Malkyrs

Malkyrs Studio introduced a hybrid physical-digital trading card game, allowing players to engage with tangible cards that could be upgraded and used in online battles. The core of its business was the sale of these physical cards, which contained Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. This enabled the cards to interact with a digital game client on PC, Mac, and was planned for the Nintendo Switch. Players would purchase starter packs and booster packs to build their decks, with revenues generated from these sales. The game, set in the fantasy world of Heptia, involved players choosing a champion and building a deck of 10 action cards to fight opponents. Each card was designed to be unique and upgradeable; as a card gained experience and leveled up through digital gameplay, its new attributes were saved directly to the physical card's embedded chip. This allowed for a novel trading experience where the card's digital history and evolution were traded along with the physical object.

The studio was established to merge the tactile satisfaction of traditional card games with the dynamic, persistent progression of video games. Malkyrs Studio initiated its venture with a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2015 to fund "Malkyrs: Les Arènes de l'éternité," which officially launched in November 2016. Following this, the company launched a second Kickstarter in December 2018 to fund an English translation and a Nintendo Switch port, raising €118,371 from 950 backers. However, the studio encountered financial difficulties. Despite efforts to find new partners, Malkyrs Studio was unable to secure the necessary funding to continue operations. In September 2019, the company announced it was closing down. Consequently, the studio could not produce the new set of cards or release the planned Nintendo Switch version from its latest campaign. The company did, however, make the game available for free on Steam and compensated its backers by sending cards from previous expansions.

Keywords: trading card game, TCG, NFC card game, phygital game, collectible card game, digital card game, Malkyrs Studio, Kickstarter game, Heptia, game studio closure, fantasy card game, interactive gaming, persistent progression, online card battler, PC gaming, upgradeable cards, physical-to-digital, NFC technology, Steam game, game studio failure