Welcome mortal! Sit a while and join us on a journey through time as we look at Gods Unchained's evolution over the past two years....
When you log into the launcher and arm yourself with your favourite deck – it can be hard to imagine what all this looked like a few years ago. Well, we remember all too well, and it wasn't nearly as pretty as the Gods Unchained we all know today.
We're incredibly proud of the game that's currently in your hands, and excited about what's to come in the future... but sometimes it's important to look back at the journey so far. Let's dive in, shall we?
Gods Unchained is announced
July 9, 2018
Ping! A tiny notification that marks the beginning of it all. The sound heralds an email explaining the idea behind Gods Unchained and why it's important to the future of gaming. Around this time, the birth of the First Phoenix promo card – a limited-time reward for those who bought presale Genesis card packs – rises from the ashes.
The team launching Gods Unchained were only a handful of people fuelled by donuts & energy drinks, all working from a coworking space in central Sydney. With engineers doubling as art directors, we were very small but extremely driven.
The first ever Mythic card sells at auction
August 4, 2018
The auction for the one-of-a-kind Mythic card, Hyperion, wrapped up with a final price of 146.279 ETH (~$61,000 USD)! As a result, Hyperion became the 2nd highest valued TCG card in the world at that time. Participants in the auction who placed a bid each received an exclusive Light’s Bidding card, too!
One million Gods Unchained cards sold
September 28, 2018
Only 79 days after Gods Unchained was announced, we sold our millionth card! That’s no small feat, and we can’t help feel proud of how far we’ve come since this milestone.
Gods Unchained enters Closed Beta
November 9, 2018
A select handful of players entered the Arena and got to play Gods Unchained for the very first time. We let new beta players in on a rolling basis, to make sure that the game and servers weren’t overwhelmed by a stack of players all at once. Back then GU had a very different look...
The game launcher arrives
march 31, 2019
Update 0.14 introduced the launcher design as we know it today. It was called Apollo at the time, but has since been renamed to the Immutable Launcher.
Open Sesame! Er… “Open Beta”
June 10, 2019
In June 2019, we opened up the floodgates and allowed everyone with a registered Apollo account (now Immutable account) into our beta. Moving from closed to open beta was a major milestone for us! Around this time, we also moved over into our first proper office so we finally had some space to breathe.
The first Weekend Ranked event draws to a close
July 30, 2019
During this time, we experimented with some new game modes including some fan-favourite Draft Deck modes (which we hope to see return soon). We also introduced new events like Weekend Ranked which became GU’s bread-and-butter regular tournament, offering a chance to win great seasonal rewards through player skill.
‘Fuel Games’ is out, ‘Immutable’ is in
August 6, 2019
On this date, we officially made the switch and rebranded from Fuel Games to Immutable. Our thoughts as to why we made this change?
“We liked Fuel Games, but ultimately felt it did a poor job encapsulating what we do (or rather, what we will do more of).”
Oof. It’s safe to say, we like Immutable much better, and are excited to keep moving forward with the new brand.
Game Director Chris Clay officially joins the team!
August 7, 2019
He was lurking in the shadows for a short while before this announcement, but on the 7th of August we made it official that Chris Clay, formerly of MTG Arena, was joining us on our quest to showcase the value of blockchain technologies!
Immutable raises $15 Million in Series A funding
September 24, 2019
When asked about Series A at the time:
"We're building foundational products and technology to make true ownership of digital objects a new normal," said James Ferguson, CEO of Immutable. "This round of financing helps us accelerate the speed and direction by which we approach that reality. One acceptance criteria for investors was ensuring they shared our passion and vision for the future. Not only do our new partners exceed these expectations, but they just so happen to be the best in the world at what they do across our relevant domains. Needless to say, we couldn't be happier."
The Genesis presale comes to a close
October 29, 2019
Two weeks prior to this date, we were at 70% of the maximum cap. We were stoked to have formally sold out our first set. Thank you to all who helped us to reach this incredible goal!
Trading is unlocked and the official GU Marketplace launches
November 22, 2019
The Gods Unchained Marketplace officially opened for the first time, allowing players and traders alike to buy and sell their hard-earned Gods Unchained cards.
Flux and Fusing go live
February 20, 2020
The resource Flux was introduced for the first time, and our play to earn system was revived through the ability to mint Core cards, earned for free, into fully-tradable blockchain assets that could integrate seamlessly with our marketplaces. Flux can still be earned through the Gauntlet of the Gods, but the Forge has since been put on a temporary hold due to the Ethereum gas-price spike – and will remain so until Immutable X hero-drops in with its game-changing functionality (more on this below).
The Sanctum soars into action
February 27, 2020
Earlier this year, we introduced the first version of the Sanctum, an exciting addition to the core gameplay of Gods Unchained. Featuring five side-decks, available to both players, the Sanctum greatly expands the strategic depth seen during play. It’s seen some weighting revisions since it was first introduced, but we are very excited to have introduced a new dimension to the game to help differentiate ourselves from other TCGs.
Introducing Immutable X
May 8, 2020
Our plans for the game changing non-custodial platform, Immutable X, were revealed to the world for the very first time – and we’ve been hard at work on it ever since! Immutable X alleviates many issues around gas fees and scalability for Ethereum-based products like Gods Unchained. Its release further expands the play to earn model that Flux has laid the groundwork for, making fusing and trading a breeze.
The Welcome Set is released
June 16, 2020
We saw an opportunity to help onboard new players into the game... and we took it! The Welcome Set is a collection of 70 brand new cards that all players get on signup, for free! This also allowed us to implement new and editable Starter Decks to help give new players a leg up on their deck-building journeys.
Season 1: Champions Rise and Trial of the Gods launch
September 10, 2020
Season 1 marks a new structure for our releases, as seasons span multiple expansion sets, weaving mechanics, cards, and events together to tell unique stories within Gods Unchained. The Trial of the Gods expansion set introduces Champion cards to the fray, expands the lore, and is currently available for purchase for a limited time.
Only the beginning...
We've come a long way to get the game where it is today, and we're so grateful to those who've taken the journey with us... but we're only just getting started.
As mentioned above, with the game-changing Immutable X in the works, we're looking to take in-game ownership to the next level – further expanding on the play to earn model we've laid the groundwork for, removing impacts from spiked gas prices and ensuring that we can scale the game as needed to reach our goals.
The World Tournament is also being spec'd out, where our players can face off against each other on a large scale – with the grand award being a hefty prize-pool. We've still got a bit more work to do within the game launcher and client first to ensure stability for an event at this scale, but we're really excited to share more when we can.
We're hard at work at a mobile version of the game. The initial prototypes are looking great, but this won't be ready until next year – 2021, here we come!
We're grateful for our supportive community who have kept the game running and working with us to improve it day in day out, and we're eager to see it grow. Once we set the groundwork for a mainstream audience to enter, we're looking to go all out with a push for mass adoption in a world conquering sweep.
Here's to a bright future, mortal!
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