Legends of Aria Developer Acquired By NFT MMO Dev Blue Monster Games

The last time we talked about Legends of Aria, one year ago this month, the Citadel Studios team apologized for its lack of recent communication and informed us that the next release was being delayed into 2021. That seemed to go well enough, and the game left early access and launched in full on July 8.

Since then, however, things have been ... not great. The MMORPG averages fewer than 100 players on Steam and has only a 57% positive rating. So, what's a struggling game to do these days when faced with a small population and little hope of growth? Add NFTs, of course!

Citadel Studios, however, is taking things one step further, as it has been fully acquired by blockchain gaming studio Blue Monster Games. Most of you have probably stopped reading right now, but in case you haven't, here's how the company describes its blockchain MMORPG:

"Realms of Ethernity is a World of Warcraft-inspired virtual world filled with hundreds of play-to-earn NFT games where developers and players can build, own, and monetize their gaming experiences using RETH, the main utility token of the platform."

The press release announcing the deal calls the Legends of Aria acquisition "the first time that an existing AAA game will be updated with blockchain and Web3 mechanics, thus 'metaversifying' it with NFTs and token-based in-game currencies," while Realms of Ethernity itself is described as "the metaverse to eat the gaming world." I have nothing to add to all of that, so I won't.