquire. Each NFT is unique due to a code and exists only once in the world.
By purchasing, you acquire ownership rights, unlike in most games. When you receive an item there, it still belongs to the publisher. You are only “borrowing” it. We explain in our special how NFTs work:
Some larger companies have already jumped on the bandwagon. For example, NFTs in Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon sparked controversy.
The name Molyneux also makes many gamers skeptical. Although he is considered a genius who invented the “God Game” genre, he has recently been seen as unreliable. He often promises more than he can deliver (via Kotaku.com).
Games like Artifact attempted something similar but failed in the attempt. Back then, players were supposed to own and trade their game cards, but the game went bankrupt and was shut down after a few months. The re-release, Artifact 2, was also never really a success.
The value itself is largely based on speculation. Those who invest often hope for an increase in value and a profitable exit. Critics see the risk of a bubble popping – and even environmental damage due to energy consumption. There have even been initial fraud cases involving immense sums:
People invest fortunes in virtual NFT apes – Developers cheat them out of €2.3 million
