The gaming world doesn't know what to make of NFTs.
These unique digital objects supported by
blockchain
technology (the one that underpins the entire network of cryptocurrencies) is an incipient financing channel in the cinematographic field, taking its first steps to empower artistic creators and promises to disrupt the financial world.
However, within the world of video games it does not find accommodation.
Speaking in silver, right now the rejection is widespread.
Until recently there were games whose main dynamics included NFTs and cryptocurrencies, but it would be unfair not to point out that these were rather simple applications than great elaborate games. That changed last December, with the first major foray by a powerful developer into the world of NFTs. We talked about Ubisoft with its Quartz platform, which intended to use NFT in some of its games. Two weeks after launching Quartz, transactions did not reach two dozen. About $2,000 for a project the company had been working on for several years. Users (and employees themselves) have complained bitterly over the past month. In any case, it is early to draw conclusions: the game in which Ubisoft implanted the NFTs was not a success,and everything they've done seems more like a trial and error experiment than an outright gamble. In any case, if Ubisoft's movement has shown us anything, it is the almost unanimous hostility of the gaming community to these practices.
This is not the first time something similar has happened. A few years ago the
gamer
community was stirred in the same way with the so-called
Loot Boxes
. It was a practice in which the player bought a mystery box (
loot box
literally means "loot box") that he did not know what was inside: the prize could range from something very common to something exceptional and very valuable. The most indulgent compared it to card packs, the most belligerent to slot machines; but what was undeniable was that paying for a
loot box
was something more similar to betting in a game house than, damn, playing a game of
Fifa
with a friend.
Many tore their clothes because they felt that the playful essence of video games was threatened but, purism aside, several European countries came together to regulate them under the premise that they were "disguised bets".
Internet times are exponential: in a single day the world can turn upside down a couple of times.
Since Christie's auction house sold an NFT for 57 million euros last March, the acronym has not stopped grabbing headlines: it is a fire that has been spreading throughout the digital universe.
A market with few regulations that has established itself better in other areas than in the one that, in principle, seemed more propitious: that of video games.
Image of the market of the 'Final Fantasy XIV'.
The
gamer
community pulls out its nails every time it senses a business excess. And its echo is not only heard in the world of video games but in the digital world in general:
YouTubers
,
twitchers
and
streamers
who have joined the NFT trend have received severe criticism from most of their audience. Let us agree, then, that it is a very divisive practice, which arouses as many passions as hatred. Ubisoft's position has replicas, of course, such as that of the powerful Valve, owner of the gigantic digital video game platform Steam (and developer of gems like
Half-Life
), which announced in November that it will not allow the use of cryptocurrencies or NFTs in Steam.
An intermediate position is that of the Japanese Square Enix. In a letter dated January 1, the company's president, Yosuke Matsuda, made clear the interest that the company (creator of the famous
Final Fantasy
saga ) has in claiming its share of the cake in this new (digital) promised land. . Matsuda's interest is not anecdotal, because let us remember that his company manages the most successful massive online role-playing game of the moment (and everything seems to indicate that for a long time),
Final Fantasy XIV
, whose own commercial framework (within the game there are even real estate speculation) fits right in with something like NFTs. It's just a matter of exchanging the fake money players trade with in-game for, say, bitcoins, to create a market
royal
.
The implementation (or not) of
blockchain
technology and NFTs in the gaming ecosystem will be one of the hot topics of this 2022 from which we have just removed the wrapping paper.
We'll see if Square and other developers are able to resist the temptation, but what should be done is not to lose sight of the playful aspect that surrounds the entire medium.
Playful, which by the way comes from the Latin,
ludos
, which means games.
Because at the end of the day that is what we call all this business: video
games
.
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