For many, cannabis and video games have long been the perfect match. But for those looking to see if they have what it takes to cash in on the green rush without leaving their couch, a new video game may offer the perfect solution. Weedcraft Inc., a new tycoon themed cannabis game has just been announced by Devolver Digital.
Devolver has just released a trailer for the new game. Players will get the chance to start their own cannabis empire and to see if they can find success in an industry known for both its great success stories and entrepreneurial failures. From early indications, the game is reminiscent of the Sim City series, games that allow players to develop and govern their own fictional cities.
“Weedcraft Inc explores the business of producing, breeding and selling weed in America, delving deep into the financial, political and cultural aspects of the country’s complex relationship with this troublesome and promising plant,” Devolver said in the trailer’s description on Youtube. “Would-be Mary Jane moguls will need to prioritize resources carefully as they manage the production and distribution of their weed. Cultivate killer plants, cross-breed them to create unique strains of the devil’s lettuce, hire and manage a growing staff, and be prepared to take on the competition.”
The game addresses the shaky legal and political landscape within the cannabis industry. Players must consider cannabis laws when selling infused products and even have to lobby politicians to legalize it, that is unless they choose to go down a shadier route. Players can also opt to pay off law enforcement to look the other way as they try to build up their operations. But it is not as simple as lobbying or buying off police, those characters also have their own agendas, forcing the players into interesting scenarios.
Devolver thinks the timing may be perfect to release a cannabis-themed tycoon game.
“Right now, it’s like the end of Prohibition meets the Gold Rush,” said Scott Alexander, the game’s main writer according to Polygon.com “The federal illegality combined with the state-by-state legalization has created a financial morass and just a weird, interesting place. And we thought, ‘Well, that’s a tycoon game waiting to happen.’”
Weedcraft Inc. is expected to be released sometime in 2019.
