Gaming giant Ubisoft, the publisher behind franchises like Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance, has pinned down the launch date for its upcoming game Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E. on Ethereum layer-2 network Arbitrum. And a free NFT mint for the game is getting underway today.

Set in a dystopian world inspired by the Netflix animated series "Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix"—which is based in part on a game in the Far Cry game franchise—the competitive, top-down multiplayer shooter will feature characters from hit series Assassin’s Creed, Rayman, and Beyond Good & Evil.

The game's Niji Warrior NFT collection, which is launching today as a free mint on the Magic Eden marketplace, will grant holders input into game mechanics, map designs, and storyline developments. Players with these tokens can access exclusive perks, participate in community decisions, and potentially evolve their NFTs based on their level of engagement.

"This project represents a new frontier in collaborative game development, where players become co-creators,” said Ubisoft's Technical Director and Executive Producer Didier Genevois, in a statement.

Each of the 10,000 Niji Warrior NFTs depicts a pixelated robot or creature, based on artwork shown via the Magic Eden launchpad listing. It’s similar in approach to the artwork for the Warlords NFTs released for Ubisoft’s Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles game last year.

The project is a collaboration between Ubisoft, the Arbitrum Foundation, and Sequence, a crypto gaming development platform from Horizon, the developer of competitive card game Skyweaver.

“Forever, players have followed the storylines, character arcs, and game designs that were given to them. Now, that changes. We’re excited to see the results of putting the power in the hands of the gaming community,” said Arbitrum Foundation Head of Partnerships Nina Rong, in a statement.

Ubisoft recently launched Champions Tactics, its first original blockchain game, which is built around NFTs on the Oasys network. The company has been building in the Web3 space for years, backing and supporting various startups and networks, releasing experimental projects, and even adding NFTs to one of its Ghost Recon games.

Editor’s note: This article was written with the assistance of AI. Edited and fact-checked by Andrew Hayward.