During Epic Games debut, crypto title ‘Nyan Heroes’ broke into top 30 most-played, recording 200,000 downloads

Whether the crypto video game “Nyan Heroes” is successful in the long-term is still far from uncertain, but its developer 9 Lives Interactive does feel there is plenty to be encouraged by after the game’s limited, pre-alpha release on Epic Games Store.

During its two-week run on the popular online gaming store “Nyan Heroes” ranked among the top 30 most-played games as more than 200,000 users downloaded the web3 title, according to 9 Lives Interactive. The title is also listed as one of the top upcoming games to be "wishlisted" on Epic Games Store.

“There were some areas of the game that still had a bit of jank and things were still somewhat buggy,” Max Fu, creative director and CEO of 9 Lives Interactive told The Block. “But, ultimately our goal was to create a somewhat polished and smooth game experience ... to have all the main pillars of our core gameplay loops in place, and to test whether people felt that it was fun or not.”

The limited pre-alpha run of "Nyan Heroes" lasted from March 26 to April 9, according to the developer.

The video game is a mech shooter featuring cat pilots, which is powered by Unreal Engine 5. Although users can already buy, sell and trade in-game assets, the current build of the game does not include NFT integration.

"Nyan Heroes" gameplay. Image: 9 Lives Interactive.

On-chain and off-chain

“We have plans on having both on-chain and off-chain assets being traded freely within the same in-game marketplace,” said Fu, adding that marketplace “functionality” should be in place after this year’s second major update.

9 Lives Interactive is aiming to release a full version of the game on PC by early next year. Eventually, players will have the option to customize their gaming experience and trade in-game assets on a marketplace. Players who don’t want to engage with NFTs, however, will be able to play “Nyan Heroes” freely without being forced to interact with the blockchain aspects the game will offer, according to Fu.

Overall, Fu said his team was pleased with the results of the pre-alpha, noting that many players who downloaded the game were non-web3 players.

Based on the popularity of the game during its pre-alpha, Fu said there are plans to relaunch on Epic Games Store in a couple of weeks to give more people a chance to download and play “Nyan Heroes.”

Epic Games has also previously listed early-access versions of crypto video games still in development like “Shrapnel,” “Illuvium” and “Star Atlas."

9 Lives Interactive, previously known as Rude Robot Studios, was founded in 2021.