Skara: the esports game that awards tournament winners with cryptocurrency

We get a ton of spammy press releases about cryptocurrency, tokens and blockchain here at Esports News UK, but this one actually seemed pretty relevant and interesting for once.
A game developer is inviting investors to participate in a €10m token sale to fund the expansion of Skara – The Blade Remains, a free-to-play multiplayer combat game for up to six players which has esports ambitions.
Players can earn a form of cryptocurrency from taking part in tournaments, and winnings can be spent inside or outside the game.
The Skara token sale begins on January 23rd, when the multiplayer version of the game goes into beta. The game’s currency – Skarat (Skara Token) – is based on the Ethereum blockchain.

The Alpha version of the game already has 350,000 users on Steam and the devs are using the blockchain to de-centralise Skara’s in-game economy, i.e. allowing players to keep real ownership of their in-game assets.

This disrupts the prevailing model whereby games publishers reap the rewards of in-game transactions, plus kind of solves the problem of gamers being pushed towards risky black markets if they want to cash in on their loot.

Skara hopes to raise some €10 million from the token sale, with the funds being used to further develop the franchise.

As such, players will be free to buy, sell or trade these assets for profit in external markets, such as Counterparty, where Skara has placed some of these assets, which are already being traded.
Skara also has plans to launch the Skara Esports League in March, with Skarat prizes and in-game betting also utilising the cryptocurrency. Skarat prizes and winnings can be spent inside or outside the game.
The developer hopes to publish the game on consoles and release other games in the future.
“I think gamers knew the value of digital assets before Bitcoin came around, but blockchain is what makes it possible to secure those assets,” said Skara CEO Pablo Rodriguez.
“Before that, trading assets brought enormous risks – you had to trust the other player, and the game producer not to screw with you…”
“Sports isn’t just about the people playing; it’s about the spectators too,” added Skara co-founder Cesar Ortega. “By connecting the in-game currency to a crypto exchange, it will be possible for players to win monetary prizes and for spectators to bet – all within the game.”

Dom Sacco

Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.

As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.