In a recent Medium post, Trailblazer, the developer behind the Solana-based deck-building PVP game Eternal Dragons, announced the game's shutdown. The project struggled to find an audience despite an $8.2 million funding round in March 2022.
Trailblazer is using remaining funds for a buyback program that offers NFT holders refunds between $12 and $120 based on the rarity of their Dragons NFTs.
Platform struggles and development costs
Trailblazer's team, which includes veterans from EA, King, and Microsoft, launched Eternal Dragons on browsers before moving to mobile. The transition didn't go as planned. Building a web3 game that works across browsers and mobile proved more complicated than anticipated, with legal compliance issues and player manipulation adding to the headaches.
The game showed steady progress internally, but the numbers never reached the thresholds needed to justify continued development. Development costs ballooned to more than eight times what the initial NFT mint brought in, making the shutdown decision inevitable.
Buyback details
Trailblazer is offering to buy back NFTs from holders using what's left in the treasury. The Eternal Dragons NFTs peaked at around $300 during Solana's early 2022 highs but now sit at a $20 floor price. The buyback offers range from $12 for common Dragons to $120 for the rarest ones.
The closure of Eternal Dragons highlights how difficult it is to sustain a web3 game when player acquisition stalls and costs spiral. Trailblazer's decision to allocate remaining funds toward a buyback rather than dragging out development is at least a cleaner exit than most failed crypto projects manage. Full details are available in the Medium post.
