NFTs in games is set to become a new monetization option. Konami has already offered related purchases of games artwork in NFT form, and Ubisoft is experimenting with an NFT platform called Quartz – albeit not very successfully so far. The Games Developers Conference (GDC) has now published the annual “State of the Game Industry” report. That shows that the majority of developers are currently not interested in NFTs. Over 2,700 developers were surveyed.
So there seems to be a gap between publishers and developers, which is not surprising. The pressure to implement extensive microtransactions in games usually comes from the distributors, not from the developers themselves. When asked How interested is your studio in non-fungible tokens (NFTs)? 70% of the developers surveyed answered replied that there was no interest”. 21% said they were “somewhat interested” while 7% said they were “very interested”. Only 1% of developers were already working on games with NFTs.
Similar results emerged when asked, What is your studio’s interest in cryptocurrency as a means of payment? Here, 72% of the developers surveyed said they were not interested. 21% said they were “somewhat interested”. 6% were “very interested” and again only 1% said they already include cryptocurrency in their developments. According to GDC, while some developers have indicated that NFTs and cryptocurrency are “the future of gaming,” the overwhelming majority opposed the use of either.
The developers pointed out the danger of scams, climate damage and general problems with increasing monetization. Some developers saw no point in NFTs and cryptocurrency and drew comparisons to Ponzi schemes. Some developers have raised moral concerns due to the volatility of NFTs and cryptocurrencies. However, the publishers Square Enix and Sega also want to advance into this segment. So time will have to tell us whether the developers can defend themselves against it.