We’ve come a long way since CryptoKitties and Axie Infinity were the most compelling options in the blockchain gaming space. Today, the blockchain gaming market is a billion dollar industry, valued at approximately $4.6 billion in 2022. Still, this growing portion of the gaming industry has decades of worth to catch up with. with the mainstream gaming market, which saw a valuation of an estimated $232.02 billion in the same year.

But not all brands are fully accelerating Web3 features in their games. In 2022, Microsoft took a strong stance on NFTs on its property Minecraft game, banning them completely. As a general consumer block, the players themselves have not been very interested in NFTs either. But where are the mainstream gaming icons in NFT now? Here’s a look at the biggest gaming brand’s positions and policies regarding NFTs and Web3.

Ubisoft

Ubisoft, best known for developing and publishing the long-running (and wildly successful) assassin’s Creed series, was one of the first big players in the mainstream gaming industry to try to incorporate blockchain technology into its products. In April 2021, Ubisoft partnered with Tezos as a corporate sponsor, its latest partnership at the time in a series of moves that saw the game company try to build its roots in the growing Web3 ecosystem.

Notably, these moves were made out of sight of its massive audience of players. That all changed in late 2021, when Ubisoft announced the launch of Quartz, a mobile app platform where users could purchase in-game cosmetics for their title. Ghost Recon Breakpoint like NFTs.

However, he did not stay for long. The marketplace quietly shut down in April 2022, and Ubisoft apparently tempered its public enthusiasm for all things blockchain later that year in a September 2022 Q&A session with CEO Yves Guillemot conducted by Games Industry.biz.

Square Enix

Square Enix kicked off 2022 with a bold statement, considering its core market’s stance on blockchain technology. In the company’s president Yosuke Matsuda’s annual letter, which discusses Square Enix’s plans for the coming year, he announced his intentions to bring one of the world’s largest game companies to Web3. With the launch of an NFT collection that celebrates the 25th anniversary of its historic title final fantasy 7along with the announcement of his upcoming blockchain-based game SYMBIOGENESIS2022 saw the company take its first big steps in Web3.

In the wake of Matsuda’s company-wide plans for 2023, Square Enix looks set to sink its boots further into Web3, with several other blockchain games and NFT projects planned for release this year. Square Enix may also issue, manage, and invest its own set of crypto currencies within the year, as outlined in its company strategy.

Microsoft

Currently, Microsoft’s stance on NFT and Web3 as a whole is divided. For one, it offers tools like the Azure NFT Solution Accelerator to subscribers of its enterprise-grade cloud computing platform as part of its growing Web3 development toolset for content creation. In the gaming industry, it launched the Xbox Enterprise Blockchain Platform in late 2020, making access to royalties a faster and more transparent process for creators working in the indie gaming industry.

On the other hand, one of Microsoft’s properties dominated the headlines in late 2022 following its forceful ban on any implementation of blockchain technology on its platform. that property? Minecraft, possibly the most popular game in the world. After the ban, titles like NFT Worlds that had built their entire ecosystem on Minecraft through a series of intricate mods he collapsed overnight.

Valve

Valve has long represented the cutting edge of gaming. In the 1990s, the game developer pioneered the art of storytelling in video games with the release of its highly successful Half life franchise. In 2003, the game developer launched Steam, the undisputed leader in digital game distribution for PC gamers around the world.

Given Steam’s ubiquity for gamers, surely Valve also played a role in making blockchain gaming accessible to millions of gamers, right? Unfortunately, that is not the case. In late 2021, the company made its stance on Web3 clear when it banned all blockchain and NFT games from Steam. Valve co-founder and president Gabe Newell later cited bad actors as the main motivation behind the Steam ban in an interview with eurogamerstating that “blockchain as a technology is great technology, but the ways in which [they have] been used [currently are] all pretty sketchy. And you want to stay away from that.”

epic games

Contrary to Valve’s stance on blockchain gaming, Epic Games welcomes games of all kinds on the Epic Games Store. That, of course, includes blockchain games. Notably, the upcoming Western-themed multiplayer shooter from Gala Games. Sand, touted as one of the first high-profile blockchain games scheduled for release on a mainstream game distribution platform. Other early blockchain-focused entrants to the platform include Mythical Games’ blank block partywhich entered early access in September 2022.

in the light of the Minecraft In a debacle that best illustrated the clash between mainstream gaming audiences and their more crypto-savvy counterparts, Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney urged users in a tweet to keep an open mind about this emerging technology, encouraging them to “make their own minds” about whether participating in Web3 was right for them on an individual level.

Are we there yet?

Given the sheer magnitude of an effort that has become the development of modern blockbuster gaming titles geared for mainstream gaming audiences, it’s still hard to get a clear picture of where NFTs, cryptocurrencies, and all things related to them fit together. blockchain technology in the mainstream gaming industry. But considering Microsoft’s approach to adopting blockchain technology, the best place for this emerging technology might not be directly in games after all. At least, as far as the mainstream gaming industry is concerned. Blockchain technology has enormous potential to make transactions more secure and transparent, which is sure to be a boon for the dozens of people who typically work on modern game releases.

As it stands, blockchain technology has evolved in a separate direction from its mainstream counterpart. And that’s not a bad thing at all. Although blockchain gaming has become a multi-billion dollar industry, it is still in its infancy. If these two sectors of the game are to continue to grow, they will have to remain separate entities for the time being. When the time is right, they will finally meet halfway.