The author of Ready Player One is making a doomed web3 Fortnite clone

rockpapershotgun.com:

In a real "no thanks, I hate it" move that seems to be aimed at making me, specifically, have some kind of coronary event, Walker Labs and Readyverse studios have announced a new battle royale game, designed with Ernest "I Tip My Hat To You, Sir!" Cline. Cline, who you will remember is the writer of Ready Player One, is apparently one of the co-founders of Readyverse, and I'm sad to see he's still in search of a second idea. Open (that's the name of the game, but it's in all caps in their press assets) is an "immersive multiverse filled with nostalgia-infused biomes featuring characters and cultural legends across iconic franchises", coming to early access this year. Also it somehow involves web3.

You will already have identified that the future of Open depends largely on how many "iconic franchises" sign up to have their shit wrecked in a less successful Fortnite. A Fornite that will, because it is aligned with web3, be populated by the sort of people who drive away all other consumers by being some of the most credulous and annoying people on Earth. Currently the list of confirmed IP is Reebok, the DeLorean car, and Ready Player One (nothing else Warner Bros. own is confirmed, which I find extremely funny, altough I suppose it's possible that the Ready Player One IP contains other IP nesting inside it, like an Alien chest-burster).

This may be why the teaser for the game has basically nothing in it except an Atari joystick and a character who looks like that guy from Cline's book. You can sign up to the waitlist for Open now to get in on the ground floor of the early access for a multi-mode Fortnite-alike that has less licensed skins, but does have branded trainers.

I wasn't going to write about Open. My limitless dislike for Ernest Cline's work - and I hope you're reading this, man - is well documented but is not in itself newsworthy, and this game is obviously going to be the sort of nag that gets three yards from the starting gate and then quietly falls over.