Japan’s Konami is looking to hire talent to advance Web 3, metaverse and NFT work
Japanese gaming giant Konami has revealed that it is hiring experts versed in the digital asset industry as it looks to incorporate Web 3 elements into its games.
According to the announcement, the firm says it will “recruit a wide range of system engineering and service development talent to deliver new experiences such as Web 3 and the metaverse.” The roles available cut across areas of business development, project management, legal and accounting, with new hires facing the possibility of being transferred to one of the Konami Group companies.
Konami revealed that it had been researching blockchain technology and its role in gaming. During the research, the gaming company decided to create a non-fungible token (NFT) trading platform to allow players to exchange their in-game digital collectibles for money.
“NFTs can be used in-game as items, as well as participate in fan communities and events, and interact with other series and communities to further expand the user experience,” Konami’s report states.
Applicants who scale through the hiring process will join the team to develop a “unique digital goods distribution platform” in line with Japanese regulations. Konami is the name behind titles such as the Metal Gear Solid series, Castlevania, Pro Evolution Soccer and Froggy.
Konami is no stranger to NFTs, having made inroads into the niche in January by launching digital collectibles to mark the 36th anniversary of the Castlevania franchise. The collection was made up of GIFs of parts of the gameplay, while the rest was made from the game’s map.
The drop in NFT activity is worrying
Konami’s push into NFTs comes at a precarious time for the asset class, given the decline in transaction volumes. At the start of the year, NFT trading volume was 17 billion, and the figure fell to $466 million in October, representing a 90% drop in activity.
“The fading NFT mania is part of a broader $2 trillion wipeout in the crypto sector, as rapid monetary policy tightening starves speculative assets of investment flows,” Bloomberg said.
Some major game companies’ decision to launch digital collectibles has been met with deafening criticism. Ubisoft’s attempt at NFT’s Quartz received backlash from the gaming community, with Nicolas Pouard, VP at the firm’s Strategic Innovation Labs, defending the offering by stating that “players don’t understand what a digital secondary market can give them.”
Despite the drop in NFT trading volumes and the sluggish start of Ubisoft’s attack, Konami can turn the tide to its advantage by learning from the shortcomings of its predecessors.
See: BSV Global Blockchain Convention panel, Blockchain: Data Power-Ups and NFTs for eSports and Online Gaming
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