Nintendo, as a games publisher and platform owner, is notorious for operating in its own world, following its own rules. While there are obvious downsides to this (like the perpetually last-gen Switch) there are also very appealing benefits. One example of the latter is the company being immune to the FOMO induced by NFTs and the metaverse.
Nintendo was asked during a financial earnings Q&A what its plans were regarding the metaverse and NFTs. In response, company president Shuntaro Furukawa said that it is interested in the ideas.
But at the same time, “there is no easy way to define specifically what kind of surprises and enjoyment the metaverse can deliver to our customers”. And so the company will not be jumping on the hypetrain until that changes.
Which is essentially the sentiment of gamers that don’t want NFTs in video games; not only do they add nothing new, all of its supposed use cases in gaming have been possible without blockchain tech for the longest time. So it’s really refreshing to see Nintendo sticking to its guns as “a company that provides entertainment”. It’s much better than the alternative, where company execs degrade its own customer base by saying they don’t get NFTs.
(Source: Nintendo [PDF] via GamesRadar+)
