Introduction

Gods Unchained is a free-to-play trading card game where players compete in epic duels using fantasy cards. Led by Chris Clay, the former game director of Magic: The Gathering Arena, the game focuses on competitive play, which means players must strategically outsmart their opponents by building decks that are able to combat a wide variety of tactics. In Gods Unchained, players can completely own their digital items, giving them the freedom to trade, sell, and use their cards within or beyond the game – just like owning real, tangible cards.

Their mission

The gaming industry is immense but flawed, being built on one-sided models that limit user ownership and stifle player-driven economies . Gods Unchained believes players should truly own their items in any game; more than that, we believe players should be rewarded for the time and effort they invest in playing a game and contributing to that game’s community. This is why the development team decided to build Gods Unchained. They know games can be more, so we’ve been busy building a game where every card pack you open, every battle you fight, and every item you craft is built to be part of a sustainable, real-value economy. The items you own are set up to have greater utility beyond just playing the game as you can trade them with anyone, even outside the game. No one – including us – should be able to take away what belongs to you, a concept made possible thanks to Ethereum’s technology.

Changing the game with non-fungible tokens (NFTs)

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs or ERC-721 tokens) are unique digital assets that can be owned, sold, or traded. Ownership is tracked via the Ethereum blockchain, ensuring trustless asset security.

In Gods Unchained, this technology is applied to select in-game cards and items. Like a bridge between the virtual and physical world, NFTs provide us and our users with a transparent and immutable way to assign, verify, and maintain ownership. The result? The ability to create a vibrant game that rewards both the developer and the player, building functional relationships between game and player that were not previously possible.

Scaling with Immutable X

While Ethereum’s security tech provides the perfect foundation for Gods Unchained, its ability to scale is hampered by a few critical issues. Previously, NFT projects and developers have struggled to grow due to the limited capacity of the Ethereum blockchain (known as Layer 1). Long transaction times and high gas fees held games back, providing an environment that meant NFT trading was unable to thrive.

That’s why they chose to use Immutable X, the first Layer 2 scaling solution for NFTs that solves critical problems within the NFT space. The platform provides better value to users and products with instant trade confirmation, massive scalability (up to 9,000 trades per second), and zero gas fees – all without compromising security.

Since moving to Immutable X in late June 2021 (complete migration), over 650,000 Gods Unchained NFT secondary trades have been made. In contrast, the entire Ethereum mainnet NFT trading volume amounted to 420,577 trades across the same period (source: nonfungible.com). The migration to Immutable X enabled Gods Unchained alone to achieve NFT trading volume that is 1.5 times greater than Ethereum mainnet, while consuming 99% less energy to perform those transactions. Thanks to Immutable X it is economically and technologically feasible for players to conduct high volume transactions of low value NFTs.

All Gods Unchained NFTs are designed to live on Immutable X, providing fast, affordable and secure trading. This ensures Gods Unchained is hyper-accessible to all players and collectors, removing the frictions and barriers that previously plagued blockchain products to truly unlock the growth potential of Gods Unchained.

What is Gods Unchained?

Gods Unchained is a free-to-play tactical card game that gives players true ownership of their in-game items by using NFTs on the Ethereum Blockchain and Immutable X.

The game focuses on competitive play, which means players must strategically outsmart their opponents by building decks that are able to combat a wide variety of tactics.

In Gods Unchained players completely own their digital items, giving them the freedom to trade, sell and use their cards any way they like – just like owning real, tangible cards.

What makes Gods Unchained different?

Exciting gameplay, a world-class team

Helmed by Chris Clay, former game director of Magic: The Gathering Arena, Gods Unchained provides a dynamic and competitive experience with a strong focus on strategy. Over 3 years of engineering and development has been put into Gods Unchained by a talented team with career experience from gaming giants such as EA Games, Riot Games, Wizards of the Coast, and more.

True digital ownership

Gods Unchained provides real ownership over in-game items by turning them into ERC-721 tokens/NFTs. Players gain the right to sell their items for real money, use them in Gods Unchained, and even embed them in third-party games and tools. This separates Gods Unchained from what’s offered in mainstream games.

