Nintendo NFT: Company says metaverse has ‘potential’ but still figuring out how to make it fun

Metaverse is certainly one of the commonly used buzzwords in almost every aspect of technology, including video games, right now. And when Nintendo was asked about it and NFTs (non-fungible tokens), the company reportedly said it sees a “potential” but still wondering how it could be fun.

It was not surprising when the metaverse and NFT hype reached the gaming industry in the last year. So far, several big and small developers have introduced initiatives to bring NFT collectibles as in-game items or features. But the three big console makers, including Nintendo, have yet to do the same. And it appears that there will not be any specific metaverse or NFT project coming from Nintendo anytime soon.

Nintendo held its latest financial results presentation this week with a Q&A session, where one of the questions was unsurprisingly about the metaverse and NFT. When asked what the company thinks about these, Nintendo reportedly said (via analyst David Gibson) it is interesting and sees the potential of the 3D virtual world.

However, the video game giant seemingly implied that it has nothing concrete planned yet. Nintendo reportedly said, “But we wonder what joy we can provide in this area and this is difficult to define right now.” Meanwhile, Gibson noted that Nintendo’s answer discussed more the metaverse and not mainly about NFTs.

The company is not entirely rejecting the possibility of metaverse projects. But the response provided seems like a good indication that Nintendo has nothing concrete planned yet in making its games and IPs available in the metaverse.

Nintendo’s answer might sit well with many video game fans. In recent months, as more developers and publishers announce NFT projects, many gamers’ disdain toward digital collections traded with cryptocurrencies has become more evident. Some have been arguing that crypto trading has yet to become more environment-friendly, while others simply do not see the added value in the overall gameplay experience of having NFTs in their favorite games.

Several gaming companies backed out of their NFT projects after widespread negative feedback from gamers. Ubisoft, which launched its own NFT trading platform Quartz late last year, said it expected the backlash. But the major publisher doubled down on its and told Finder that in-game NFTs that can be traded are good for the gamers “but they don't get it for now.”

Meanwhile, many video game fans applauded Xbox head, Phil Spencer, for his assessment of NFTs in gaming in an interview with Axios last November. “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,” Spencer said.

Photo by Felipe Vieira on Unsplash