A recent survey revealed that most game developers and their studios have no interest in developing or working with nonfungible tokens (NFTs) or crypto payments.
The survey released by the Game Developers Conference on Jan. 21 titled State of the Game Industry 2022 polled 2,700 game developers on their level of interest in NFTs and cryptocurrency. Results were less than favorable for gamers themselves, who have shown great interest in NFTs.
A resounding majority of respondents indicated that their studio is ‘not interested’ in cryptocurrency as a payment tool (72%) and is ‘not interested’ in NFTs (70%). Only 1% responded that they were already developing NFTs or already using cryptocurrency as a payment tool.
Of the 14 comments on NFTs and crypto from developers published in the survey, only one was generally positive, while the others ranged from backhanded to scathing. The only positive comment read “It’s the wave of the future.”
Another respondent intimated that the entire NFT industry is problematic when they said:
How this hasn’t been identified as a pyramid scheme is beyond me.
Other comments echoed concerns about the future state of the gaming industry if it embraces crypto and NFTs:
“They’re going to drive a wedge right in the heart of this industry. It’s going to become really clear what folks’ motivations are, and it’s not going to be pretty.”
The NFT market is currently driven by traders, collectors, and gamers. On OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace, trading volume is driven by collectible items. Currently, the Azuki collection has the highest seven-day trading volume on the platform with 27,163 ETH ($6.5 million).
Decentralized App (dApp) games that utilize NFTs account for about $35 million in volume over the past 24 hours. That volume comes from about 867,000 users according to DappRadar. According to Mordor Intelligence, when NFTs are integrated more broadly across the $178 billion traditional gaming industry, they will reach over 3 billion gamers worldwide.
Respondents shared a generally negative outlook on metaverse gaming, as well. Even though over 12 companies are now developing augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) devices for gamers to immerse themselves in games, the report stated that “about one-third of respondents believe the metaverse concept will never deliver on its promise.”
Related: Blockchain metaverse ecosystems gain traction as brands create digital experiences
Software giant Microsoft recently announced that it purchased gaming firm, Activision Blizzard, for $95 per share. Microsoft has shown no such disdain for the technology and plans to develop games designed to be played in the Metaverse with its newly-acquired brand.
