NFT cockfighting game canned, but will buy back your cocks

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How could such a visionary idea have failed?

A robot chicken NFT in a field.
(Image credit: Irreverent Labs)

An NFT-based cockfighting game that's been in development for a year has been unceremoniously canned (thanks, Kotaku). Or in the words of its developers Irreverent Labs, entered "indefinite hibernation". The game would have starred 'mechabots': Robotic chickens that were being sold as NFTs to verify each chicken's uniqueness. It was intended as a so-called "play-to-earn" game where players would level the chickens and theoretically sell them on at a higher price. I'm not making this up. 

This hype video shows the production values weren't too bad, though as soon as the fighting starts it's pretty clear this wouldn't have been a good game. But then the game's cancellation is probably the least bizarre thing about this whole story. The studio behind the game has one of the most irritating websites I've ever used and has pivoted away from NFTs onto a new area of focus: AI. That may seem like swapping one grift for another, but it's even more astonishing in the light of the fact it raised $40 million in private funding to make MechaFightClub, disclosed in an SEC filing.

At least some of the cash still remains. The one silver lining for fans of MechaFightClub (presuming there are any) is that Irrereverent Labs announced the cancellation alongside a buyback program called, and again I'm not making this up, Sol 4 Cocks.

Sol refers to the popular cryptocurrency Solana, which is currently trading at around $21 per unit. So the buyback offer values each robot chicken at $378. Look, I just work here.

Irreverent Labs' official statement on what's happened reads as equal parts misleading and delusional. It also says absolutely everything about this corner of the industry that the first two pages (of four) are dedicated to the risk of scams around Sol 4 Cocks, before going on to moan about those pesky regulators and how they made the NFT cockfighting dream impossible.

"The theme, culture, art, story and underpinning goals of MFC remain with us, but we can’t continue to develop it as a blockchain game," says Irreverent Labs. "Unfortunately, the regulatory and operations environment around blockchain within the USA has drastically changed in the last two years.

"We are an American company, and a lack of clarity is making it difficult for blockchain companies to operate here. In the current regulatory confusion, we simply couldn’t create an in-game economy without concern about the regulatory ramifications. We have no way to know how long this will continue, or when it will get better. We simply can’t ask you to wait any longer."

It's not that the bottom is falling out of the crypto market or people have completely lost whatever confidence there ever was in NFTs, then. It's the government! It does make you wonder where that $40 million came from, and how much more money is sloshing around in lunatic projects like this: Probably more than one would like to imagine. At least, in this case, it didn't end up in a total rug-pull.

Rich Stanton
Rich Stanton
Senior Editor

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."