If you’ve witnessed the web3 games boom of 2021, then you’d already be familiar with the terms like ‘Blockchain’ and ‘NFT’. While the state of Web3 Games may not be in great shape in today’s time, it looks like a few companies are still trying to win over people, with fancier terms like ‘AI’ now. One of these companies includes ‘Ultra Games Limited’, which is currently working on ‘Paradise’; heck, the company called it a GTA 6 rival, too. But turns out that they’re entirely a scam. Let’s see why it’s been catching so much attention!
Also Read: Everything We Know About MindsEye So Far
Deceptive Claims
Ultra Games Limited, the company behind ‘Paradise’, initially made some claims that seem too good to be true. Given that the company is a newly incorporated one, they likely said these things to gain the attention of gamers. A bunch of people even called them out on these claims. Let’s take a detailed look at all the claims that they’ve made in the past!
Sony & Tencent Partnership
The developers of Paradise, Ultra Games Limited, have made bold claims on their website. According to them, they have partnered with big companies like Sony Interactive Entertainment, Tencent Games and Miha Tour! According to them, these companies “underscore global collaboration and innovation capabilities”.
But that’s not true! Ultra Games has shared no proof of their partnership with any of the mentioned companies. If you think about it, these bold claims are likely being made only because they’re a very new company. To gain the trust, they’ve used the names of companies that are big and trustworthy in the eyes of the gamers!
Influencer Integration
About 6 months ago, the developers released an official trailer for the game. In one of the sections, they showcased a feature about talking to Influencer avatars! They said, “Play and talk with avatars of Influencers, powered by AI”. Not only that, but they also showcased a bunch of popular streamers and gaming influencers, like Pokimane and Ali-A.
All sounds good, right? I mean, you’d think, all these influencers who were featured in the video are working with the game developers? Well, you’d be shocked to know that none of the influencers who are actually in the video were associated with the game. They didn’t even know about it until their fans started sending them the clip directly. After which, the managers of a few influencers later clarified that they’re not associated with Paradise in any way.
Epic Game Fiasco
It turns out, not only have they pulled out a fake marketing stunt by showcasing the influencers, but they even tried the same thing with Epic Games. A previously released trailer for the game showcases the Epic Games Store logo right at the start, which, if you didn’t know, hints at a partnership with Epic Games.
Right after that, JetroYT, a popular YouTube content creator, was quick enough to reach out to Epic Games. He asked them if they were associated with Paradise in any way, to which Epic Games replied that they’re not associated with the game. Even today, if you go to the Epic Games store page of the game, it says that Epic Games does not encourage the purchase or sale of any “digital asset.”
Different Game Versions
Have you ever heard of a game having two different versions on two different stores? Well, that was a first for me as well. If you’re confused about what I’m talking about here, then have a look at it yourself!
Steam vs Epic Games?
You’d be surprised to know that the Epic Games Store version of the game and the Steam version of the game are two entirely different games, at least as per the listing! Usually, when a game gets released on both platforms, the listing remains entirely the same. But if you notice closely, both versions are very different.
While the Steam version of the game just says, ‘Paradise’, on the other hand, the version on the Epic Game Store reads, ‘Paradise XRPL’. It does seem a bit off when you also notice the difference between the screenshots that both listings had. On the Epic Games Store, the listing mentions a marketplace, which is surprisingly missing entirely on the Steam version!
Blockchain Games on Steam
Well, if you’re confused about the difference, let me clear it out for you! You see, back when the initial web3 games burst happened in 2021. Steam was very clear with their polices, so they outright said that no Blockchain games would be allowed on their platforms. While Steam allows AI games, with a written disclaimer, they are strictly against blockchain games.
So, to get a listing on the Steam store, they made a listing different from the Epic Games Store version. A listing that entirely removes any mention of NFT, Blockchain or Web3! It does make sense, though, given that most PC gamers use Steam, so to captivate the player base, they released it there, too. It somehow worked for them. As of now, Paradise has over 75,000 followers!
Here Comes Another Launcher…
Even after so much confusion related to the game versions on the store, you’d think they would clear up everything? But no, the developers decided to mess it up even more! On the day the demo was supposed to be released, they announced that the game would be available on an entirely different platform! Mind you, the Steam and Epic Games launcher listings are still up as of now.
So they announced that their game would be available on this app called GGem Launcher, which is supposed to be a game store like Steam, but for Web3 games. Just a few days back, some users also reported that they noticed unusual CPU spikes on their PC, right after the program was installed. While we don’t have any concrete evidence, it could mean that the launcher is mining some currency in the background!
Zero Transparency
Having some transparency with the consumer is very helpful for companies, especially the newer ones. Given that people have no trust in them, it is a very good opportunity for them to build some. But well, it looks like Paradise developers had a mixed response regarding their transparency.
Founding Team Presence
Ultra Games introduced the founding team, working on their game, with a post on Medium. The post had the names of each person and their designation, respectively. But you’d be surprised to know that none of the people have any online presence. While I understand that it’s a personal decision to be on social platforms or not. But without being aware of any prior experience, it’s a bit hard to trust the developers!
For gamers, a big part of trust comes when you can look at some of the other projects the developers have worked on in the past. Well, even if the Studio is quite new, it becomes easier for gamers to trust the developers based on their experience. I mean, just look at MindsEye, it is being developed by an entirely new studio with no experience. But just because of Leslie Benzies’ name, so many people are hopeful for the game!