Play to Earn

To catalyze competitive play and stimulate engagement, players can earn meaningful currencies and items, including the ERC-20 $GODS token, by simply playing the game. The ability to earn tangible rewards serves as the key ingredient to supercharge our future growth.

An epic game economy

GODS tokens are designed to exist at the heart of the economy, being used by players to purchase new card packs and chests, craft their own NFT cards, and earn staking rewards. By including $GODS in the key facets of the Gods Unchained experience, it creates a sustainable ecosystem where players have the economic freedom to earn from, and contribute to the economy

A titanic community

With over $34M worth of NFTs sold and traded so far, Gods Unchained has established a passionate community of evangelists. The game has over 450,000 registered players despite only being in beta.

Built to scale on Ethereum

Gods Unchained digital assets live on Immutable X, Ethereum’s first zero-knowledge rollup (zk-rollup) for NFTs. Immutable X allows for gas-free NFT minting and trading at scale with instant trade confirmation. This creates a massively improved user experience and enables the high volume trading of low cost assets, a key feature of Gods Unchained. Over 650,000 Gods Unchained NFT secondary trades have been made since migrating to Immutable X in late June 2021. In contrast, the entire Ethereum mainnet NFT trading volume amounted to 420,577 trades (source: nonfungible.com). Importantly, Immutable X does not compromise the security of users' assets, ensuring that players truly own their assets on Immutable X

Why $GODS tokens matter

$GODS tokens are ERC-20 tokens designed to become the core in-game currency for Gods Unchained. Similar to existing in-game currencies, $GODS tokens will be rewarded to users through play, however unlike existing currencies $GODS will be scarce and tradeable. True digital ownership is an important foundation, but to truly change the way games are viewed, it needs to be paired with a sustainable Play to Earn system. $GODS tokens are the key to unlocking this, providing the basis for an economy that will empower players to earn through play, creating a continued demand for the token, and growing Gods Unchained by attracting more and more users.

The token is created, issued, and distributed by Gods Unchained Corporation and will have multiple applications that will make it an essential part of the game’s Play to Earn ecosystem.

How do I start playing?

Simple! Set up an account here, and click the ‘Create a new account’ button. Once you’ve set up your account, you can download the game launcher and start playing Gods Unchained.

To begin with, you’ll be given a free collection of 70 individual cards (140 in total) that are sorted into six decks. This is known as the Welcome Set and it’s designed to help new players get a handle on how the game, and each god, works. You’ll also be given an allotment of Core cards that you can use to customise/personalise these pre-made decks.

Is Gods Unchained a Pay to Win game?

It’s very possible to work your way up the ranks without spending a cent via the process outlined in the ‘What is Play to Earn?’ section. In fact, a few of our most vocal players have done just that (side note: join our community and chat with players in Discord to learn about their experiences!) If you are struggling to find a good free to play set, you can also find deck ideas on community sites such as GUDecks.com, and import those decks into your game using the deck code to help you shake up your play style.

That said, the economy is an important part of Gods Unchained and shouldn’t be overlooked. Although it’s true that some cards are prohibitively more expensive than others, a large part of balancing the game is aimed at ensuring you don’t need to spend lots of money to have a highly competitive deck. Because cards are tradable, it’s also possible to purchase only what you need from other players on the Immutable X marketplace to build your dream deck.

Compare this to other digital trading card games where you’re required to open hundreds of packs just to find that one card to complete your meta. At the end of the day, you can always sell your cards if you decide to switch metas or even (don’t leave us!) quit. The choice is yours.

Do I need a wallet to play Gods Unchained?

While you can play Gods Unchained without ever needing a wallet, you’ll need one to play to earn; this includes actions such as trading with other players, fusing Core cards, or receiving Weekend Ranked packs.

Why is having a wallet necessary for play-to-earn?

The in-game rewards are quite often attached to a specific wallet for a delivery. You'll also need one to trade and own cards.

Connecting a wallet to Gods Unchained and Immutable X

A wallet is required to receive prizes from Weekend Ranked events, or to purchase cards.

1. Before starting, make sure you are logged into your MetaMask extension in your browser. If you don’t have one, follow the install instructions previously stated in ‘Create an Ethereum Wallet’.

