Strauss Zelnick, CEO of game publisher Take-Two Interactive, has flagged his support for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and their future in the gaming industry, though he remains concerned about their volatility and the prospect of NFTs dividing gamers globally.
NFTs – ‘A Good Fit’
Zelnick recently stated that he feels NFTs are a “good fit” for the company’s future offerings. Yet the publisher of legendary gaming franchise Grand Theft Auto went on to say that his company is wary of “speculation” considering the current state of the industry.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick. Source: game-news24.com
We want to make sure that consumers always have a good experience every time they engage with our properties and losing money on a speculation is not a good experience, so we’re going to stay away from speculation. However, we’re highly convinced there’s an opportunity for NFTs to fit with Take-Two’s offerings in the future.
Strauss Zelnick, CEO, Take-Two Interactive
Zelnick’s caveat may put GTA fans at ease for the moment, particularly as anticipation for the release date of the sixth franchise instalment starts to mount. And while Zelnick has said the company believes in rare goods and collectibles, this may change in future. Caveats aside, a lot of fans still aren’t buying it:
A greedy publisher that thinks NFTs are a "Good Fit" let me fake shock and awe. Adding to the list of other publishers that don't care about morality and ethical practices towards there consumer base. The video game industry becomes a bigger dumpster fire with every passing day.
NFTs within the gaming industry seem to be increasingly polarising. Ubisoft recently caused its fan base and the greater community to revolt over its decision to bring NFTs to the Ghost Recon series. The release of an NFT trailer at the end of 2021 sent Twitter and YouTube into meltdown, and there seems to be no sign of the conversation slowing.
Even popular YouTube gaming channel, the AngryJoeShow, spent some time berating the use of NFTs in a recent video:
This outrage has seen several game publishers and developers pull back on their plans to implement NFTs. The Ethereum video game Worms cancelled its own NFT plans after the decision caused longtime supporters to walk away. Japanese multinational giant Sega has also reconsidered its future due to negative opinions.
CryptoPunks get the Sotheby's treatment. Our next #SothebysMetaverse sale 'Punk It! 104 CryptoPunks. 1 Lot.' will be a landmark LIVE Evening Auction on February 23. A truly historic sale for an undeniably historic NFT project. pic.twitter.com/LAu6j8Atu3
Sotheby’s describes Punk It! as its “most important and historic NFT project”. The auction, in which all 104 CryptoPunks will be sold as a single lot, will mark Sotheby’s first dedicated live evening auction for NFTs.
The live evening auction will also bring together the physical and digital in an unprecedented showcase for NFTs and digital art with a presentation on par with the most significant and high-profile sales for Contemporary and Modern art.
Sotheby’s press release
The Punks set to go on sale were all acquired together last July in a single transaction on the blockchain by an anonymous collector, “Ox650d”. This also means that all 104 Punks have the exact same provenance, which makes this collection unique.
What Are CryptoPunks?
CryptoPunks is a collection of 10,000 NFTs released in 2017 by Larva Labs, all of them pixelated portraits of punk rock-inspired faces. Each NFT in the collection is unique and sports various traits and accessories. The collection has become one of the most successful of its kind, with a current floor price of 67.5 ETH, or about US$217,000. Since its launch in 2017, the Punks collection has generated about 683,000 ETH in sales volumes (over US$2 billion).
Single CryptoPunks have sold for astronomical amounts of money. VISA, for instance, paid a whopping US$150,000 to buy a Punk of its own. But if you think that’s a lot of money, the current record price paid for a CryptoPunk at auction is a staggering US$11.8 million.
If you don’t quite have a cool US$12 million casually lying around, DegenData announced last month it would be auctioning off CryptoPunk #5761 along with the business IP and all supporting assets attached for a mere 420 ETH (US$1.36 million).
