A best-selling children’s fantasy book from the 1980s is to be revived as a card game using blockchain technology.

Computing titans Microsoft, Eidos, and Fable will be setting up a combined development studio to bring ‘The Way of the Tiger’ back to life through modern technology – and they’re even drafting in original authors Jamie Thomson and Mark Smith.

Set in the fantasy world of Orb – where the reader takes the part of a young ninja on a quest to avenge his foster father and recover stolen scrolls – the digital remake will be called ‘Arena of Death’.

It will pit player against player in fantasy card battles, with the same characters, skills, and magic of the original series.

Award-winning author Jamie Thomson will be CEO of the London-based project as he brings his ninja-fuelled, samurai-packed game to blockchain.

The right time

“It felt like the right time,” he said.

“We were going to relaunch the series into a computer game format, but this new technology just made more sense.

“Imagine playing Magic the Gathering but knowing if you owned a card, it really does belong to you. Or if we say there are only 100 editions of an item or skill, you know there really are only 100 editions.”

In the last two years, the concept of owning what are called ‘non-fungible tokens’ as part of the gaming world has become increasingly popular, with revenues of hundreds of millions.

Games such as Gods Unchained and Neon District have taken full advantage of this technology in order to bring more value to cards and items.

‘The Way of the Tiger’ will launch on the VeChain Thor blockchain – a blockchain which has been largely associated with enterprises and supply chain management.

Mr Thomson said blockchain was chosen “due to its ability to scale and create our cards and items without having to deal with all the crypto stuff”.