Can NFT technology be used for good?

Off the Grid is the upcoming battle royale game from Gunzilla Games, and during a recent interview with the studio’s CEO at Gamescom, we discussed the evolution of the battle royale genre and the proper implementation of NFTs.

Gunzilla Games recently announced that it had completed a funding round that raised $46 million to “redefine the battle royale genre” with its upcoming free-to-play AAA battle royale game, Off the Grid, which will launch on Xbox Series X |S next year. We had a chance to speak with Gunzilla CEO Vlad Korolev at Gamescom to discuss how blockchain and NFT technology can help shape the future of video games.

Gunzilla Games is convinced that NFTs are the future of video games

NFT, or Non Fungible Token, is possibly one of the most controversial acronyms to appear in the video game space in recent years, or ever for that matter. We have seen many companies perform complete u-turns very shortly after announcing their plans to introduce NFTs to their games due to player fury, within 24 hours in some cases. What if NFTs were used sensibly, aiming to benefit a gaming community instead of lining the pockets of someone who traded junk for people’s hard earned money? Gunzilla’s CEO and co-founder Vlad Korolev seems to believe the studio can do just that, and if it can, there’s potential for Gunzilla to redefine not only games in the battle royale genre, but the AAA live service model as a whole.

“We believe that when players invest their time, it’s the same as paying for something because they’re paying us with their time, and they have to own what they’re paying for.”

“From our point of view at Gunzilla, people mostly treat NFTs as a product where someone sells stupid pictures for tons of money and then loses money,” Korolev said. “For us? We can avoid the definition of NFTs entirely. We don’t sell gimmick art; we just use the technology.” All of the assets in Off the Grid that can be found by players will be stored as NFTs on a decentralized blockchain server, but Korolev was quick to point out that this does not mean Gunzilla will “follow any misleading sales streams” and it will “never sell NFTs” to players.

Off the Grid will be completely free to play, and any player who doesn’t want to take part in buying or selling items in the game will be free to experience everything without spending a dime, while still having the same chance to find same loot and items as the other players. Korolev assured us that players will never see the blockchain side of the game, nor will they be asked to provide any personal details, as everything will work in the background. The functionality is only there for players who want to use it.

“We are not a game to make money; we are a traditional game that believes that NFT is the only technology that can allow us to build decentralized trading between players,” Korolev said. “Imagine that every item you collect, some of them could be worth $20,000, $10,000 or whatever. They would belong to you and no one else, and you would be able to control the asset or sell it on a third-party marketplace, and no one could prevent you from doing so.”

“That’s what we at Gunzilla believe, that this new progression and monetization model will become very familiar and standard in games in the future,” Korolev said. “We want to be the very first title to open the doors to the rest of the gaming community.”

Gunzilla certainly paints a pretty picture with its plans to implement NFT and blockchain technology into Off the Grid, but as a AAA title heading to the console, it’s going to have a hard time winning players over to the formula. As it currently stands, many players are skeptical of the technology, and if Korolev has any hope of successful player uptake, Gunzilla will have to stand by his word that NFTs will never be forced upon the game’s community or directly sold to them . After speaking with the Gunzilla boss, we’re definitely interested to see how this plays out, and if what the studio says is indeed what will happen, Off the Grid could be the game to watch in 2023.

The same interview gave us some insight into Off the Grid’s gameplay, world building and asset creation. The game itself sounds ambitious without the added blockchain functionality, and it has the potential to be a great battle royale game for that alone.

What do you think about the use of blockchain in the upcoming battle royale game? Can NFTs be used for good, or should the industry leave them well enough alone? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think.