The presentation of the Brazilian developer raised a lot of controversy inside and outside the event.
Since the advent of the blockchain, video game developers have been analyzing how to introduce this technology into games. This decentralized technology is currently helping to ensure data security and economy on the Internet. But, in the last few months, many layers of blockchain and NFTs have been revealed that upset many people.
Among these people is Mark Venturelli. This veteran Brazilian video game developer made a presentation at Brazil’s International Games Festival (BIG). What looked like a presentation on the future of game design turned out to be a harsh criticism of NFTs.
NFTs and video games for dummies
Some companies in the video game industry have spoken highly of NFTs. At the same time, more and more people are criticizing anything related to NFTs and blockchain technology. Therefore, today, it remains in doubt whether we will ever see it fully implemented in the industry.
Despite this, in recent years and especially thanks to the pandemic, many games using this technology have been released. The famous play-to-earn games emerged from the Asian market, but quickly expanded globally. The root of their popularity is that after a main investment of NFTs, you can get cash rewards.
Axie Infinity, Plant vs Undead, Cryptocars & Cryptoplanes, Thetan Arena, and more are some of the most popular games of the genre. Besides, most of them are practically “dead”. Because of this, hundreds of thousands of people have even been bankrupted relying on a genre that simply turned out to be a scam.
A tough reality presented at a massive international event
This is what Mark Venturelli wanted to make known through his new presentation Why NFTs Are A Nightmare at Brazil’s International Games Festival. At this festival, both national and international developers are invited to give webinars, conferences, announcements, or even courses.
Mark Venturelli is a well known name in the industry both in Brazil and internationally. After more than 15 years of experience as a developer, he has founded two development studios, and was the main designer of Chroma Squad. In short, he is a person with vast knowledge of the industry.
During the event, Venturelli was scheduled to speak about the future of game design. But, at the moment of the presentation, something unexpected happened. The developer based his entire presentation on explaining “Why NFTs Are A Nightmare.” It’s a compelling presentation where he highlighted all the negative points of NFTs and blockchain.
A presentation with a lot of controversies and very harsh opinions
Although Venturelli has a very technological take, he actually talked about NFTs from a speculative point of view. Even so, he explained different points that would completely affect the video game industry. He highlights the damage of a decentralized technology that has actually been centralized in many aspects (i.e. Coinbase).
As Mark Venturelli himself mentioned in his presentation, Brazil is one of the countries with the largest crypto owners. Thanks to this, there were multiple sponsors at BIG 2022 related to blockchain technology. As a consequence of this presentation, many of these crypto, NFTs, and play-to-earn sponsors expressed their annoyance.
Even during the presentation, these sponsors wanted to intervene. In an interview following PC Gamer‘s presentation to Venturelli, the Brazilian designer commented, “I’ve heard that the sponsors got really mad. They tried to break into the talk while I was talking, but the organization would not let them…There was never any kind of intention on [the organizer’s] side to shut me up or anything like that.”
The developer was also very critical of Ubisoft and Square Enix’s decision to go with NFT technology.
“This is such a naive proposition. The expectation versus reality here is so bizarrely far apart, because what’s actually going to happen is that organized groups are going to operate and scale with ever-diminishing margins, and just push out everybody else. Because that’s what happens. If you play EVE Online or Runescape, or any other game that simulates economy, that’s what happens. Organized groups are going to fucking crush you,” he added.
My personal thought about the NFTs and video games
In my view, NFTs and blockchain in video games went down a very speculative path. This has strongly affected the opinion about the technology, which from the beginning has always been surrounded by people doubting whether it is feasible or not.
Blockchain technology is incredible if used in the right way. Still, the thought of a 100% decentralized technology is wrong. If we are looking for an introduction of such technology in video games, there must be regulation to avoid massive speculation, scams, and outright theft.
Provide a price calculation through different game elements such as time and difficulty of obtaining, quantity available, and more. In this way, an introduction of blockchain technology in video games could be feasible. To quote Venturelli: “Believing capitalism could exist without a central authority is forgetting about the entire journey we went through as a society.”
