Nintendo held a Q&A during its latest financial results where company executives asked about its stance on NFTs and the metaverse. Reportedly, Nintendo is aware and not entirely against the idea of NFTs.
"We do have an interest in this area," Nintendo said (thanks, VGC). "We feel the potential in this area, but we wonder what joy we can provide in this area and this is difficult to define right now."
NFTs are digital receipts for digital items - imagine buying a purple candy M16 skin in Rainbow Six Siege, but it costs $10,000 instead of $10 because you also bought the line of code that says you own it. Only you. And you can't buy it with any ol' cash, you have to use cryptocurrency. Combined with the blockchain, it's claimed that you'd then be able to take this skin to other games, but that's near-impossible to implement. But they also have a harmful carbon footprint, using up incredible amounts of energy.
Confusing? Lots of people think so - NFTs aren't popular and their implementation into games even less so. Team17 announced plans for Worms-themed NFTs and, within the same day, the backlash was so strong and so heard by the publisher that it then backtracked and cancelled all plans. EA similarly has stressed that it's not focused on introducing NFTs yet while Ubisoft's own efforts have sold poorly.
NFTs aren't making the splash that many hoped they would, only enriching those at the top. However, Nintendo's voice of interest is cause for concern for many as evident by backlash which has already begun to ramp up, although the company hasn't revealed or outlined any plans if it even has any. In contrast, Microsoft has no interest in NFTs while Valve is banning games from Steam if they sell NFTs.
In other news, Nintendo has stated that it isn't interested in the acquisitions arm race that Microsoft and Sony are having, stating that it won't be jumping into big buyouts anytime soon. Swings and roundabouts.