Pinoy animators develop ‘Rooster wars’ vs e-sabong

MANILA, Philippines — Several Filipino animators have developed a play-to-earn “crypto sabong” or blockchain-based game “Rooster Wars,” which can be an alternative to online cockfight.

The Rooster Wars developed by all-Filipino gaming studio MetaDhana seeks to put the Philippines on the emerging crypto-gaming world map currently dominated by Vietnamese created “Axie Infinity,” which Filipinos played during the pandemic to earn money.

Mikhail Jon Peñalosa, founder and chief executive officer of MetaDhana Studios, said he is excited about the launch of Rooster Wars PvP, a play-to-earn game that is fully developed by local and overseas-based Filipino animators.

“Rooster Wars is a fighting game that is very simple to play. Basically, it’s a rock-paper-and-scissors game,” Peñalosa told The STAR.

“At the same time, it’s really not that simple. May layers siya ng competitive play. Meron siyang block and evade mechanisms for the rooster to fight. And you can also customize your rooster,” Peñalosa added.

He said Rooster Wars can be an alternative to e-sabong, an online cockfight that thousands of people turned to during lockdowns.

Rooster Wars will also have token earnings for the winning players.

Peñalosa expressed hope that Rooster Wars would surpass Axie Infinity created by Metaverse gaming firm SkyMavis.

“Mga Pinoy talaga trend setter. In terms of anything online whether its social media, NFTs (non-fungible tokens or play to earn). Kumbaga palaging tayo ang nagmo-monetize (for the creators technology trends). But never, so far, have we created something ourselves,” Peñalosa said.

“That’s why we did this in the first place,” he added.