Arrogant Responses
One of the worst things you could do as a company is not listen to the demands of your consumers! But you know what? Let’s take it up a notch, what about calling out the consumer in an arrogant way when asked some harsh questions? Well, that is exactly what the developers did on their X account.
In one of their FAQs, Paradise answered some questions. It’s hard to believe, but to one of the questions, the developers replied, “The game is free — you didn’t pay for anything. We’re developing this game with our own money, and you have no right to demand anything from us.” Such an arrogant response from a video game company wasn’t something I was expecting to see, but well, here we are.
The developers have themselves stated their game as a GTA 6 rival in the past. However, in the latest FAQ, they made an arrogant response to this question, too. When asked about why they compare themselves to Rockstar Games, their response was, “We have never compared ourselves to Rockstar Games. That’s your imagination. Any comparisons are happening only in your head.”
Unverified Office
We did some digging and found out something interesting. So the developers of Paradise, Ultra Games, claim to be based out of Hong Kong. However, if you go to the Publisher Index of Epic Games and search for them, there, the address of the developer is mentioned as Tbilisi, Georgia. This is a major issue that the developers should address!
So-called ‘Demo’ Gameplay
While the developers haven’t released the full game as of now, they did release a demo on the GGem platform. We couldn’t test it ourselves, but a lot of other people did. Let’s check out what they said about the demo!
Reused Assets
The first thing that most gamers noticed was the usage of pre-made assets. Gamers felt cheated as the trailer released showcased some next-level visuals in the trailer. But the actual game was much different. The developer’s event compared it to GTA 6, so the expectations were much higher. If you didn’t know, when pre-made assets are copied over to a game, it’s called as an asset flip.
If you head over to Steam, you’d notice that the store is filled with a ton of such games. A popular content creator, CYBER BOI on YouTube, made a video highlighting all the pre-made assets that the game uses in a detailed video. We recommend checking it out to learn more about the asset flips that the Paradise developers used.
Little to no work
A few people checked out the demo they released, and just by looking at the gameplay, it was clear that not much work had been done on the game. Initial impressions by users were bad, a few users even called the game ‘horrible’. Most of the criticism came as the game did not have the features that the developers advertised in their official trailer!
Lots of gamers complained about the character movement feeling off. Not only that, but the visuals were heavily criticised too, and are called basic by most people. The difference between the in-game screenshots and the store listing is significant. Most complains by users suggest that there isn’t really a lot to do in the game at the moment!
Another thing that was noticed after the demo build for released was that the AI feature that the developers were pushing out wasn’t in the game. While we don’t yet know the exact reason for it, it is most likely because the AI services require money. Given the amount of users playing the game, the feature would have been getting to expensive for them to maintain.
Not a ‘Rival’, but a ‘Clone’
Marketed as a GTA 6 Rival, I’d call Paradise a GTA clone. Well, because they tried to capture the GTA fan base. The official trailers tried to be like GTA 6, heck, they even used one of the umbrellas from the GTA 6 trailer in their own game. The loading screens are a 1:1 replica of GTA’s loading screen; calling it an inspiration would be a bit of a stretch.
I wasn’t sure about calling it a clone either, you know. Because, if you look for some GTA clones today, even the low-effort ones, the developers put a lot more work into it. We recently covered one such Vice City clone ourselves too, and were surprised by the game! However, this game it’s just a terrible scenario.
Crypto Scam?
Make way for my last point. Let’s discuss why the developers went through all this trouble and called their game Paradise as a GTA 6 rival.
Pump & Dump
The world of Cryptocurrency is a weird one. I never really quite got the hang of it. But now that I’ve been searching for web3 games, I’ve learned a lot of new things. Given the history of such games, it looks like Paradise’s intention wasn’t supposed to be a game. Rather, it could be that Paradise was made just so that the Ultra Games Limited team could push out their cryptocurrency, $PAR. As it would benefit them in a way to make some quick money.
In the cryptocurrency world, the term ‘Pump & Dump’ is used often to describe a scam. So, based on my assumption, the developers intended to create hype. They tried to inflate the price of their currency, $PAR, using that. After the hype, a bunch of people would most likely purchase the currency, and after that’s done, the original owner would sell their overvalued currency. Thus, reducing the currency’s value, which leads to the other investors losing money too!
Do note that this is just my assumption on how the developers could be trying to push the $PAR currency. Aside from this, they released the marketplace within the game to make it easier for the trading of the currency. Not only that, but they even released an app for easier access to the marketplace. After the app got released, a few users started calling it out as a scam, as it wasn’t allowing the currency to transfer into their wallets.
Finals Thoughts
With that said, that was it for our analysis on the ‘Paradise’ game. Given everything we’ve covered so far, we would recommend that people stay away from it! While the marketing for Paradise may make it look like a great game, unfortunately, it’s not anything special, nowhere near being called a GTA 6 rival.
While such games would likely be around, did you know, the content creator Adin Ross was in an interview? He was discussing about his own GTA 6 server! He aims to make a server that would help people earn money in real life! But most of the fans are already not very hopeful, as a large part of the crowd just wants to gain entertainment out of the game. Their focus is not on earning real money with video games!