Whether you are bullish on NFTs or not, it’s undeniable that of late they have taken centre stage. As proof, look no further than being declared 2021’s word of the year. Notwithstanding clear evidence of mania, advocates remain convinced there are practical uses aside from flaunting crypto wealth. Alfa Romeo’s latest move is perhaps one such example.
2023 Alfa Romeo Tonale. Source: Alfa Romeo
Not Just a JPEG
In what appears to be a first for the industry, Italian luxury car manufacturer Alfa Romeo has found a practical use for NFTs. Specifically, they will be used to track and store maintenance records for its new Tonale SUV, set for release next year.
While Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Lamborghini have elected to go the route of creating digital collectibles, Alfa Romeo has decided to go the practical route, and bring some much needed transparency and efficiency to tracking car maintenance records.
Digitalisation is a key enabler of our metamorphosis. The NFTs will sustain the residual values of our models as we are the first in the market to adopt this next-generation technology.
Francesco Calcara, head of marketing, Alfa Romeo
According to its press release, Alfa Romeo suggests that the car’s NFT will be able to generate a certificate from records of its maintenance data, but only for services done by certified dealers.
A Market Gimmick?
Cynics will argue that the move is perhaps less inspired by “transparency and efficiencies” than a desire to catch up to its rivals. For context, Alfa Romeo has sold just 19,000 cars annually for the past three years, compared to Mercedes-Benz, which sold 60,000 in Q4 2021 alone.
The response to the Alfa Romeo news was predictably divisive, as NFTs tends to be:
Impressive stuff..
I'm looking forward to more of these sort of 'everyday use cases …'
Whatever Alfa Romeo’s motivation, it’s hard to argue against technological solutions that offer future car owners indisputable evidence of a vehicle’s service track record. Perhaps there are clear cases where NFTs have some utility.
A new crypto project called VanityBlocks is dedicating whole Ethereum blocks for the single purpose of turning them into NFTs. The project is using the blocks to mint NFTs that will be forever tied to that specific block.
A crypto project, known as VanityBlocks, has started turning whole #Ethereum transaction blocks into non-fungible tokens (#NFTs) — preventing anyone else from having space in that block.
A more recent mint took place on January 31 for block 14114114, costing over 3.42 ETH (about US$10,700) in transaction fees. To date, VanityBlocks only has minted these two blocks, available on OpenSea.
The second of the NFTs has already been sold to an eager buyer for 7 ETH (about US$21,000) on the same day it was minted. To put in perspective the magnitude of using up an entire Ethereum block, one block can hold between a few to several hundred transactions depending on the size of each transaction.
Transactions on the Ethereum network are designed to cost more if they contain more code, a method used to deter spam. In this particular case, the code was designed to keep performing more operations until it hit a certain amount of gas used. As a result, the transaction for each NFT maxed out the 20 million gas limit, meaning that no other transactions could fit in each block:
For Normies #1:
A few days ago, a Vanity Blocks NFT was minted using 30M of gas (3.42 ETH in fee).
This is *likely* the highest gas consumed by a single transaction that has occurred since Ethereum genesis.
The only transaction in each block is the one minting the NFT, and the NFTs show the same image of a pair of eyes on a black background.
In the NFT metadata, it contains the block number it was mined in. The concept is that each NFT represents the block it was mined in, making it represent a part of the Ethereum blockchain.
History is about to be made in Florida as a piece of US real estate goes to auction as a non-fungible token for the first time. The property rights will be minted into a token and transferred via blockchain by real estate technology company Propy.
Extra extra! We come with news that will shake the NFT-obsessed part of your brain 😉. A home in Tampa Bay will be auctioned off this Tuesday as an NFT and it’ll be the first piece of U.S. real estate to be auctioned as a non-fungible token! pic.twitter.com/XRV7zkTnes
No 6315 11th Avenue, a modern Spanish-inspired estate in the city of Gulfport, is expected to go to auction on February 10. Initially set for February 8, the auction has been delayed slightly due to immense public interest as 2,000 bidders queue to participate.
