‘Doctor Who' Blockchain Trading Cards Game Will Release In 2021

BBC Studios has partnered with Reality Gaming Group to create a blockchain game about the popular series, Doctor Who. "Doctor Who: Worlds Apart" is a blockchain-based digital trading card game to be released on PC in 2021 and on mobile devices at an unspecified date.

This is BBC Studios’ first foray into putting its intellectual property (IP) into the blockchain.

Reality Gaming Group said the licensed game being developed will enable fans of the series to collect and trade digital versions of the characters in the iconic TV series. Each trading card is a non-fungible token (NFT) secured on the blockchain. An NFT is a unique asset on the blockchain that cannot be copied, replicated or even tampered with. This means every card on "Doctor Who: Worlds Apart" is unique and has no copies anywhere.

The company plans to release limited edition packs that contain five digital cards in October 2020. These limited edition cards will not be sold again and can only be obtained through trading. Some cards will be rarer than others and will feature characters from Doctor Who’s entire library that spans 41 years, 26 seasons, 12 series and 861 episodes.

In a statement, Reality Gaming Group’s Tony Pearce said, "The cards used in Doctor Who: Worlds Apart are both functional and collectible, so fans can actually own a piece of the game while they play."

The company also developed and published Reality Clash, an AR combat game that utilized blockchain. Finally, it set up a digital asset trading (DAT) platform for trading assets on the blockchain. Cards from "Doctor Who: Worlds Apart" will be trading on that platform although the company told Coindesk that cards will be available on third party platforms like OpenSea eventually.

"Doctor Who" joins Star Trek as one of the few IPs that put its characters into the blockchain. Blockchain games remain very popular despite the rise of decentralized finance, which are also decentralized apps. According to State of Dapps, blockchain games Splinterlands and Axie Infinity are the second and seventh most popular decentralized apps today.

In a statement, BBC Studio licensing manager John Kavanagh said, "This is what BBC Studios does so well, exploring new technologies and bringing our most iconic brand to an area of the gaming industry which we’re sure will engage and thrill fans."