Some of the major studios in the gaming industry have announced that they intend to put further plans for new blockchain and NFT-based play-to-earn games on hold for the time being.
Not long ago, GameFi was a big trend that every video game maker wanted to be a part of. The development of video games based on blockchain and NFT, in which cryptocurrencies are played – the so-called play-to-earn games.
In many of these games, players must complete moves successfully and are then credited with cryptocurrencies as a reward.
These can then often be used in the game, for example, to be able to buy better equipment, with the help of which higher game successes are possible.
Where does the change of heart come from?
A serious reason is of course the general crisis in the blockchain and crypto industry. In an environment that has lost almost 70% of its value in the last 12 months, many large studios currently see no investment case.
On the other hand, a number of game developers can no longer see any great benefit in the combination of cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
The speculative pricing and investment mentality surrounding NFTs diverts focus from gaming and encourages greed for profit, which we feel is inconsistent with our player’s long-term enjoyment and success.
– Mojang (Minecraft developer)
Many of the common crypto games have very little play value, it’s more about the investment and the return you can make in the time you play.
Many of these games are kept rather simple in terms of graphics, game structure, and fun.
More important than fun and content are quick and easy starts so that as many “players” or investors as possible can be addressed and encouraged to “buy”.
At the other extreme are games that embed valuable and expensive NFTs. There is a risk of a split in the player community if a few wealthy collecting “players” buys the most expensive NFTs and can thus dominate the game.
Withdrawn or on hold for now?
Among the big projects that will not be further developed for the time being or will be released later include Square Enix, with the Final Fantasy theme, or Zynga, which has postponed the release of the NFT-based game indefinitely.
Well-known game developer Mark Venturelli (Chroma Squad) also described NFT-based games and play-to-earn games as a nightmare, bad for the gaming industry, and completely contrary to his vision of video games.
Even developers from companies that are already successful in the crypto-play-to-earn segment, like Luke Silly, express serious concerns about the usefulness and the loss of the actual idea behind video games with this statement.
You can see from many other blockchain games that they are not really fun to play. Yes, you have the potential to earn a significant amount of tokens, and most of the time you get a good return on investment for the time played. But in general, they’re not that much fun, are they?
– Luke Silly
Developer Blowfish Studios (owned by Axie Infinity publisher Animoca)
A little ray of light
Contradicting these statements is a release of recent data from funding providers that GameFi and NFT gaming funding was the only sub-sector of the crypto industry to see growth over the past month.
Some game developers and industry insiders see a certain advantage in the big studios staying out of the blockchain-based video games space.
The developers of crypto-native game ideas would then have more space and time to develop their products and turn them into something useful.
The operators of the up-and-coming crypto gaming platforms Battle Infinity and Tamadoge hope so too. For their part, they promise to bring together the best of both worlds in their developments, both from the Kyoto world and from the gaming world.
