Art Collecting Game Occupy White Walls Officially Launches on Steam on July 8

Have all of this month’s game announcements from the likes of Playstation and Xbox failed to offer anything quite wacky enough to truly attract your curiosity?

Well, if hotel management simulations starring bears and train-based horror games weren’t quite up your alley, a new game from London studio Kultura Ex Machina might be worth a look.

After all, there aren’t many titles out there that fit into the rather unusual subgenre of art-collecting MMOs.

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The game, called Occupy White Walls is free-to-play and has just emerged from a lengthy incubation in early access, during which time the developers claim it’s amassed a grand total of 90k players, who have created “more than 102,000 digital art galleries”.

According to a press release, this has amounted to “almost 45,500,000 square metres of player-created art gallery space, 625 times that of Paris’ Louvre”, which certainly is a lofty claim.

As is the game’ stated goal, which, according to Kultura Ex Machina Founder and CEO Yarden Yaroshevski, is to: “democratise the often inaccessible and sometimes intimidating world of art”, by offering “a non-judgemental environment and a truly level playing field for both artists and the ‘art curious’ to get into the ‘art world’.”

The result of this is a game that hopes to attract both established art lovers and those who haven’t delved into art much before, utilising an AI called DAISY to help these players organise their galleries.

Originally having launched in Early Access back in 2018, the game has already had some rather interesting things happen within it, having seen what its developers refer to as the “biggest art heist in history” back in 2020, when “more than 2,300 artworks” from London’s National Gallery were imported into the game.

Whether the game succeeds in its mission to become: “part game, part ‘art platform of the future’” is yet to be seen, but given the track record of other metaverse-influenced projects, I wouldn’t be surprised if Snoop Dogg invests in his own gallery soon.

Make sure to follow us for more coverage of the modding communities of games like Elden Ring and Skyrim, which might possibly give this game a run for its money in the weird department.