Jackbox has become a staple of many parties these days, with groups of friends and family whipping out their phones to write jokes, draw t-shirts, or answer trivia questions before their fingers get chopped off. Yes, that's really one of the games - it even got a sequel. After all, who can resist answering a simple set-up with lines like "your mother", "buttcheeks", or even "your mother's buttcheeks"? As with any game these days though, there's always a fear that NFTs might creep in and ruin the fun. Gamers, fear not. We spoke to Jackbox Games CEO Mike Bilder recently, and his answer on NFTs was as clear as it was succinct. "We have zero interest or plans to do that. Don't expect any NFT stuff out of Jackbox."
While other devs have kept tight-lipped on NFTs, biding their time to see what kind of profit can be made once the negative press is over, and some have even taken the plunge on committing to them wholeheartedly like Square Enix and Ubisoft, Jackbox is swimming against the current. Fear not, Party Pack 9 will not include any games like Spend Thousands Of Dollars On An Ugly Monkey or Explain To Your Partner Why You Spent Your Life Savings On Making Your Profile Picture A Hexagon. Jackbox games tend to have shorter, snappier names anyway, but that's besides the point.
NFTs continue to be a highly controversial subject in gaming. Crypto is one of the major reasons for the hard drive and chip shortage that is currently affecting the industry, while they also cause huge environmental damage and have been repeatedly compared to pyramid schemes, money laundering, and pump and dump schemes. Team17 was the latest gaming company to come under fire after pushing Worms NFTs, only to instantly back down after it emerged most devs did not support the initiative. If only there was a way to know NFTs were bad before the backlash, eh?
Existence on the internet these days has been reduced to hoping your favourite celebrity doesn't tweet a picture of a monkey. We already lost Brie Larson in the great NFT war, while Paris Hilton and Jimmy Fallon might have broken network rules in hawking their monkeys on television. We stan Jackbox, our unproblematic fave.