Blockchain start-up Propy will host the auction via its online platform, with Ethereum the cryptocurrency of choice. From a US$650,000 starting price, the conclusion of bidding will see one lucky buyer receive the property deed in the form of an NFT. While this transaction will not be a global first – the first NFT property sale was an apartment in Kiev, Ukraine last year – it will be an American first.
The current owner of the Gulfport home, Leslie Alessandra, is a local real estate investor and founder of DeFi Unlimited, a Tampa Bay blockchain company. Alessandra hopes that the auction of her home will stimulate conversation surrounding the potential of NFTs.
We’ve seen what NFTs and crypto does for the art community … Now we’re demonstrating what it can do for the real estate community.
Leslie Alessandra [Bay News 9/Twitter]
This real-world application of NFT and blockchain technology allows the buyer security and anonymity. Alessandra hopes the future new owner will be another NFT enthusiast. However, she acknowledges that market trends are volatile and sharp fluctuations may impact the future performance of the home in the crypto market.
Is Australia Set to Follow Suit?
Real estate-backed NFTs have been slow to gain traction in Australia. However, crypto property transactions have taken place across the country. Sydney, in particular, has seen multiple bitcoin transactions in its property market.
Although we are yet to see any Australian property deeds minted into NFTs, this could change in coming years – pending the outcome of this week’s Gulfport auction.
Broadening Horizons of NFTs
NFTs are moving beyond the realm of mere digital art collectibles into several increasingly varied industries. Worldwide interest in real estate-backed NFTs is taking off, with Propy’s smart contract token excelling since its Coinbase listing in January 2022.
Chinese tech giant Alibaba’s e-commerce platform Taobao has unveiled a digital collection of NFT houses. The backing of this artistic collection serves to demonstrate the willingness of large companies to embrace NFT technology. And, with music festivals such as Coachella and a number of sports teams seizing the opportunities NFT technology provides, it’s likely the technology will keep on adapting.
Sportswear giant Nike is suing online sneaker reseller StockX for selling unlicensed images of non-fungible token (NFT) sneakers.
Reuters reported that Nike had filed a 50-page lawsuit against StockX in a New York federal court on February 3, demanding an undisclosed amount in damages and blocking the sales of the virtual collectibles on StockX’s platform.
StockX is one of the most popular online resellers, valued at more than US$3.8 billion. According to Nike, StockX had told its buyers that the NFT sneakers would be redeemable in “the near future”. The NFT collection is still online.
The listing is still online. Source: StockX
Nike did not approve of or authorise StockX’s Nike-branded Vault NFTs. Those unsanctioned products are likely to confuse consumers, create a false association between those products and Nike, and dilute Nike’s famous trademarks.
Nike lawsuit vs StockX
The US footwear giant further stated that StockX had sold around 500 Nike-branded NFTs at “inflated prices and [under] murky terms of purchase and ownership”.
Nike and the Metaverse
On December 16, Nike took a step into the metaverse when it announced the acquisition of RTFKT Studios, a digital art studio focusing on NFT sneakers and other collectibles.
Nike was late to the party, however, as Japanese sports apparel multinational Asics launched its own digital footwear collection in July 2021, placing it one step ahead of the American behemoth.
Culture Vault has an impressive roster of local and international artists including Reko Rennie, Shantell Martin, Serwah Attafuah, Adam Briggs, Romance Was Born and Stephen Ormandy.
Culture Vault – a new curated platform and creative agency that presents and sells high-quality NFTs and helps artists and cultural brands navigate the blockchain – launches its Web3 platform this month followed by a physical-meets-digital (phygital) exhibition called “The Future is Phygital”, presented at Sydney’s Verona Studios from March.
Warhol – The Richard Bernstein Estate
The Culture Vault platform (Culturevault.com) has been purpose-built to bridge the gap between the traditional art world and the crypto community. It consists of a curated platform and creative agency, offering a one-stop shop for both first-time NFT buyers and seasoned digital art collectors to acquire a curated selection of premium NFTs from some of the world’s leading artists. Culture Vault’s creative agency works with cultural brands and institutions to create, mint, sell and display their NFTs on chain – helping them to drive revenue, and foster community engagement and connection in new ways.
