Disney’s gaming arm is “paying attention” to blockchain trials, but is not invested for now
Gaming has had some serious whiplash on all things web3, blockchain and NFT related lately, with a number of companies jumping on the bandwagon (some to massive backlash) and others playing more cautiously. Now we can go ahead and add Disney’s gaming arm to the “currently not interested” column.
In an interview with Disney VP of Disney, Pixar and 20th Century Games Luigi Priore told IGN that while Disney is currently keeping a close eye on the industry and observing the changes and trends to see what will ultimately stick, it has no to do. announcing blockchain projects for now.
“It’s a whole new area,” says Priore. “We always follow what is happening there. We look for these successes to say: where does it go? Because there have been a lot of very high-profile failures, and there haven’t been a lot of high-profile successes. Do we watch it and pay close attention? We are. We’re not announcing anything, we don’t have anything to talk about right now, but as the industry changes, we’ll be there with it.”
In a follow-up statement to IGN, a representative for Disney Games clarified that the company has no plans for NFT or blockchain games.
Blockchain technology, including assets such as NFTs, have been controversial topics in play in recent years for a variety of reasons, including concerns about potential fraud plus concern about environmental impact. Proponents argue that the technology can be used to create unique in-game items that are truly and wholly owned by individuals and can then be bought and sold. Opponents have noted that there have been few if any blockchain use cases in games thus far that could not be replicated with other existing technology, and games that have implemented them tend to focus aggressively on monetization—and doesn’t actually benefit most of their players. In a survey at the Game Developers Conference this yearonly 28% of game developers were interested in implementing NFTs, while 27% were interested in cryptocurrency as a payment tool.
While a number of companies (incl Square Enix, Ubisoftand Epic games) have jumped on the blockchain and NFTs bandwagon in various capacities, ranging from turning a Cloud Strife figure into an NFT to simply being open to or investing in blockchain games, others (including Valve, Take-twoand Xbox) have been far more cautious or direct against the idea. Some companies, such as Stalker 2 developer GSC Game World and Worms is developed by Team17 has announced NFT projects to significant backlash, and has since withdrawn its plans as a result.
You can check out everything that was announced today during the Disney and Marvel Games Showcase here.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