2. Login to your Gods Unchained account by clicking “Sign In” in the top right of GodsUnchained.com.

3. Click on your player icon in the top right of the page, then click on Manage Wallets.

4. Click on the “Connect Web Wallet” button.

5. Your browser’s MetaMask extension will respond. If the extension does not automatically open after clicking this button, manually open the extension by clicking on the fox symbol in the top right of your browser and log in to your MetaMask account.

6. Confirm the wallet address you wish to connect to your GodsUnchained account.

7. Click the “Add wallet to GU” button to connect your wallet to Gods Unchained. Tip: If the button doesn’t connect your wallet, you may need to refresh and log in to your MetaMask account again.

8. Sign the request in your MetaMask extension to connect your wallet to Gods Unchained.

9. It may take a moment to connect. You will then see your new address added to the Gods Unchained Manage Wallet page.

Link your wallet(s) to Immutable X

In order to trade items, you will need to link your wallets to Immutable X.

1. Check that your wallet is connected to Gods Unchained. If the address is visible on the Manage Wallets page, it is connected.

2. Click “Link a wallet to X”.

3. The Immutable X Link panel will open in a pop up. If it doesn’t, ensure popups are enabled in your browser and try again.

4. Check that your wallet address in the “Sign in with your wallet” popup screen matches the wallet address you want to connect. If not is not the correct wallet, click the “Change” link seen above the current wallet address.

5. Click ‘Sign In’ to head to the signature screen.

6. Click ‘Sign’ to sign the request to link your wallet to Immutable X.

7. A unique Immutable X Key is created and registered to your Ethereum private key.

8. You now have an Immutable X Key, and can trade on the Marketplace.

9. If your wallet address now has a “✓ Linked” next to it, you are done!

Set a Default Wallet

If linking more than one wallet, it’s important to assign your default wallet so any rewards you receive are sent to the right place. To do so, head to the Manage Wallets page and simply click the three dots to the right of your wallet, and select “set as default”.

What is ETH? Do I need it to play the game?

ETH is the currency of the Ethereum network (the software Gods Unchained runs on). ETH isn’t required to play the game, and you can play and unlock Core cards without a wallet or any ETH. But if you want to trade cards on the Immutable X marketplace, or unlock expansion cards from Weekend Ranked, you’ll need a wallet to store the cards in, and you’ll need ETH to buy new cards.

How do I know that my wallets have been linked?

If your wallet address appears in the Manage Wallets page of the Gods Unchained website then it is connected to your Gods Unchained account.

If your wallet has the text “✓ Linked” next to it, it is linked to Immutable X.

If you wish to trade on Immutable X once the marketplace opens, please ensure your wallet is connected to Gods Unchained and linked to Immutable X.

Do I have to understand blockchain or the Ethereum network?

Not at all. Blockchain (specifically the Ethereum network and Immutable X) are simply tools that allow players to completely own their cards. You can play the game without a need to understand the inner workings of the game's systems. If you wish to collect NFT cards, however, you will need to create and set up a wallet.

To give a short summary of how our systems work: NFT cards are stored on Immutable X, using the same security as the Ethereum network, and players only interact with Immutable X when they want to trade cards with other players. All other events in the game run using industry standard technologies like Unity, allowing gameplay to be indistinguishable from other games that don’t employ distributed ledgers.

That said, we’re obsessed with the Ethereum network’s ability to store digital assets as well as host its own currency (known as ETH). It’s one of the main reasons we started Gods Unchained to begin with. This opens gaming up to so many possibilities that can bring the medium forward in leaps and bounds. Immutable X is a layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, making NFT trading far more accessible to both mainstream audiences who aren’t familiar with the network and experienced audiences alike.

How do I get ETH?

You can earn ETH by selling cards you’ve unlocked and then fused in-game, as well as from selling cards you have won in Weekend Ranked.

You can also purchase ETH from secure cryptocurrency exchanges in your region such as the Wyre widget in your MetaMask extension, or a website like Coinbase.

Purchasing ETH is different for countries all around the world. For other options, here is a list of the top exchanges to purchase ETH.

How do I get cards?