Works by (from left) Gary Heery, Shantell Martin, Fearless Prophet, Stephen Ormandy.
The curatorial direction of the platform is led by Arts-Matter, an arts and cultural programming platform which has relationships with many of Australia’s leading cultural figures. Culture Vault curates a selection of premium NFTs created by leading artists spanning the cultural gamut – from fine art to film, music, dance, graphic design, architecture, sculpture, food and fashion.
The excitement around NFTs is undeniable, and over the last year we’ve seen an increasing number of artists and brands wanting to jump on the blockchain bandwagon. To date, finding high-quality digital art while trying to navigate crypto technology can be frustrating and confusing. Enter Culture Vault – a platform purpose-built to bridge the gap between the traditional art world and the crypto community. We think Culture Vault has the unique ability to combine insider art-world knowledge and accessibility with a deep understanding of crypto technology and the D-gen community
Sean Tolkin, CEO and founder of Aus Merchant and co-founder of Culture Vault
The platform can give artists and collectors crypto advice, tackling the issue of how artists and brands should best manage their royalty payments. “Some of our artists want to keep their newly earnt royalties in crypto and others want liquidity, in which case we give them the opportunity to immediately cash out into fiat,” says Sean Tolkin, CEO/founder of Aus Merchant and co-founder of Culture Vault. Culture Vault’s holding company is Aus Merchant, a Sydney-based crypto currency exchange specialising in investment management, secure wallet infrastructure and a crypto payment gateway. “Aus Merchant’s expertise in compliance means that Culture Vault has a team dedicated to making sure their artist’s funds are secure, and purchases are legitimate and above board,” Tolkin adds.
Works by The Huxleys and Fallen Fruit.
Culture Vault’s inaugural physical exhibition, “The Future is Phygital”, will present a selection of NFTs created by 12 of its founding artists. The digital artworks will be displayed on framed digital screens, allowing cultural enthusiasts and NFT collectors to transcend the online format. Guests will be able to purchase NFTs through QR codes at the exhibition, while enjoying live performances and music by special guests.
Culture Vault is set apart from other NFT platforms in its dedicated professional support for artists and brands to assist with their entire crypto journey – from setting up their smart contracts and crypto-wallets, to advising them on pricing and edition numbers, paying their gas fees, minting their NFTs, instructing them on how to use Discord (the social media platform preferred by the crypto community), and providing them with an opportunity to cash out their royalties into the currency of their choice.
“When we built Culture Vault’s Web3 platform, we identified a few key priorities – ease-of-use, the environment, putting our artists first, and being welcoming to non-crypto-natives,” says Sam Linas, managing director and co-founder of Culture Vault. “Our site is designed so traditional art world collectors can easily navigate the space, but the crypto natives will appreciate our leading tech and functionality.”
“The Future Is Phygital” will be open to the public in March at Verona Studios, 17 Oxford St, Paddington, Sydney from 10am-5pm. Works will be available for sale ranging from A$250 (approx 0.05 ETH) to $250K (approx 50 ETH).
A copycat troupe of Bored Ape Projects has been popping up left, right and centre to make a mockery of NFTs. While the OG Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) apes are selling for astronomical amounts of money to celebrities such as Eminem and Justin Bieber, many ‘copycat’ projects are also trying to get in on the action.
The following are just some of the many making a mockery of the industry:
Starry Ape
Starry Ape Art Club is a collection of 10,000 apes inspired by famous artist Vincent van Gogh, the Bored Ape Yacht Club and “degens” all over the metaverse. The project is not affiliated either with BYAC or its creators, Yuga Labs.
