In a recent interview with Axios, head of Xbox Phil Spencer talked about the platform’s plans in the growing NFT sector. During the interview, he said that NFTs currently seem to be more exploitive than they are about entertainment. NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens) are digital assets such as images, videos, and music that can be sold to buyers via a blockchain system.
What this essentially means for games is that in-game items such as collectible cards, unique skins etc. can be sold for real money, and given the fact that every NFT is unique, developers or item owners can demand specific prices for digital goodies. Spencer didn’t completely deny the possibility of using NFTs in gaming, as most parties are still figuring out how to best make use of the technology in the medium.
“What I’d say today on NFT, all up, is I think there’s a lot of speculation and experimentation that’s happening, and that some of the creative that I see today feels more exploitive than about entertainment,” he said.
“I don’t think it necessitates that every NFT game is exploitive. I just think we’re kind of in that journey of people figuring it out. I think anything that we looked at in our storefront that we said is exploitive would be something that we would, you know, take action on,” he added. “We don’t want that kind of content.”
Ubisoft and EA are two prominent publishers who already have plans for implementing NFTs into their games. EA wanted to use NFTs in its sports titles, however the FIFA organization’s renewed terms prevent the developer from using the technology in the game.