One year ago, Soul Keep was very close to being launched. There was a closed beta version playable on Splinterlands by significant pack purchasers in the presale and things seemed on course...
Then, the financial downhill accentuated for Splinterlands, followed by layoffs, reorganization, change in management, and so on, and Soul Keep was left on the back burner.
Without knowing many details, I'd say Splinterlands is in a better position today financially than a year ago, given that the bull market helps too, but more importantly, they take more calculated steps, which sounds better for the future.
The solution found for Soul Keep, to sell the game to its third-party developer firm, Double Coconut, left many who purchased packs in the game wondering what will be the future of the game.
It didn't help that there wasn't much public communication from Double Coconut, as far as I am aware.
Well, we finally have something. @clayboyn from the SPS DAO had David Fox, the CEO of Double Coconut in a sort of an AMA on the SPS DAO Hall. You can watch it here.
We learned a couple of things during the conversation and the QA session:
Soul Keep is slated to be released during Q2, David hopes it'll be more like mid-Q2 than end-of-Q2
There will be another beta testing session (closed or not) before the release
At the audience's suggestion, David is considering the option of allowing opening packs and combining them before the full release if they conclude it will add to the hype
They are working to build the multiplayer option into the game (from my understanding, before this Q2 release)
They won't have another pack sale in the immediate future after the game launch, as a rumor has been building up
They will sell tickets to tournaments, on the other hand, as a way to monetize the game; they will allow a few free tournament entries, however, from my understanding
Battle passes may be introduced in the game in the future; they are big fans of them;
They will find ways to market Soul Keep to Web 2 audiences probably in forms that don't have Web 3 monetization
They still want to integrate Splinterlands NFTs in the game, but they need to find a good way to do it; they won't be integrated from the start;
there won't be any other heroes at first, except the ones from the presale, but they plan to sell heroes since they are powerful for the gameplay
Soul Keep cards have a veterancy stat, that increases as the card is played in games that are won (by the owner or someone else - therefore there will be, maybe not at first, a rental market)
there will be a Soul Keep whitepaper that will include mainly things that are committed and relatively certain and not a roadmap
Soul Keep might have its own discord server or telegram, but they don't have someone hired to be a community manager; @clayboyn suggested there might be some people in the Splinterlands community who might help out on discord as voluntaries; David said there will be about two posts weekly, though.
Well, it's not bad for a first AMA. I believe Soul Keep has the potential to be a fun game for a wider audience than Splinterlands, if they keep at least some parts of it easy and nice for the casual player. Especially since I heard it will be easy to play on mobile. I don't have many packs, but I'm watching things with interest.
