Is the anti-NFT movement working? Voice actor Troy Baker and Team 17 drop plans, EA's...

[midian182]

Why it matters: Is the backlash against NFTs within the gaming industry having an effect? While some companies continue to hold on to the claim that non-fungible tokens are the way forward, others, including The Last of Us actor Troy Baker, Team 17 and, to a lesser extent, EA, aren’t so sure.

Baker, whose voice can also be heard in Bioshock Infinite, Fortnite, and more, had been a much-loved gaming personality until two weeks ago when he announced a partnership with VoiceverseNFT. The company says it lets people buy and sell AI voiceovers in NFT form that can be used in games.

Baker’s decision to join the project did not go down well with fans. He also managed to exacerbate the bad feelings by tweeting: "You can hate. Or you can create. What'll it be?"

Not unexpectedly, Troy was faced with plenty of the former from gamers and those in the industry. People raged against the environmental impact of NFTs, the danger that he was depriving other voice actors of work, and the wording of the tweet, which he later admitted "might have been a bit antagonistic." Nevertheless, Baker didn’t back down, but he finally threw in the towel on Monday:

Thank you all for your feedback and patience. After careful consideration, I’ve decided to not continue the partnership with VoiceVerseNFT. Intentions aside, I’ve heard you and apologize for accusing anyone of “hating” just by simply disagreeing with me.

— Troy Baker (@TroyBakerVA) January 31, 2022

It’s not just Baker who seems less loving of NFTs. In November, EA CEO Andrew Wilson called non-fungible tokens “the future of our industry.” However, Wilson’s enthusiasm seemed to have cooled when he revisited the subject in a recent earnings call, possibly the result of the backlash from those who buy the company’s games.

"I believe that collectibility will continue to be an important part of our industry in the games and experiences that we offer our players," Wilson said. "Whether that's as part of NFTs and the blockchain, that remains to be seen. And I think, the way we think about it is, we want to deliver the best possible player experience we can, and so we'll evaluate that over time. But right now it's not something that we're driving hard on."

Team17 is today announcing an end to the MetaWorms NFT project.

We have listened to our Teamsters, development partners, and our games’ communities, and the concerns they’ve expressed, and have therefore taken the decision to step back from the NFT space.

— Team17 (@Team17) February 1, 2022

Additionally, developer/publisher Team 17 received so much criticism after revealing it would turn its Worms characters into (non-game) NFTs that it pulled the project 24 hours after announcing it.

Not everyone has lost their faith in NFTs. Ubisoft recently doubled down on them, again, insisting that gamers just “don’t get it.”

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/93227-anti-nft-movement-working-voice-actor-troy-baker.html

 

[Geralt]

If Ubisoft stands its ground, I won't buy its games. It's just that simple.

 

[FaTaL]

NFTs are a bubble that will soon explode and everyone will be covered with sh!t

 

[Loli Pop Carbon]

After so many articles about it, I'm still like "what the hell is NFT?".

All I know is just buying digital items with crypto including the copyright. I read some articles but still don't get the idea.

 

[Dimitriid]

I don't think it will work in the long run I think Steph Sterling got it right: everybody universally loathed microtransactions at first until the industry wore down resistance by just keep trying over and over. Same story for loot boxes.

I wouldn't be surprised if the same story would happen with NFTs: early on right now there will be strong, continued backlash but they'll wear down the resistance of the notoriously unorganized and ideologically inconsistent gamers until they become normalized: Once a game many people really, *really* want to play like say GTA 6 goes for NFTs and refuses to back down we'll see tons of boycotts threads and noise around it only to still break all kinds of most selling game of all time record and at that time, NFTs will start getting normalized.

 

[Beerfloat]

After so many articles about it, I'm still like "what the hell is NFT?".

All I know is just buying digital items with crypto including the copyright. I read some articles but still don't get the idea.

Nah, you don't even get the copyright.

You get proof of ownership of a particular set of bits, which, by virtue of being digital, is also 100% duplicable.

There is no point to it. It is a solution looking for a purpose.

 

[stewi0001]

After so many articles about it, I'm still like "what the hell is NFT?".

All I know is just buying digital items with crypto including the copyright. I read some articles but still don't get the idea.

I think this video shared by @Puiu does a decent job explaining them:

 

[BSim500]

After so many articles about it, I'm still like "what the hell is NFT?".

Imagine Leonardo da Vinci had an art cloning machine. He used it to create an infinite number of identical Mona Lisa paintings and sold each for $100. Then he took a piece of paper, and on that piece of paper he wrote "I, Leonardo da Vinci, declare that the person who owns this piece of paper owns an extra special version of the Mona Lisa. That version is special purely because this piece of paper says it's special even though it's exactly the same as others sold for $100." Then he sold that piece of paper for $1 billion.

^ An NFT is that piece of paper. It's simply a piece of digital paper that says the piece of digital paper is valuable because the piece of digital paper says it is (literal circular logic). It is in no way, shape or form any guarantee that whatever thing that the piece of paper "promises" is valuable, unique, confers any anti-counterfeiting technology on the item (that's DRM) or even that the person selling you that piece of paper is the owner of, or has any legal right to sell you, whatever thing the piece of paper "promises" you is "yours".

NFT's only real positive use is to highlight stupid rich gullible people and sh*tty gaming / hardware companies to blacklist and avoid in future...

 

[MyIOnU]

Sorry we are not anti-NFT. We are just not that stupid rich and throw money around like that. But if we are, we will donate money to help unfortunate people instead throwing money into stupid stuffs like NFT.

 

[letsgoiowa]

It's truly bizarre how feisty people get about technology they don't understand at all, purely because The Powers That Be mandate they get angry.

 

[bviktor]

Everyone knows NFTs are only good for the seller. It's much like lootboxes. They obviously LIKE them. That's like asking if they like free money or not. Ubisoft simply thinks they can get away with it.

Only time will tell if that's the case. You, as a customer, vote with your wallet. So all you can do is boycott them.

Re:Troy, I think his most important and defining contribution has been Joel from TLOU, so it's definitely worth mentioning.

 

[ZedRM]

I only buy Team17 games on GOG. Not sure what GOG's policy is on NFT's, but I'm very much against it.

 

[scavengerspc]

But if we are, we will donate money to help unfortunate people instead throwing money into stupid stuffs like NFT.

Everybody says the exact same thing.

It would be kind to say that even 3% actually follow through.

 

[Hadakajime]

Not For Tcharity

 

[Danny101]

Someone in Florida put up their house as a NFT. Not sure if they have sold it yet.