Code of Joker game will reappear on smartphones in a new version via Sui blockchain

A new version of the Sega arcade trading card game Code of Joker is going to appear on the layer-1 Sui blockchain. Code of Joker: Evolution is expected to see the light of day on smartphones at the end of Summer and use nonfungible tokens ( NFT ) trading cards.

News of the upcoming game release was  greeted  with dozens of enthusiastic responses on X. However, one unimpressed commenter on X  said  in translation, “The only good thing about the announcement of ‘CODE OF JOKER EVOLUTIONS’ is that it may finally wrap up the unresolved storyline after six years.”

New life for a classic game

The intellectual property rights to the game were acquired by Japan’s Jokers, Inc. for development. Jokers, Inc. is run by Sega veterans. Co-CEO Yasuhiro Nishiyama produced Code of Joker for Sega. The other co-CEO, Wataru Sato, worked for Sega Toys. The game will run on Parasol, a game development platform whose acquisition by Sui parent company Mysten Labs was announced on March 7.

Code of Joker was an arcade game introduced in 2013. At its peak, there were 2,760 arcade units in 650 establishments. It was decommissioned in 2019. The game used digital cards from the beginning, with a machine in arcades that  allowed  players to transfer cards among themselves on physical memory cards. 

Mobile versions of the game, Code of Joker Pocket and Code of Joker Pocket Re:Birth,  existed  in 2017 and 2018. Code of Joker Pocket had 450,000 pre-registrants at its launch.

Code of Joker: Evolution is set in the Arcana universe, where agents and hackers  battle  each other for honor and world peace. It joins 13 other games for devices and/or desktops hosted by Sui. Sui  describes  Xociety, a role-playing shooter game “set in a deep Sci-Fi world” as its “flagship” game. Xociety is still under development but early access is expected soon.

Games are big on Web3 and getting bigger

According to DappRadar, gaming  accounted  for 30% of Web3 activity as of the first quarter of 2024. 

Jokers, Inc. co-founder Shun Mizouka  said  “Jokers has already secured multiple licensing agreements with major Japanese character IPs, and we’re excited to bring them onto Sui, further expanding the Web3 gaming landscape.”

A Japanese version of Code of Joker: Evolution is planned for release next year.

Sui is expected to  release  a handheld gaming device, SuiPlay0X1, priced at $600, in the latter half of this year as well. 

Sega also licensed its military-themed card game Sangokushi Taisen to the Oasys two years ago. It had more than 200,000 pre-registrants by November 2024. That game is  expected  to be released on March 25.

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