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There will be much joy once the mainstream comes to digital collectibles via the world of NFTs, play and own, metaverse; mass adoption is on the way.

We cover news from the big gaming companies (Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony) to better understand each organization’s view of NFTs, and what we think their entry to the play and own arena will mean for the mass adoption of NFT and blockchain technology, powering true digital ownership.

Feb 2022 – Nintendo “interested” https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/nintendo-nfts/

Aug 2022 – Phil Spencer of Xbox sees potential https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-boss-phil-spencer-sees-potential-in-nfts-for-gaming/1100-6506922/

Just now – Sony filing NFT patent https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2023/03/21/sony-files-patent-for-nfts-to-allow-transfers-between-games-and-consoles/ 

First blockchain game on Epic Games Store coming later this year https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/grit-482454

Fortnite’s Epic Has ‘Close to 20’ Crypto Games in Store Pipeline

FULL TRANSCRIPT AND TIME STAMPS

00:00:00
S1: The nifty show.

00:00:03
S2: There will be much joy once the mainstream comes to digital collectibles via the world of Nfts play and own metaverse. Whatever it looks like, mass adoption is on the way. Welcome to the nifty show Episode number 205. Joel here, Riles there. And the news this week is that the big players are coming on in the space.

00:00:28
S3: It’s incredibly exciting stuff. Especially when. I’m not going to speak for you, but I’ve been coming at this whole adoption thing from the notion that small movers, that independent entities and entities that were built from the bottom up for servicing through blockchain would be the ones to bring mass adoption about. But since early 2022, some of the largest gaming companies in the world have been either issuing statements or taking action that indicates that they are either willing to or actively moving towards games that are blockchain integrated.

00:01:11
S2: That’s true. Back in February of last year, 2022, Nintendo indicated that they are interested in Nfts and the metaverse. They say, quote, We feel the potential in this area, but the article talks that the company doesn’t know how to provide joy with them yet. I mean, let’s face it, anything Nintendo, whether it’s their primary property like, you know, Mario and that entire world or whether it’s, you know, Pokemon brand or What’s the Breath of the Wild.

00:01:45
S3: The Legend of Zelda.

00:01:46
S2: Legend of Zelda Brand. You think I would know that? Because I remember the very first Legend of Zelda on Nintendo. They have so much IP that were they to come up with a way to onboard their millions and millions of users, all of a sudden people would find themselves with collectibles that they would own and be able to trade or sell or use. Of course.

00:02:12
S3: Now the character of each of the companies that we’re going to talk about comes comes through in the content of these articles that we’re we’re reviewing. So Nintendo basically saying we’re not quite sure how to benefit users through this technology yet. They were asking a question early on that a lot more people should have been asking rather than just taking the concept of nfts and saying, Hey, this is super exciting. Let’s just start selling some trying to identify the specific benefits that consumers could receive, especially that from a corporate standpoint would make it worthwhile and leave a positive mark on their reputation at the end of it. And obviously 2022 was, I think, where the cynicism around nfts in the public eye really spun up as much as as much as it has.

00:03:04
S2: Well, and I think it’s important to note that, you know, not only do they want to avoid the cynicism that goes with it, but there’s always the revenue that, you know, that is affected. Like if we are going to give people ownership of in-game assets now the users are the ones that are going to have the primary revenue on the secondary market. And so keeping this walled garden where people can buy and sell things with an in-game currency gives the company complete control. But the the downside is now users can get the revenue for selling things. The upside is that the company can now take a, you know, a share every time a transaction takes place beyond the initial sale. So I think I think the pros outweigh the cons on all sides.

00:04:00
S3: I agree. However, I think I have a prediction to make for Nintendo specifically because they they are incredibly jealous when it comes to control and their intellectual property. Nintendo is is a legal company that makes video games not a video game company that has good lawyers. That’s that’s what they seem to be to me. So I anticipate that. In the event that they do introduce Nfts into their gaming ecosystem, those NFTS will only be transacted through a closed Nintendo owned marketplace and it will be against their intellectual property rights by by their own perspective for another marketplace to engage in transacting those.

00:04:46
S2: I think it’s important to note that that was the last communications over a year ago that we’ve heard from Nintendo about Nfts. So I would bet real world cash money, even Bitcoin on them. Having been researching this all along and developing some sort of initiative, they’re not just going to wake up one day and go, okay, let’s start developing something around Nfts. I guarantee you that they have a team that is putting together a plan, maybe even doing some sort of small internal testing, looking at blockchains, trying to come up with what would this be? But they’re not. They’re not just waiting for this to go bigger. They’re actively working on it, least testing something.

