1st issue — NFT’s in Video Game Industry
1st issue | April 2022
NFT’s in Video Game Industry
Good, Bad or Ugly?
Latest news + Interview with Rodney aka The Game World + April’s Fools Bract
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1st Page:
Hello gamers, welcome to the 1st issue of Game Taste Café (GTC) newsletter.
First let us introduce ourselves. Game Taste Café (GTC) newsletter is here to expand everyone’s knowledge of video games in every aspect possible. In each issue, we focus on a challenging somewhat underdog topic to see what’s new in the games world and what will happen in this industry’s future.
In this issue, we mainly talk about NFT’s and their role in video game industry. So if you were asking questions for a while that what are NFT’s? And, how could they get into video games? Well, this is your read.
This newsletter is presented to you by GTC studio, written by Tarokh Tarhandeh and designed by Shaghayegh Nazari.
If you have anything video game related to share with us, do not hesitate to contact us via these email addresses:
tarokh.tahrnadeh@gmail.com
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2nd Page:
News:
1: Steam Bans all Blockchain Games
In October, Steam decided to upfront all games that use a blockchain system to promote cryptocurrencies and NFT’s. The reason behind this decision was the high scamming probability. Since each NFT is unique to itself, the seller could demand any price he/she desires.
Via Gamingbolt
After this event, many studios and companies that had plans to include NFT’s in their works and games canceled their initial plans. Ubisoft and EA were among the companies that were going with their NFT plans very strongly. EA switched approach and reported that NFT’s are not the focus of the company for now. But Ubisoft continued with their initial plans and tried to convince it’s audience and gamers that because only NFT’s are yet a unknown medium, we shouldn’t be afraid of them or terminate our plans so soon.
2: Ubisoft Exces Think That Gamer Do Not Know What NFT’s Will Bring To The Table
Ubisoft’s VP of Strategic Innovations Lab Nicolas Pouard talked about the negative reaction to NFT’s in games and he said that players can benefit from this medium too.
“I think gamers don’t get what a digital secondary market can bring to them. For now, because of the current situation and context of NFTs, gamers really believe it’s first destroying the planet, and second just a tool for speculation. But what we [at Ubisoft] are seeing first is the end game. The end game is about giving players the opportunity to resell their items once they’re finished with them or they’re finished playing the game itself.”
Via Finder
In-game items are already a marketplace in famous online games like Counter-Strike or World of Warcraft, therefore if NFT’s get implemented in video games, the only difference would be the in-game items uniqueness and their variation of prices. But aside from this concept, the video game industry does not know if it is possible to use NFT’s in other capacities yet.
3: NFTs “Feel More Exploitative Than About Entertainment”
Phil Spencer has this opinion about NFT’s in games which is quite reasonable and interesting at the same time. He thinks that NFT’s are exploitative and there’s not a way found yet to include them inside the entertainment itself. Which is not a concept Microsoft wants for now.
“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. 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.”
Via Axios
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3rd Page:
Main Feature: NFT’s in Video Game Industry: Good, Bad or Ugly?
Early 2021, the world was getting ready for something new in the Blockchains crypto world. NFTs or Non Fungible Tokens are anything digital that is unique, and they could be bought or sold digitally like art or music. Some NFTs were sold for bizarre out-of-earth prices, yet most people did not know what NFTs are or why should an NFT cost too much? The latter question is one of the reasons there’s a backlash on the whole NFT right now, especially in the video games area.
Since NFTs are created by individual people, and there are not a lot of teams and organizations active in the area yet, they could be sold at whatever price the creator has in mind or has set for their product. If you own an NFT, there’s nobody, no organization to tell you how you can sell it or what is the reasonable price. And since things work that way for now for the NFT buyers or sellers, there’s a massive opportunity for people with bad intentions like scammers, etc to misuse NFTs. That is the reason Steam or Itch.io have banned Blockchain games and services.
But again, where do NFTs come in video games? For now, it is mostly about in-game items like skins, weapons, etc. But what about the game itself? Could it be sold as an NFT? Let’s consider this scenario for a second. We found out that the cost would be very high even if possible. Again, there are chances to misuse the opportunity. Video games are getting made in different scales of work and space, so it is not strange to think that one day, one developer will make a game to only sell it as an NFT to another party. These possibilities and wonders are very present when we talk about NFTs generally and when we talk about them being used in video games.
There are already some video games that use NFTs. To name some, we have Axie Infinity (the most famous NFT game), Ember Sword, Splinterlands, Gods Unchained, and so on… . Some of these games are free, and some others require a starter pack to be bought to let players start playing the game. Whether fermium (Free to Play) or almost premium, NFT games could be called Play to Earn games where you can own special unique items and sell or trade them. Let’s look at these kinds of games as Play to Earn ones, something that benefits both the developers and consumers/gamers; NFT games can offer a lot of new positive influences and possibilities.
Things aren’t pro NFTs in games right now because it is complete chaos, and almost nobody knows what to do about them. But in time, things could change even though NFTs are more about exploitation than entertainment, as said by Phil Spencer as well. You gain in-game items, you sell them, you trade items or in-game currencies, and that’s it. If ways were discovered to include NFTs within the medium of entertainment, there would be chances for public acceptance and consent. But for now, their including is nothing but a significant challenge.
