In recent weeks there’s been industry disquiet that the Epic Games Store removed some blockchain games, including Immutable’s flagship TCG Gods Unchained and Striker Manager 3 from Uplay Online.
Removing the titles was a result of the US ESRB ratings board giving them an Adults Only (AO) rating, with Epic not allowing AO games on its store. However, in turn, the ESRB’s AO rating was purely due to the games containing blockchain technology.
The fear was that as each of the now over 80 blockchain game on Epic Games Store left early access and was required to get an ESRB rating, getting rated AO for blockchain, they would, in turn, all be removed from the store.
However, Epic has now revised its T&Cs for blockchain games – noting “The Epic Games Store makes an exception for products in cases where an AO rating was applied solely due to the usage of blockchain or NFT technology” – although games will still have to pass Epic’s blockchain technology guidelines.
The decision has been praised by industry enthusiasts and developers alike. In a comment on X, Gods Unchained says it’s “Glad to be back!” while Immutable posted “At Immutable, we have taken a proactive approach to advocate for fair policies for web3 games. We are pleased with Epic Games’ policy decision, and Gods Unchained has relisted on their store.
This policy change shows that the space recognizes the experience of web3 gaming, and we are one step closer to adoption.”
The move also reinforces Epic’s competitive positioning of its game store as a friendly distribution platform for blockchain games in direct comparison to Steam’s total ban on the sector.