00:05:34
S3: It would also not surprise me if whatever they were planning would also tie into the next generation of their hardware, because while the switch is rapidly aging at this point, they’ve indicated no plans for a true next generation machine for a long time.

00:05:52
S2: Okay, From Nintendo to Microsoft, this article goes back to August 25th of 2022, a number of months after Nintendo said something X boss X box boss. Shouldn’t he just be the X boss? Phil Spencer sees potential in Nfts for gaming. I think there could be some interesting things, he says. And of course Xbox is Microsoft now.

00:06:18
S3: He he had more valuable insights that more people should have taken note of, which was he expressed this great caution towards the play to earn model. And in this article he talks specifically about how that turns gamers into laborers and the way that that relationship dynamic has existed within the gaming space historically has not been a positive experience. So, you know, a lot of the the people that carry the play to earn the systems starting on blockchain spinning up specifically for that purpose didn’t quite understand that players don’t really want to do that. There’s there’s two really important points about this particular story because Phil Spencer being the head of Xbox is more than just Xbox because Xbox also handles the Microsoft Gaming division, if I’m not mistaken, meaning the Xbox game pass that is available on PCs. So when we’re talking about how Phil Spencer feels about this, we’re talking about PC, not just Xbox. And that’s massive because of the market share that PC gaming has. But then the other thing, finding a way to turn players into something other than just players because we’ve we’ve actually received at least one suggestion from the show that perhaps in order to best integrate gamers into a player or an ecosystem, they need to also be providing value to somebody else. And my thoughts on that really briefly, that should not happen ethically without players being informed that that is the kind of consequence that they are having, that they are generating value for somebody else. And I also believe that if gamers know that that is something that’s happening, they will not want to participate.

00:08:17
S2: Yeah. And it’s. Look, the gaming community has definitely been programmed. And I do mean programmed against Nfts. They have been sold a narrative aggressively that many have just bought it. They totally drank the Kool-Aid. The Kool-Aid now lives inside of them. And so it’s going to take some really interesting initiatives and creativity for these companies to come along and persuade people. So now that moves us up to the current news, because we’ve covered Nintendo, we’ve covered Microsoft well. The other massive player in the space, of course, is Sony. And this story just broke this week, March 21st, 2023. Sony files patent for Nfts to allow transfers between games and consoles. So tell me what they’re planning here.

00:09:11
S4: Well, this this isn’t just.

00:09:13
S3: Wishy washy talk. Like, oh, we see how there could be potential in this technology. This is Sony actually trying to lock down for themselves the concept of moving digitally owned assets between games and consoles, just like the title says this is. An unprecedented move on multiple levels. First off, just because a gaming company hasn’t ever tried to issue a patent like this before, to my knowledge, but also because Sony usually aren’t the ones to push technology forwards. Usually when Sony develops a new tech. It’s really rudimentary. And I know that’s that’s kind of a broad generalization I’m applying, but I’m applying it to over 15 years of their hardware developments.

00:10:06
S2: Yeah. It says here the patent filed last week would allow players of Sony products such as PlayStation, to have an interoperable Web three gameplay experience. Gamers would be allowed to transfer in-game assets between devices such as VR headsets, tablets, computers and smartphones. The patent also notes in some examples the NFT could be used cross generation generationally from PS4 to Ps5. They’re talking about working in Nfts for achievements for tournaments. They have rewards. Of course, this is nothing new to us or anybody who’s been paying attention in the NFT space, you know, badges or something that, you know, we’ve given ever since. We gave our first app away to listeners of the Bad Crypto podcast and Nfts for being involved in the Blockchain Heroes community. So, you know, seeing Sony come along and actually be in development for this, this is a big deal.

00:11:00
S3: This is a huge deal and also sounds very, very familiar. This this was the purpose of Drako dice after all. If nothing else, I want to claim ownership of having been throwing this idea out there before anybody else was, although I haven’t been able to, to deliver as quickly as perhaps some other companies are going.

00:11:19
S2: Okay, we’re we’re working on it. And of course, the the other news that broke here recently is from Epic Games, which is one of the biggest gaming studios. They don’t develop hardware, but you know, how many millions of people play Fortnite and other games? Apparently their Epic Games studio has close to 20 crypto games in the pipeline, and it’s important to note that they are doing this because it was Steam, which is the other massive gaming platform that said we will not be allowing blockchain based games into our ecosystem. Of course they will back down and they will have them. We know that’s going to happen. But they actually made a statement saying No blockchain games in our ecosystem. And Epic says, Fine, we got it over here, guys.

