What happened to “Off The Grid,” the so-called Web3 game megahit?

About two weeks ago, there seemed to be an explosion of interest in Off the Grid, a new battle royale set in a cyberpunk world that featured a number of top streamers. However, what often went unsaid was that it was actually a Web3/crypto-based game, a genre that has performed very poorly in the mainstream market. But with the release of Off the Grid in Early Access, this community believed they had finally found a major mainstream hit.

So where is it now?

What seems pretty clear is that Off the Grid spent a lot of money on sponsorship deals with streamers like Ninja and TimtheTatman as a big initial booster. These streamers have played the game and hyped it up, as sponsored deals are bound to do, and something like a video of Tim calling Off the Grid the “Best New BR” is tagged with the sponsored hashtag #OTGpartner.

I don’t call out these streamers. Offers are offers. But I think this artificially inflated the idea that Off the Grid burst onto the scene as a big, breakthrough hit. Many of the people I saw online (who weren’t sponsored) weren’t gamers, but Web3/NFT people. While you could play the game without these elements, it seems that once these deals disappear, the shooter itself may no longer be able to stand on its own.

As it stands, without any major streamers to back it up, Off the Grid has fallen well outside the top 100 most watched games on Twitch, and last I checked it had around 1-2,000 viewers, a sharp drop of about 150,000 when the big streamers played. We can’t get Steam player data for the game because Steam has banned Web3/Crypto/NFT games. Instead, you’ll have to head to the popular Epic Game Store to play on PC. While just 48 hours ago there were articles praising Off the Grid reaching #1 in the free-to-play section of the Epic Store, it has now dropped to #11.

Yes, it’s Early Access, but this entire genre is essentially Early Access games, or at least that’s what they often call themselves. Could it catch on over time and attract more players after this initial promotional period is over? Sure, never say never. But I think we need to step back from the idea that this was a blockbuster Web3 mega-hit, even though the initial interest was obvious strong driven by a large-scale paid campaign. Ninja and Tim’s last stream was Fortnite.

Yes, Off the Grid probably has the highest mainstream profile of any Web3 game I’ve seen. It even annoyed Dr. Disrespect, who tweeted about interest in the game when everyone was making fun of his own Web3-based shooter that he had previously worked on (he was then fired from his own company after admitting to inappropriately contacting a minor have). Off the Grid has gotten attention, it’s true. But it was worth it. And now we’re going…where exactly?

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