6 stupidest things companies have said about NFTs in gaming

Blockchain The latest money-making trend has hit the video game industry, but nobody knows what it means. by Tomas Franzese Updated: Feb. 20, 2024 Originally Published: November 11, 2021 EA

Nguyen Tran NFTs, or Non-Fungible Tokens, are singular digital assets that use blockchain technology to make them wholly unique — and more valuable. Now, they’ve emerged as the latest fad in gaming.

Christian Petersen/Getty Images News/Getty Images Throughout early November 2021, NFTs have been heralded as the future of gaming in several earnings calls and other announcements for major video game companies.

Nobody can articulate how NFTs will actually function in games.

Except... Christian Petersen/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Shutterstock Here are 6 highlights from jargon-filled statements proving that NFTs and the blockchain are this year’s gaming vaporware:

Electronic Arts EA wants to use the FIFA license for NFTs and other experimental projects, and it just might lose the name entirely as a result. And yet, CEO Andrew Wilson can’t explain what a FIFA NFT might look like. EA

“The play-to-earn or the NFT conversation ... there's at some level, a lot of hype about it ... But it's still early to kind of figure out how that's going to work.” - Andrew Wilson, EA CEO & Director

Ubisoft While Ubisoft seems eager to embrace NFTs, its CEO says the company is still in the “starting to have a good know-how” phase. Huh? Ubisoft

Ubisoft “We've been working with lots of small companies going on blockchain and we're starting to have a good know-how on how it can impact the industry, and we want to be one of the key players here.” - Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft CEO

Discord Discord’s founder teased that the company was implementing NFTs, but the company pulled back on that initiative after severe backlash. And we truly mean severe . Discord

Discord “Thanks for all the perspectives everyone. We have no current plans to ship this internal concept.” :( - Discord Founder/CEO Jason Citron

Zynga Zynga is a mobile developer and publisher that popularized aggressive microtransactions in games. The company hired a Blockchain Gaming VP as part of a bullish initiative aimed at monetizing NFTs. Zynga

Zynga “Web3 token-based systems will allow us to innovate and deliver new forms of player value in our games, while also transforming how players interact with each other.” - Matt Wolf, Zynga Blockchain Gaming VP

Weiquan Lin/Moment/Getty Images Why do so many video game companies have such blind faith in NFTs? Bloomberg ’s Jason Schreier has an idea.

Investors love a good moneymaking scheme.

What about ... The Game Awards? Thankfully, NFTs are staying out of one gaming mainstay. JC Olivera/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Charley Gallay/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images “We’re not doing any NFT stuff.” - Geoff Keighley

6 stupidest things companies have said about NFTs in gaming

Nobody can articulate how NFTs will actually function in games.

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