00:12:11
S3: I’m never going to forget that. That entire conversation happened within the span of a single day. Steam says We’re banning all blockchain games, and within hours, Tim Sweeney is on that shit, the CEO of Epic.

00:12:24
S2: Real Smart. You know, the the first game that Epic launched was Blanco’s block party, one that we have been tracking since before launch. If you go way back on the Nifty show almost two years ago, probably we interviewed one of the the key players at mythical games that launch Blancos. And this is now out there. I’ve got some of the early blancos characters in the box is still as nfts and I’m just going to hodl those. I’m in no hurry to unbox, play with them or sell them because I feel like at some point they’re going to attract a lot of players and those NFT items which I own, I will be able to sell for a tidy profit.

00:13:07
S3: But but this is starting to get even bigger because out of those those 20 titles that Epic says are in the pipeline, one of them has been developed by gala games, whom everybody who listens to this podcast should recognize as one of the biggest players in the blockchain gaming space. And they they set up their own team dedicated to the production of Grit, which is a Wild West themed battle royale, which was supposed to come out in 2022 but got delayed, is now set to come out this year in 2023. And we are clearly moving away from these these smaller projects, from these projects that more closely resemble tech demos and into a space that might actually produce legit competitive communities. And God, I hope one’s not driven by any sort of pay to win or play to earn situation.

00:14:08
S2: Well, you know, been big fans of guerrilla games for quite some time. We had Jason Brink from gala on the show. Let’s see, I got it right. Here is episode number 50, April 23rd, 2021. So almost two years ago, Jason was on the show and apparently we had Blancos was episode number 16 Rudy coach of blockchain at Mythical. So, you know, we’ve been at this stuff real early. It looks like grit is going to be a battle royale style game in the in the West. I’m totally down with this because I love I love Western games. I played Red Dead Redemption Twice all the way through. If you’ll remember back, Zack, when you were a kid, I played. The crap out of LucasArts outlaws and just a fan of this genre. So I think a battle royale variation on this could be a lot of fun.

00:15:03
S3: I love that they’re clearly tapping into the love that the gaming community has for Red Dead Redemption two, and they are wondering why hasn’t anybody done a Wild West battle royale? But what I love even more is that you can’t tell just by looking at this without reading the the detailed information that they share that this has anything to do with Nfts or Web3 or blockchain. And that’s that’s really the way that it should be. They are still using that language in the.

00:15:31
S2: Now when you get in here. Yes. Welcome to the Web3 frontier. Saddle up your steed, Stride into the Web3 revolution to become the fastest gun in this epic battle royale. Own your Wild West experience along with various in-game items from them. Six shooters at your hips to the hat on your dome. With an economy based on ownership and rewards, gala games and team grid are bringing Web3 to the Epic Games store for the first time. Do we have? It says Coming soon. Is there any talk of an actual release date?

00:16:03
S4: Not to my knowledge.

00:16:04
S3: Again, the information that I found was that they they were anticipating launching it last year and we’re now a few months into 2023. So my guess is that they got delayed at the back 10% of development and that’s where things are currently stuck.

00:16:20
S2: Well, there you go. Exciting times in the blockchain gaming world. And we’re going to keep bringing you the latest as we discover it here on this side. We’re going to be playing these games. And of course, Rails definitely will be streaming them on his twitch at Twitch.tv forward slash rails, meta links to it in the show notes for this episode and anything else you want to say about your stream or you want to just take us home.

00:16:48
S3: I’ll just take us home for now. Be sure and keep it nifty.

00:16:52
S5: Looking into the future, what do we see? It’s lined with digital collectibles. We call them NFT games, trading cards, digital art. And those CryptoKitties.

00:17:06
UU: Joel and Riles are the hosts. You’ll know.  And I’ll say, this won’t blow the lock. The load. It’s already set. Go. It’s the nifty. Really kind of spiffy.

00:17:16
S6: The nifty.

00:17:17
S7: Show.

DISCLAIMER:

Do your own due diligence and research.  Neither Joel Comm, Zach Comm nor Travis Wright are FINANCIAL ADVISORS.

We are sharing our journey with you as we learn more about this crazy little thing called cryptocurrency.  We make NO RECOMMENDATIONS.  Don’t take anything we say as gospel. Do not come to our homes with pitchforks because you lost money by listening to us.

We only share with you what we are learning and what we are investing in. We will never “pump or dump” any cryptocurrencies. Take what we say with a grain of salt.  You must research this stuff on your own! Just know that we will always strive for RADICAL TRANSPARENCY with any show associations.