Blizzard President Mike Ybarra says, the company is not exploring NFTs
Mike Ybarra, the president of Blizzard Entertainment dismissed rumors that the game publisher is jumping into the non-fungible-token (NFT) bandwagon with play-to-earn games. Play-to-earn games are video games that reward crypto players with NFTs, which can be later using for trading purposes.
This comes days after media reports revealed a survey Blizzard in collaboration with data analytics firm YouGov. The survey was done to gauge the company’ player base’s interest in the cryptocurrency universe. However, one section of the survey asked players if they would be interested in play-to-earn cryptocurrency games and NFTs.
Responding to the speculation, Ybarra on Twitter said: “No one is doing NFTs.” His reply sparked different types of reactions. Some Twitter users thanked him for not going down the route of play-to-earn NFT games. While others questioned him, why the survey was made in the first place if the company has no interest in doing NFT games.
Several game publishers have recently announced their plan to launch NFT based games. In February, Nintendo has expressed interest in the potential of metaverse and NFTs to introduce blockchain technology into their video games. David Gibson, senior analyst at MST Financial posted the Q&A session he had with Nintendo. He said in a tweet, Nintendo has confirmed that while they do have an interest in this area, they are not currently working on anything at the moment.
In December 2021, Ubisoft, the gaming company announced a new platform— Ubisoft Quartz, where it will offer NFTs called Digits. Ubisoft’s Quartz was launched first in the PC version of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint and offered unique items on offer as NFTs. Digits represent unique, collectibles such as in-game vehicles, weapons, and pieces of equipment. However, the company faced massive backlash from it users with its implementation of NFTs.
In other news, Blizzard is scheduled to reveal a Warcraft mobile game in May. The company is also ready to unveil the next World of Warcraft expansion soon.
