If you had actually dived into the replies of Twitch steamers and gaming YouTubers, it becomes blatantly obvious that gamers hate NFTs, they want nothing to do with it.
Q: “What do you think about NFTs?”
A: “It’s another cash grab scheme by gaming companies.”
CryptoBros: “nonono NFTs aren’t cash grabs! Don’t you see it’s good for you, true ownership so big studios don’t get to walk all over you. Check out this NFT land only $42000, oops sorry missed couple of zeroes there, only $4200000, buy it now to take control of your metaverse life in 2037.”
Gaming studios are piling into “NFTs” because they mainly see it as an effective monetisation method pre-production, in other words: cash grab like you’ve never grabbed before; and gamers could smell the bullshit from miles away.
This is in no way bullish for crypto/web3:
“BREAKING: Nintendo goes all-in on NFTs to embrace the future of gaming”
Nintendo:
Wait a minute, so you’re saying these people that’s been buying JPEGs before we had a name for it are against NFTs? Wot?
Their problem isn’t with crypto, it stems from the fact that gamers have been dancing with big studios monetisation methods for years now, from expansion packs to DLC to microtransactions etc. most gamers put up with it but are naturally resistant. Ironically their distrust in big corporations is what's pitting us against each other.
For once the crypto sceptics are right, because you simply don’t argue with the people you’re trying to onboard; listen to the users, failure to do so will keep the gaming vision a niche in the coming years.
“This is going to eat trad gaming’s lunch, no one’s going to play tard games ever again.”
Reality:
These are genuine remarks from real gamers, then it occurred to me: what kind of game has a whitepaper? LOL
Consider Le’ Star Atlas, the premier game on Solana boasting an all-star team with industry leading talents and backings from… yep you know the names.
Gaming experiences should first and foremost feel natural & unthreatening to gamers. Although we are the curious type, it’s less likely anyone would read a 300-page whitepaper and go “hmmm I don’t feel like I’ve fully grasped all the micro-economic details, if only there was anoth… oh a 300-page economics paper too? what a game…… what a game”. A bit of light reading before heading to the marketplace to purchase your favourite 5D VR spaceship(mortgage).
You know your product is too early when onboarding feels like a burden, lucky they aren’t shipping until 2050s so there’s that.
It could indeed be possible that full on AAA games are just too early for non-crypto natives at the current stage, we’ll have to let the market decide.
In the next writing I’ll be outlining a textbook “go to market” web3 application that could potentially make it.