Sustainability Update
Hey Champs, Ultimate Champions turns one this week and it’s time to announce our most ambitious update yet🔥!
⚠️Features and values shared in this article are subject to community feedback. Do not make any investment strategy based on it as things can change!
Let’s start this update by sharing some context to better grasp why we’re making these changes.
The existential problem of Web3 games
When we started designing Ultimate Champions two years ago, our initial mindset was, “Let’s keep creating and selling new content!” Open economy? No problem!
We thought we’d add new players quickly enough, maintaining stable prices while continuously selling cards. Easy peasy!
However, we soon discovered that relying only on a marketing budget to keep the game economy afloat isn’t a sustainable solution.
There’s no guarantee that a steady stream of new spenders will arrive each month. When there are fewer than expected, the content we keep selling starts to dilute the value of players’ collections. This issue has emerged not only in UC but also in other web3 games.
Free-to-play gamers have historically purchased tons of content with no long-term value, so why worry if prices drop to zero?
The key here is that players expect the content they buy in a web3 game to retain value over time. It’s all about the promise of ownership, tradeable items, and limited-edition collectibles. This is what makes web3 games more engaging and fair for players in the first place.
This simple promise will be the driving force behind the success of web3 games.
Today, we’re taking a stand to fulfill this promise! We’re shifting our focus away from new content sales to build a lasting, sustainable ecosystem for Ultimate Champions.
Excited? Let’s dive in.
TL;DR
Here are the main highlights of the Sustainability Update:
Now let’s get cracking on each item!
Removing Packs
We will stop selling Premium Packs and reduce by 90%+ the amount of new Ultimate Cards that we sell 👀!
Considering other sources of new cards (such as rewards and airdrops), this is the expected impact on overall distribution:
- Epics: -50% handed out monthly 📉
- Mythics: -50% handed out monthly 📉
- Uniques: No change, since few were distributed in Packs 🔄
Don’t worry if you have some MGC tokens, we will still have items to purchase exclusively for free with those.
Auctions
Auctions will be introduced to sell a minimal amount of new cards at market value, generating a new foundational revenue stream for the game.
Initial monthly distribution plan:
- 150 Mythics per month
- 10 Uniques per month
As previously mentioned, one of our primary goals is to minimize the number of new cards sold, which means keeping auctions at a very low level.
Card Burner
We’re thrilled to introduce a deflationary mechanism for cards in Ultimate Champions! 🔥
We’ve been itching to introduce a Card Burner for a while, and we’ve finally found the perfect chance to do so — by enhancing the not-so-great aspects of Condition Bonuses!
To make both features shine, we’ll start by transforming Condition Bonuses for the better.
Condition Bonuses changes
Card Conditions will now be determined by the number of times a card is used in a Tournament, rather than being affected by the passage of time.
- Mint: 10 tournament entries
- Great: 25 tournament entries
- Good: 50 tournament entries
⚠️ Values subject to change
When the amount of ‘Tournament Entries’ for a card condition reaches 0, the Card goes down a Condition State.
For example, a ‘Mint’ card used 10 times in Tournaments will degrade to the condition ‘Great’.
The performance bonuses attached to the conditions will stay the same.
This change will insure that cards stop losing value passively over time, while simplifying the Card Burner behavior!
Card Burner overview
The feature is as straightforward as can be: Burn cards to refresh the Condition Bonuses of other cards!
Burning rarer cards will naturally refresh additional tournament entries.
- Epic: adds 15 tournament entries
- Mythic: adds 85 tournament entries
- Unique: adds 150 tournament entries (we do not recommend to burn any 😅!)
⚠️ Values subject to change
Cards that are burned will be permanently added to a player’s Collection Score — your juicy collection scores for airdrops are safe! 🤩
This new systemic burn will ensure the game’s card supply decreases over time, allowing room for new supply to be added through rewards, catering to new players and the growth of the game!
Marketplace fees & Automatic Champ Burn
As we almost stop entirely selling new cards, we need to find an alternative revenue source for the game’s long-term stability.
The goal of this change is to establish a foundational revenue stream outside of new content sales.
Simultaneously, we aim to introduce a clear value accrual mechanism for the CHAMP token.
Marketplace fees will increase from 5% to 15%
👉 13% allocated as revenue for Ultimate Champions (fee divided between buyer and seller).
👉 2% dedicated to automatically burning CHAMP tokens 🔥
Tiered fees
The increased fee may become steep for larger purchases, so we’re implementing tiered fees based on the purchase amount.
Here are the initial thresholds we’ll start with:
- 0–1000$ — 15% fee
- 1000–2000$ — 13% fee
- 2000$-5000$ — 11% fee
- 5000$+ — 9% fee
Disclaimer: these thresholds are up to change in the future depending on card floor prices.
Minimum rarity listings
We’ll also introduce a minimum listing price based on card rarity to enforce fees.
Current values: Epic (3$) — Mythic (30$) — Unique (300$)
Distribution method changes
Up until now, cards all had an equal chance of dropping in rewards or packs, whatever their current circulating supply.
This in turns devaluated the value of cards that were released sooner in the game, and preventing new cards to get into circulation fast enough.
Cards that have less circulating supply will have an increased chance to drop as rewards!
Expected timeline
The sustainability update will be deployed progressively in 3 different updates:
- Update 1: Distribution changes
- Update 2: Card Burner & Condition Bonus changes
- Update 3: Auctions, Marketplace fees, Premium Packs removed
Closing notes
Exploring new possibilities is essential for discovering the perfect balance: a sustainable model for web3 games.
We have complete faith in our community’s strength and it’s together with you all that we’re prepared to make this sustainability leap.
In the coming days and weeks, we’ll eagerly listen to your feedback and address it before launching anything.
Thanks for your patience, passion, and unwavering support for Ultimate Champions.
There’s plenty of exciting news coming your way in the months ahead — stay tuned!
We’re only getting started.
Pierre — Co-founder & Ultimate Champions Team
