KEY POINTS

  • EA earlier said NFT will play a crucial role in the video games industry
  • Ubisoft announced its plans to develop NFT and blockchain-based video games
  • Xbox Chief Phil Spencer feels the company is not yet ready to jump into the NFT bandwagon

Several major video game publishers have expressed their interests in Non-Fungible Token or NFT but unlike them, Microsoft's Xbox is a little cautious of the emerging trend.

Microsoft's Executive Vice President for gaming and the head honcho of Xbox Phil Spencer said he is cautious on how NFTs are being considered in the gaming industry. "What I'd say today on NFT, all up, is I think there's a lot of speculation and experimentation that's happening, and that some of the creative that I see today feels more exploitive than about entertainment," the executive shared in an interview with Axios.

He clarified that he does not think all NFT games are exploitative but just that the space is still new and the community is still in the process of trying to figure out the new technology. "I don't think it necessitates that every NFT game is exploitive. I just think we're kind of in that journey of people figuring it out"

Microsoft will be expanding access to its Xbox cloud gaming service to more devices including Apple's smartphones and tablets
Microsoft will be expanding access to its Xbox cloud gaming service to more devices including Apple's smartphones and tablets AFP / Ina FASSBENDER

Additionally, the executive noted the controversy surrounding NFTs in gaming, which he said, is an aspect no one wants to have in Microsoft's digital storefront. "I think anything that we looked at in our storefront that we said is exploitive would be something that we would, you know, take action on,” Spencer said. “We don't want that kind of content," he added.

"And I can understand that early on you see a lot of things that probably are not things you want to have in your store," the executive noted. For now, Xbox does not want to get into the NFT space but to focus on entertaining its player base.

The Xbox head honcho most likely would not want to invest in something controversial and unstable at a time when the gaming industry is still trying to figure out its full potential. Over the past months, more and more game publishers jumped onboard the NFT bandwagon.

EA, Sega, Square Enix, Epic Games, Capcom and Ubisoft have all announced their plans of getting a piece of the NFT pie. Electronic Arts think NFT technology is essential in the future of gaming while Ubisoft revealed its plans to develop play-to-earn NFT and blockchain-based video games.

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