All we can do is wait and see what time brings to us. The companies and teams who are still working on their NFT projects, they could seal the deal the good way or seal it and never look back at it. What are your thoughts about this subject? Let us know via GTC’s social media pages and the emails from the first page.
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4th Page:
Interview: Interview with Rodney Amirebrahimi — Illustrator, Painter and NFT Artist
Hey there Rodney, welcome to Game Taste Café’s first issue. Before you say anything, I have to say we at GTC love your work and think that you’re very talented. Tell us and our audience a bit about yourself and your work like when did you start drawing? What or who encouraged you to continue and become an artist?
Hello, and thank you for having me.
Since I remember myself as a kid, I had a pencil in my hand and used to draw everything that I saw; from Dinosaurs to the TMNT.
I grew up with pop culture and video games, and a little fun fact, my parents were also gamers!
I love to experience every genre of games, and I’m a huge Sci-fi fan. Ever since Star Wars was introduced to me, I became obsessed with world-building and expanding Universes and started creating fan fiction around the things I liked. Later on, that led me to create my own original stuff.
Around 2007, I found out about drawing tablets from a behind-the-scenes video of creating a game. After that, I searched everywhere for months. In the end, my mother finally found and bought one for me, and she really supported me to follow what I loved. So from that point, I completely switched to digital painting and decided to become a full-time artist, but at that time, we didn’t have high speed or good quality internet, so I didn’t have access to youtube or other places that could help me find tutorials. Plus, my teachers believed digital art is not art, so I was all on my own, but that didn’t stop me, and this motivated me to push myself to get better at my work.
As I personally follow your works and enjoy to see them in my timeline, I’ve found out that you choose some actors or specific artists to make portraits or create an abstract-style art with them. Are they your favorite artists? I just want to know how do you pick your next projects, what do you consider before choosing something to work on.
Thank you appreciate it.
While there are commissions or cosplayers that I work directly with, most of the portraits that I paint are random!
I might be working on something, and a photo pops into my social feed, and the next minute you might find me painting that!
So basically, I’m always looking for unique faces or photos that click with me in some way, I look at them and think how I can recreate them and add my touch.
5th Page:
By the way, check Rodney’s work on Twitter Instagram and etc under the username theGameWorld or rodney_amirebrahimi. I guarantee you’ll give your eyes some big time eyegasm.
NFT’s! Let’s talk about them for a little bit. How’s the market? I’ve seen the works and your NFT arts on your pages. Is the outcome of their sale or in general the audience’s attention to them what you were looking for? Are you consent with the outcome?
It has been a year since I have joined the NFT area, and the market is young and healthy.
The outcome so far had been better than my expectations.
Sadly, I never had a steady income from artworks, but since I got into NFTs things have changed.
The best way I can say is that digital art is evolving with the help of technology and the rise of NFTs, and now digital art has value just like physical art.
What do you think about NFT’s in video games? Why is there a huge backlash against them right now? And do you think they’ll be a part of video game’s industry’s future?
We have many NFT games, but they are not significant titles or AAA games.
I think it’s too soon and while I see some positive side of things but we have seen how video game companies have handled the loot boxes and microtransactions.
Eventually, I can see them being added to big games in some form but not anytime soon!
Tell us if you could make a game as a NFT, or just a regular game, what would it be like? Tell us about the genre, the story, the gameplay mechanics… .
I wanted to do this for so long but never had the resources or the time. But now that I finally have my creative freedom back, thanks to NFTs I can finally do it.
I’ve been working on four original stories for more than 10 years now. So I will definitely use the NFTs to kickstart the projects. The first one will be a TPS story-driven game. Like I told you before, I’m obsessed with world-building and expanding Universes, so the game will have a multi-layer complex story. And some of the gameplay mechanics will revolve around stealth, hand to hand combat and some abilities like Rift Portals that can change the dynamic of the firefight.
Thank you for all the great answers and thank you for your time. I enjoyed talking to you and I’m sure that the gamers reading our newsletter also enjoyed the interview too. Have a great day and continue drawing great drawings.
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6th Page:
April’s Fools Bract: Our hopes and dreams!
New Superman game, developed be Rocksteady, revealed
A new Superman game has been a somewhat challenging area to enter after all the concepts and projects being canceled or being thrown away. But finally, Rocksteady is here to give the Man of Steel fans a chance to play as their favorite character again with their new game.
GTA 6 has finally a release date: November 2023
After a lot of days, months and fans begging for new information, we finally have GTA 6’s release date. GTA 6 is coming to Xbox Series S/X, PS5, and PC on November 3rd 2023. Check out the game’s trailer below.
Valve Games Showcase will include unveiling of many new games including Half-Life 3
There have been rumors and reports about Valve developing new games and developing sequels to fan-favorite IP’s. As it turns out, there will be a Valve Games Showcase held this June. All-new lineup of games will be included in this event. Titles like Half-Life 3, a new Counter-Strike game, and so on… .
What are your gaming hopes and dreams? Which games would you like to be revealed? Or what games do you like to read more about on the news? Share your thoughts with us via gtc@social.ee or tarokh.tahrnadeh@gmail.com
