author: Miriam Moszczynska
1 in 3 Gamedevs Sees Potential of NFT in Video Games
The organizers of the Game Developers Conference have released the State of the Game Industry 2022 report, which addresses a number of important issues affecting the video game industry.
- GDC has shared its annual report on the condition of the video game industry;
- Nearly 3,000 developers participated in the survey;
- Game developers commented on NFT tokens and cryptocurrencies in games, harassment scandals, and the Apple vs. Epic Games conflict, among other topics.
As they do every year, the organizers of Game Developers Conference (GDC) shared a report on the current state of the video game industry. More than 2,700 game developers participated in the State of the Game Industry 2022 survey, giving their opinions on topics such as the presence of NFTs and cryptocurrencies in video games, the Apple vs Epic Games conflict, and industry's work culture.
As is not difficult to see, more than 2/3 of those surveyed are not interested in the vision of introducing either NFTs and cryptocurrencies in their games. This conflicts with the narrative that prevails in the web - every now and then we hear about developers such as Ubisoft, Square Enix or recently also SEGA (which just two weeks ago claimed that it does not intend to engage in cryptocurrencies).
However, GDC didn't just present bare data in the report. We also got a closer look at anonymous opinions on the introduction of NFTs into video games. Below are some of them:
"I don't understand why this is not yet considered a pyramid scheme."
"Blockchain is a fundamental technology that will contribute to the transformation of organizations and their accountability, but NFTs and cryptocurrencies in general are scam."
"We should collectively agree to ban blockchain-based technologies from our industry because of their hugely negative impact on the environment."
"I'm personally quite interested in NFTs and cryptocurrencies, but many people in my studio and among my friends don't like them and won't engage in them. I think NFTs need to get a better reputation first - I mean environment and art theft - and then they can become an interesting way to give digital content a unique value."
The survey also raised the issue of the dispute between Apple and Epic Games, which concerned external payments and, despite the verdict in favor of Apple, still remains a contentious issue. Indeed, developers have expressed solidarity with Epic Games on this complicated issue. Although it should be noted that the overwhelming response to the question of who was right in this dispute is "neither side" or "I'm not sure."
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The last of the important issues, which goes a bit beyond just gamedev, is the position of game developers in the face of the growing allegations of sexual harassment within companies. The GDC notes that the survey was conducted before the publication of the Wall Street Journal article on the situation at Activision Blizzard and the Riot Games settlement.
In addition to the information cited above, the report contains a lot of other, equally interesting data and analysis that are worth reading. So if you're interested in issues such as developer seniority in the industry, opinions on the unification of studios or the most popular platforms among developers, you can find the GDC report here.