Activision Blizzard is seemingly gauging players’ interest in cryptocurrency and NFT products.
In a YouGov survey issued to players over the weekend, Activision Blizzard – which is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft – asked players how “interested” they were in a range of “emerging/future trends in gaming”.
Amongst standard innovations in the gaming industry, such as VR and AR, AI, cross play, and game subscription services, the company also sought players’ views on more controversial topics such as “metaverse gaming experiences, play-to-earn gaming (earn cryptocurrency, NFTs, or real currency) [and] NFTS (non-fungible tokens)” (thanks, GameRant).
So it seems Blizzard/Activision is trying to see if players are interested in crypto and n.f*t in games. I got a survey from them and it is on the survey. I said very disinterested to them. pic.twitter.com/dIT4bVokDK
— Okage Tadaka BlackLivesMatter StopAsianHate (@OTadaka) April 16, 2022
Activision is not the only company dipping its toe into NFTs, of course. Just last week, Sega producer Masayoshi Kikuchi said: “It is a natural extension for the future of gaming that it will expand to involve new areas such as cloud gaming and NFT”. Other companies interested in NFTs include Square Enix, Konami, and Ubisoft.
Not all companies share the same view, however. Platinum Games – the studio behind the likes of Bayonetta, Nier: Automata, and Babylon’s Fall – has shared its own perspective on the issue, calling the spread of the controversial tech “frustrating”, given it offers “no positive impact on the creators or the users in any sense”.
