Platinum Games bosses Atsushi Inaba and Hideki Kamiya have commented on one of the most buzzed-about topics in games lately, that being blockchain and NFT technologies. Speaking to VGC, Inaba–who is president and CEO of the Bayonetta studio–said the studio hasn’t given much thought to the blockchain/NFT space, but said the early examples have been less than idea. Vice president Kamiya reacted as well and said he wasn’t surprised to see Konami get involved in the space.
“I understand it’s a hot topic right now and it’s really starting to gain momentum, but the way that it’s gained momentum has been focused on profitability for the company, but with no positive impact on the creators or the users in any sense. So that’s frustrating to see happening,” Inaba said.
Inaba said he’s observed a trend that those wanting to get involved with NFTs are looking to make a quick buck. “The people who are trying to promote NFTs and partner with gaming companies, their conversations seem extremely one-sided. ‘Hey, you’re going to make money!’ But how does it benefit the user or the creator? If I want to spend my time on something, I want it to benefit making good games,” Inaba said.
The executive acknowledged that NFTs will likely have some place in the video game business going forward, but the early examples have left much to be desired in his eyes.
“As content gets more and more digital, I do think that NFT as a concept will gain more importance, but I think that the early adopters are just seeing it as a way to profit as much as possible. That’s not something I’m interested in being part of, to be honest,” Inaba said.
Also in the interview, Kamiya said he was not surprised to see another prominent Japanese game company, Konami, get involved with NFTs so quickly. “Not really. If it smells like money, Konami’s going to be there in a heartbeat!” he said.
“Honestly, I have zero interest in this subject. I think what Inaba-san just said really resonated with me because I consider myself a user at heart, more than a businessman. It doesn’t have any benefit for users at the moment. In the future, if it’s expanded in a way that has a positive side for users, then maybe I’ll start to be interested in what they do with it. But I’m not seeing that at the moment.”
The full VGC interview is stacked with interesting insight into the company and its future–go read it here.
NFTs, in particular, have been one of the most-discussed elements of games and the wider technology space for the past year or so. Recently, the indie games platform Itch.io slammed NFTs and the companies that support them. Check out GameSpot’s roundup to find out more on where video game companies like Ubisoft, EA, Nintendo, EA, and Xbox stand on them.
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