Interpret's survey of gamers on NFTs.
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A study of 1,500 console and PC gamers found that 56% of them are interested in earning nonfungible tokens (NFTs) through gaming, according to market research firm Interpret.
That doesn’t mean that NFTs aren’t controversial. In fact, they are, as hardcore gamers have become increasingly vociferous about their opposition to using NFTs, which use the transparent and secure digital ledger of blockchain to uniquely identify digital items. That allows gamers to own NFT items permanently.
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Gamers remain concerned that publishers will use NFTs to nickel and dime them through NFT transactions rather than make fun games that games will happily pay for, said Jesse Divnich, senior vice president at Interpret, in an interview with GamesBeat. Gamers are evidently concerned about scams, money laundering, environment effects, and over-monetization — whether those things are accurate or not when it comes to the practices of individual NFT game companies, which have raised a lot of money.
When Ubisoft became the first major games publisher to throw its hat into the NFT ring in December, the gaming community’s reaction was mixed, with many downvoting Ubisoft’s announcement video. Given the experimental nature of their exploration, the French publisher took the feedback to heart and has said that NFTs represent a “major change that will take time.”
More recently, Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda said in an open letter that the Final Fantasy publisher is also exploring how to implement NFTs in its games. Matsuda believes that NFTs will be particularly useful in boosting user-generated content in games.
EA CEO Andrew Wilson, too, has suggested that NFTs and play-to-earn gaming are the “future of our industry.” Meanwhile, on the retail side, GameStop is planning to create a virtual marketplace where players can buy, sell, and trade NFTs.
While NFTs, cryptocurrency, and blockchain have drawn heavy criticism due to scammers and the environmental impact of crypto mining, there is undeniable interest from gamers that publishers cannot ignore, Divnich said.
Interpret received answers to its survey from 1,502 players. Those players were drawn from a group of 24,160 players. Interpret asked the broader group if they had heard of NFTs, and then it received more than 5,000 positive responses. It asked those players (who were incentivized to respond) if they were willing to earn NFTs in games. The survey ran from December 10 to December 17, 2021.
[Updated 2:43 p.m. Pacific on 1/19/22 with poll questions below. Respondents were told that their answers did not affect whether they would get their incentive reward].
Q15. How interested are you in the concept of earning NFTs through playing video games? Q16. What, if anything, most interests you in the concept of earning NFTs through playing video games? Q17. How would earning NFTs through gaming impact your gaming habits?
The panel represents Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, mobile, and PC players “who are interested, are not interested, have previously owned, or currently own an NFT or cryptocurrency.” And 56% said they are interested.
“We try to make sure the panel that we’re talking to is as market representative as possible,” Divnich said. “And then we do it at a large enough size that the noise of the vocal minority, or otherwise, get muted out. We asked people just about this concept of being able to earn an NFT through playing games. So they liked they liked the overall concept.”
Divnich noted that there is a lot of resistance from hardcore gamers in the media and on social media.
Interpret also said that NFTs could play a major role in retention (of critical importance to live-service games), as over 45% indicated that being able to earn NFTs through gaming would increase their current engagement levels with games. Additionally, over 53% indicated that earning NFTs is the primary driver, compared to being able to sell/trade NFTs, and the idea of building an NFT collection.
“Building a collection is not the major motivator right now. Gamers are not yet viewing NFTs as they would Pokémon cards or collecting a complete set of similar items,” said Divnich, who heads growth and innovation at Interpret. “Gamers just want to be able to participate in this new business and engagement model. Currently, becoming an NFT owner is a cumbersome process with numerous steps across multiple systems and programs. Gamers are likely looking to the industry to help create a more streamlined process towards NFT ownership and participation.”