Every player starts the game with the Welcome Set, giving you access to 70 individual cards (140 in total) that span all six gods. You’ll also be given an allotment of Core cards that you can use to spice up your first decks.

In order to get more cards, you’ll want to open card packs or trade with other players. Here are a few ways to get more cards:

• Play game and level up: By playing Ranked or Constructed games, you’ll level up and earn card packs. These will drop Common Core cards that can be used to expand your decks or fused together to create higher quality, tradable versions in the Forge.

• Weekend Ranked Event rewards: Card packs and items can also be earned through Weekend Ranked tournaments. The rewards from these tournaments rotate with each game season, but can be a good place to earn items that aren’t usually unlocked via conventional means, such as expansion card packs.

• Purchase expansion packs: These cards are only available for purchase for a limited time (during the run of a particular season) and may not be sold again. Once these packs are sold out, the best way to get them is to trade with other players on the Immutable X Marketplace.

• Trade with other players: The Immutable X Marketplace is the go-to place to buy and sell individual cards and items. Here you can find particular cards you are after, or sell ones you don’t need.

How many cards in a deck?

Each deck contains 30 cards. You can have up to 2 copies of the same card in your deck, unless it’s a Legendary card where you can only keep one, as these are powerful cards.

So I can sell these cards to other players?

Yes, any cards that are NFTs on Immutable X (you can tell by the card having a quality of Meteorite or higher, basically any card that is not grey*) are fully tradable on the Immutable X Marketplace. In the future, you will also be able to trade other in-game items, like boards and trinkets, too.

*Welcome Set cards are not currently on Immutable X at the time of writing, but integration is being worked on and they will be fully tradable soon.

How do I trade with other players?

To trade cards on the Immutable X Marketplace, you’ll need to own a wallet, and have that wallet linked from Gods Unchained to Immutable X (see here for a big ol' guide). This is because ETH, the official currency of the Ethereum network, and NFT items need a secure address in order to be held and traded.

Once you have this and you own a tradable asset* (like an NFT or ETH) you can head to the Immutable X Marketplace and trade with other players.

*Note: Plain quality cards (cards with gray borders) aren't NFT cards.

Tokenomics

What is $GODS?

$GODS is the native ERC-20 token of the Gods Unchained universe.

Mortals can use $GODS to craft new NFTs and purchase Card Packs from the Gods Unchained Marketplace. In future, Staking and Governance will also be available for the $GODS token. $GODS can be earned by completing in-game Ranked Matches or purchased directly via the IMX Marketplace.

Check out our article about How to purchase $GODS token or the official Gods Unchained website for more details.

Contract Details

• Official $GODS Contract address: 0xccc8cb5229b0ac8069c51fd58367fd1e622afd97

How do I purchase $GODS tokens?

$GODS can be purchased directly from the Immutable X Marketplace (IMX) using a Credit Card or by swapping it for ETH, after transferring it from another wallet to the IMX platform (Layer 2 Ethereum).

$GODS token summary

As the core currency within Gods Unchained, $GODS is designed to enrich the Play to Earn loop, which holders can use to craft new NFTs, make in-game purchases, and vote in governance decisions. One of the unique aspects of the Gods Unchained economy is the Staking Rewards Pool. Any $GODS used in the game (e.g. using $GODS to craft new in-game NFTs) will be sent to this rewards pool.

In addition, 20% of all primary sales and 20% of secondary trading fees in Gods Unchained will be paid for in $GODS. If the user opts not to use $GODS for a payment, or doesn’t have enough tokens for the purchase, the user can choose to pay entirely in the currency they choose. In this instance, 20% of this purchase will be automatically swapped for $GODS on the open market and sent to the rewards pool, from which it will be distributed proportionately to all token holders who actively stake $GODS.

$GODS Token supply summary

The token has a fixed total supply of 500,000,000. Below is a summary of how this supply is allocated.

Revenue streams

Gods Unchained is built using a Games as a Service model. Instead of relying on a one-off purchase, we provide a game that is free to play, releasing optional monetized content and features that work to enrich and expand the game, without being a requirement to play the game.

