Fortnite has been at the forefront of the metaverse race in the gaming industry. In an era where the future of the metaverse is inconceivable without blockchain-powered tokenization, NFT integration on Fortnite was a much-awaited stride.
However, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has some bad news for Fortnite gamers and NFT enthusiasts.
Replied:
We aren’t touching NFTs as the whole field is currently tangled up with an intractable mix of scams, interesting decentralized tech foundations, and scams.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) September 27, 2021
He publicly turned down what is assumed to be an NFT-collaboration pitch, citing widespread scams as the reason for his reservations. The tweet has garnered some interesting comments from netizens.
While some compare it to saying “we don’t use email because there are email scams”, some back the argument as ‘artificial scarcity for ones and zeros is a scam’.
All meaningful NFT activity is occurring on chains which are on environmentally friendlier Proof of Stake or moving to Proof of Stake in the imminent future.
Imagine if we chose not to adopt the internet cuz it was riddled with scams, pedophiles, and malware in the early days
— shizcrey 🏴☠️ (@Shizcrey) September 27, 2021
Hey Tim, big Unreal and Epic game fan here. In fact Unreal Tournament was one of my first FPS. Let me tell you one thing, you’re gonna miss the web3 train hard, and you’ll regret it one day. Allowing web3 and NFT capabilities into UE5 would be a revolution. Hope you will realize.
— ツ (@WrongNebula) September 27, 2021
Fortnite’s journey to the metaverse
Fortnite is a free-to-play cross-platform game launched in 2017 by Epic Games. Actively joining forces with top projects and presumed competitors in the industry, it is one of the first gaming projects led by an interoperable vision. It has grown to become a global phenomenon hosting millions of players every day.
As the platform garnered massive attention, Fortnite introduced exciting new social features including voice chats, dance parties, and live concerts. Early in 2019, Fortnite hosted Marshmallow in its first-ever in-game concert. In 2021, more celebrities joined the club, including Travis Scott and Ariane Grande. The social VR spectacles on the platform are considered its stepping stone into the metaverse.
Currently, V-Bucks serves as the in-game currency in Fortnite. It is used to purchase things like outfits, pickaxes, wraps, emotes and Battle Passes. With the upsurge of cryptocurrencies and NFTs, many gaming platforms have made the move to crypto payments and asset tokenization. In fact, NFT marketplaces are flooded with in-game assets worth a fortune today. While Fortnite’s metaverse ambition is still going strong, it has to be concluded that the gaming platform won’t be venturing into NFTs anytime soon.
“It’s not that digital items must inherently lack utility: I own movies on Amazon Video and outfits in Fortnite, both of which convey ongoing experiential value just like theatrical movies and clothes. But NFT ownership of a .gif and Twitter likes of a .gif seem…fungible,” Tim Sweeney says.
Although skeptical about NFTs, he seems to be in favor of Web 3 in general. He retweeted a post that lists out why decentralization matters, leaving a ray of hope for crypto gamers.
Web 1 (roughly 1990-2005) was about open protocols that were decentralized and community-governed. Most of the value accrued to the edges of the network — users and builders.
— cdixon.eth (@cdixon) September 26, 2021
