'Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night' to Let Players Mine Cryptocurrency: Real Feature or April Fools Prank?
"Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night" has recently posted a development update about their new feature, one that will supposedly let players mine cryptocurrency while playing the game. Given that the announcement came out on Easter Sunday, April 1, though, it might be best to wait for confirmation on whether or not this is another April Fools' Day prank.
"Bloodstained" is the gothic-themed platformer from the acclaimed designer of the genre, Koji Igarashi, known for his creative leadership throughout the many classic games of the "Castlevania" series. The game is now being funded in significant part by a Kickstarter campaign, one that has already collected more than $5.5 million in pledges from 64,867 Kickstarter backers as of this time.
These backers are major fans of the "Igavania" genre, so on Sunday, a surprise announcement supposedly from Roberto Piraino, "Bloodstained" brand manager for the game's publisher 505 Games, was a huge occasion for them.
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"Hello everyone, today we are proud to announce something truly unique and groundbreaking that no other videogame out there has done... Players will have the option to mine cryptocurrency while playing Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night!" the announcement read.
It would have been a unique feature they are adding to the game if the feature pushes through, and the announcement also added that by the time "Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night" comes out, the title would support in-game mining for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Zcash.
More cryptocurrencies were supposedly being considered for a later date, with players able to link their wallet of choice to the game's mining feature according to Sunday's announcement.
Piraino, however, dashed the hopes of the players looking forward to mining some virtual currency in "Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night." In a comment dated April 2, the brand manager quickly cleared things up.
"Hello everyone! Unfortunately we let our guard down and Gebel took over all our online communication platforms, including Kickstarter, to play this evil joke!" Piraino explained.
"I can officially confirm that there will be NO features in Bloodstained related to cryptocurrency," he emphasized, while also noting that not all of the development update was a big April Fools prank.
One of the screenshots did show that players of "Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night" will have several cosmetic options for their character, with settings for whether to display or hide the headgear, accessory, or scarf.
While the cryptocurrency mining feature was an April Fools' Day prank, "Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night" is indeed set to come out this year, even if development delays may leave some supporters uncertain. The platformer is also coming out for the Nintendo Switch, after the team's decision to drop the Wii U in favor of the hybrid console.
Prank or not, the post was convincing enough that media outlets like Coin News Telegraph or the International Business Times picked up the story. Some of the commenters to the Kickstarter update also wished that the feature was really coming to "Bloodstained" later this year.