Below is an explanation of how in-game purchases work in Gods Unchained :

NFT “expansion set” sales (sold via the Gods Unchained store)

• The main in-game purchase in Gods Unchained is NFT card sales. While users can unlock core cards through play, our team is constantly designing new sets of cards (known as “expansion sets”) in order to keep the game exciting and provide users with new content.

• Expansion sets are made up of a series of NFT cards (ERC-721 tokens) that can be found in card packs (purchasable items that hold five randomized cards apiece) and chests (ERC-20 tokens that bundle together multiple card packs).

• Once purchased, these items can be used by players within Gods Unchained to build competitive decks and play the game, or traded with other users outside the game like any other token.

• Expansion sets consist of a finite amount of NFTs, making them more scarce than the core game’s cards. Since the launch of the game, we have released and completely sold through two expansion sets, the Genesis set and the Trial of the Gods set, with the total revenue generated by both sales exceeding $10 million.

• Secondary market royalty fees (Development completed - Coming soon) A royalty fee is to be introduced to all Gods Unchained trades in any Immutable X powered marketplace: such as TokenTrove, OpenSea or the official Immutable X Marketplace. As our trading economy grows, our revenue in royalty fees will grow alongside it. We foresee this becoming a primary source of revenue in the not too distant future. The development of this feature is completed and will be implemented within the ecosystem very soon.

User Engagement

1. Set up to scale

Gods Unchained uses Immutable X technology to provide mainstream scalability and gas-free transactions for users, allowing for near-instantaneous peer-to-peer trading. Because of this technology, Gods Unchained can create user experiences that are far more superior than other Ethereum-based solutions in the market. Ultimately, this technology allows our game to access the mainstream gaming market by simplifying the purchase, trade, and minting experiences of any Gods Unchained NFTs.

2. Ownership and earn driven retention

‌One of the key drivers to growth is retention – the less players who leave the game the faster it grows. Peer analysis shows that NFT gaming can increase D30 retention from a typical 8% (“D1 Retention - Historical Timeline”) up to 80–90% (source: Axie Infinity, My Crypto Heroes). This is one of the key drivers of the Gods Unchained strategy and one of the core reasons why we’re highly focused on NFT ownership and Play to Earn. As players are able to extract tangible value from playing the game beyond just pure entertainment, they have a much stronger incentive to return and become platform evangelists.

3. Going Mobile

Gods Unchained will be unlocking its ability to access an even larger audience by launching Gods Unchained mobile. Mobile games capture more users because they’re highly accessible, making them the perfect avenue for mainstream adoption of NFT gaming. Peer analysis on a play to earn game title shows that over 82% of active players are using mobile devices (Source: Axie Infinity). Mobile distribution will help further accelerate the adoption of Gods Unchained and the wider blockchain gaming ecosystem.

4. Hyper competitive user acquisition‌

Gaming growth is typically driven by paid user acquisition. Our internal AB testing research shows that Play to Earn games can achieve 30% lower acquisition costs compared with normal games. This means that Gods Unchained has a unique cost advantage in user acquisition.

5. Compounding growth loops

Over the past year, Gods Unchained has successfully experimented with multiple growth loops that were highly effective in driving growth within the game. When each single loop is stacked on top of another the result multiplies and brings exponential growth to the game.

Below are examples of loops that we previously introduced

• Influencer Loop: They partner with world-class influencers in bringing awareness to Gods Unchained. This is an effective strategy in acquiring new players at scale with the ability to target different niches

• Viral Referral Loop: This loop provides a tangible reward to their existing players for bringing quality new players. As more people play Gods Unchained, the new number of referrals made by players will also increase

• Engagement Loop: Create engagement features that continuously bring our players back to engage with the game.

As the engagement of the player deepens, the Life-Time-Value of the player increases. As Gods Unchained enters its growth phase, the team will be investing heavily on deploying new loops to further enhance the growth of the game.

6. Growth driven by $GODS tokens

The newest addition to Gods Unchained are $GODS tokens, a tradable currency designed to take Gods Unchained into the future. The token will be distributed to players, as well as all participants in the ecosystem, which promote the overall growth of the game. We plan to use the token to align incentives, reward players, and grant governance. Player-driven ownership of the token will hypercharge the community and the growth of Gods Unchained, as users become incentivized to work together to make the game successful.

Tracking GODS