Dr. Disrespect reignited the crypto/NFT/web3 debate this past week after he expressed excitement about trading a blockchain commodity for a six-figure sum. What makes his confidence particularly dangerous is that he’s working on an extraction shooter that could incorporate this idea. Billed as a free-to-play game, Deaddrop technically does not require NFTs. But the first few times saw developers, Midnight Studio, selling early developer “Snapshops” via “access passes,” which is a worrying sign of worse things to come, especially after Dr. Disrespect’s recent statement.
Dr. Disrespect is overly confident in talking about NFTs in 2023.
It’s one thing to say a game isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme or a money-grab and another to practically salivate at the possibility of turning it into one.
Remember, we are already two years away from the short and very short golden age of NFTs. Square Enix and Ubisoft, among several other more “mainstream” video game companies quickly found that the technology behind NFTs is still too early to become as big as it could be. As a result, Ubisoft has since gone back on its previous announcements while Square Enix has started its largest NFT supporter. On the other hand, several video game companies such as Take-Two Interactive, Electronic Arts, Microsoft and Valve have either distanced themselves from blockchain technology or warned against its use despite seeing its potential.
We can only assume that Dr. Disrespect is either delusional or he knows something we don’t.
Imagine trying to “unwrap” an item you discovered worth $100,000 on the chain.
Think entertainment value as viewer let alone player.
A new pvp experience is upon us…
— Dr Disrespect (@DrDisrespect) March 5, 2023
It’s not that we’re against expensive digital goods being sold for real money. This lucrative market has been around for decades. For example, the most expensive CS:GO skin is believed to be the Karambit Case Hardened (Blue Gem), which reportedly sold for $100,000 in 2016. The current owner claims to have received offers from seven-figure buyers since then.
In theory, Dr. Direspect’s idea could work. In practice? It is much easier said than done. We should look no further than Axie Infinity, a game that made mainstream headlines to earn a ton of people making a boatload of money, at least this was before the economy finally collapsed. It wasn’t even very good as a game, but it piqued the interest of thousands, if not millions, who wanted to strike gold.
Many games have tried and failed since and many more are still trying to prove that the idea can work, and maybe it can. Who knows? But the market is full of bad examples and very few if any good ones.
You can’t just change the purpose of gaming from providing actual entertainment and value to making it about money and expecting things to go smoothly. You can only imagine the problems Deaddrop will have after cheaters flood the servers to make money. If he had just said this and released the game in 2021, most people would have seen his ideas in a different light.
Unfortunately, he didn’t. In 2023, the promise of a blockchain game that actually works well for all parties involved sounds like a pipe dream.
If it’s any consolation, Deaddrop has potential. Dr. Disrespect claimed that his game already looked better than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and while this still isn’t the case, it could be. The game certainly has the right team behind it, including previous Call of Duty stuff. We just don’t think Deaddrop will be the game to bring NFTs back into the mainstream and make it stay there, let alone compete against Call of Duty.
