The Games Industry Doesn’t Want NFTs

It’s official – the games industry is saying ‘No Flipping Thanks’ to NFTs and blockchain.

For the past decade, the Games Developer Conference (GDC) has been running the State of the Game Industry Survey. The survey covers various recent trends in the industry, and how developers feel about them. Ahead of the next GDC in March, it turns out that most developers have no interest in incorporating NFTs in their games. When asked about interest in the non-fungible tokens, 70% of studios said they were not interested. Only 21% were somewhat interested, 7% were very interested, and only 1% are actually developing them currently.

Credit: GDC

Using cryptocurrency as a payment option is no different, with 72% of studios not interested. 21% are somewhat interested. 6% are very interested. Only 1% currently use it.

One studio says: “How this hasn’t been identified as a pyramid scheme is beyond me.”

Another reads “I’d rather not endorse burning a rainforest down to confirm someone ‘owns’ a jpeg.”

Finally, a third reads “Burn ’em to the ground. Ban everyone involved in them. I work at an NFT company currently and am quitting to get away from it.” 

easy money

Despite what CEOs like Yosuke Matsuda of Square Enix might want to do, the games industry does not want NFTs. Despite recognised backlash, it doesn’t seem to stop corporations from wanting to make an easy buck.

NFTs are riddled with environmental issues. And even if they weren’t, CEOs like Matsuda want to use them to turn games into work, rather than something that is intended as a leisure activity. Hopefully this survey will have some kind of effect. But it’s unlikely, because there’s money to be made.

Featured Image Credit: Bitcoin