Prominent industry names announce new NFT-based games

Veteran game designers Will Wright (The Sims, Sim City) and Peter Molyneux (Black & White, Fable) announced plans to make new NFT-based games during a weekend showcase held by NFT gaming company Gala Games.

Why it matters: It’s part of an attempt to prove that NFT gaming is legit, trading on the reputations of two prominent men who haven’t made hits in many years.

• While establishment game publishers have been talking about getting in on NFT gaming — and drawing fan blowback in the process — nearly every NFT game that has been released so far has come from indies and upstarts.
• Molyneux said he’s working on a business simulator called Legacy, while Wright more loosely is pegged to create a game that will work around existing collectible Gala NFTs.
• Gala also announced that veteran studio Certain Affinity is creating an NFT first-person shooter.

Reminder: In the context of gaming, NFTs are digital items that, through blockchain technology, are said to be unique, ostensibly owned by the player-purchaser and usable in games.

• But skepticism around the sector is as plentiful as the millions of dollars being invested in it by venture capital firms.
• Beyond questions of environmental impact are those about how NFTs help gameplay and what they can do that standard video game items can’t.

Between the lines: Gala heavily promotes the concept of NFTs as a means to being a virtual landlord and tries to stoke land rushes before its games are out.

• It’s already selling virtual land in Legacy prior to its launch.
• A new video promoting “play to earn” system’s in the company’s multiplayer game Spider Tanks encouraged players to “be a baron” or “be an emperor” to receive proceeds from matches others play on their virtual property.
• A new Walking Dead game from the company similarly promotes the chance to buy land and profit while players take refuge on it.