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SolForge Fusion announced it would be joining the Solana blockchain network via Twitter on April 29th, less than two weeks after the game was launched in early access on Steam.

SolForge, a digital card game designed by Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield and former MTG Pro Brian Kibler, was first released into early access in 2013 following a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised over $400,000. It stayed in early access for three years before its official release in 2016, but was shut down a year later with StoneBlade CEO and creator of the popular deckbuilding game “Ascension” Justin Gary citing only vague reasons for the decision.

The game was kept alive briefly until early 2019 by a group of dedicated fans running an unofficial server called ReForged. The unofficial client was taken down after the fans responsible were contacted by Gary and told to cease operations.

In 2021, a physical sequel called SolForge Fusion was announced on Kickstarter incorporating the unique algorithmically generated decks present in another of Garfield’s games, Keyforge. SolForge Fusion also promised that the same decks could be used online or in person by registering unique deck codes.

In November 2023, a campaign for the digital version of SolForge Fusion was announced and funded, but no mention was made within any of the campaigns that NFTs would be part of the game. Some users took issue with the announcement such as one reviewer on Steam who stated: “This is completely blindsiding. I do not play games that feature NFTs and I would have never given money to this project at any point had I known that’s what they were planning to do.”

I’m not sure if it’s required for these types of decisions to be disclosed ahead of time, but it certainly rubs me the wrong way. Crowdfunding has always been a very mixed bag. Paying for the possibility of a good game is a financial gamble that customers are willing to take because they want to believe in you. Not cluing in the people who made your game possible in the first place feels like a form of abuse. Of course, if you’re receiving a fat paycheck from investors to do it who cares about those chumps?