Source: Starry Ape Art Club
Scribble Apes
Scribble Apes, also known as SCRAPEs, is a unique collection of 4,444 automatically generated colourful Ape art, yet again with no affiliation to BAYC.
Source: Scribble Apes
Martian Apes
Martian Apes, with a total supply of 3333 apes, is a collection of “immortal and ageless” NFTs, unique reverse-ageing apes that colonise the Red Planet.
Source: Martian Ape
Alien Apes Yacht Club (AAYC)
Alien Apes is an NFT collection of 10,000 AAYCs that lives on the Ethereum blockchain ERC-21, with more than 2000 accessories and expressions generated.
Source: AAYC
The NFT Boom Not Likely to End Anytime Soon
Although some might think the NFT market is overheated and many more share intense hatred for the entire concept, there is no denying NFTs are dominating at the moment. In January, despite the massive pullback in the overall crypto market, the NFT market reached a trading volume of US$6 billion, a new all-time high.
One of the leading non-fungible token (NFT) scaling platforms, Australian blockchain startup Immutable X, has partnered with retail game giant GameStop to create its new NFT marketplace, as well as a US$100 million fund to support innovation in the NFT space and its creators.
We’re thrilled to announce that @Immutable is taking another leap forward in the gaming & blockchain industry by partnering w/ @GameStop to power their NFT Marketplace: https://t.co/Tase31CBt3 🎮
GameStop will be using the Immutable X Layer 2 solution for its speed, zero gas fees, and 100 percent carbon neutral technology to move the company into the nascent NFT sector.
Pursuant to the February 2 announcement, the two companies will also be launching a US$100 million joint fund to empower game developers in the creation of their latest NFT projects. The fund will be used for grants to help creators of NFT content and technology. But individuals who want to build or are building an NFT game project can submit proposals here for a chance to be among the first to build on the new platform.
Co-founder of Immutable Robbie Ferguson stated that it wants to change the gaming landscape by “bringing the age of digital ownership to billions of players worldwide […] one that rewards players rather than extract value from them”. GameStop plans to be a catalyst for this by having its marketplace bring “billions of low-cost, in-game assets that can easily be bought and sold” to its 50 million+ users.
Some in the gaming space are of the opinion that the evolution of the industry will be toward players owning their in-game assets. Avid gamers will be able to monetise their time in-game and have more to show than just hundreds of hours and cosmetics that gather virtual dust. On the other side of the coin, many gamers are pushing back against integrating NFTs with games, seeing it as just another cash grab from corporates.
In correspondence with tech website VentureBeat,Ferguson stated that “the best thing to do is to create truly player-first gaming experiences that embrace the benefits, rather than the hype, of NFTs. Most importantly, the games have to be good – it’s play-and-earn, not play-to-earn.”
Following backlash from the community, collectible “Worms” have been buried as fans and other game developers complain about the company’s NFT plans. Echoing recent pushback to other video game NFT projects, the collectibles have been canned:
Team17 is today announcing an end to the MetaWorms NFT project.
We have listened to our Teamsters, development partners, and our games’ communities, and the concerns they’ve expressed, and have therefore taken the decision to step back from the NFT space.
The sentiment is not new, as video game firms announce plans for digital collectibles and backlash ensues. It happened again this week with publisher Team17 and its plans for NFTs based on the Worms video game franchise. The indie game publisher confirmed on Twitter that it was no longer pursuing its NFT plans, following significant criticism on social media after announcing them.
I encourage anyone reading this to tag @Team17 & use the hashtag #TeamNoNFT to let them know that you vehenemently refuse to support their Worms NFTs idea.
The British publisher had planned to release NFT collectibles inspired by the 26-year-old Worms franchise, which has to date sold 75 million games. Team17 had partnered with Reality Gaming Group to release the NFTs on the company’s Ethereum sidechain, called the Digital Assets Trading platform.
In addition to community pushback, Team17 also encountered resistance from its partners Aggro Crab, a studio that had its 2020 game Going Under released by Team17. Aggro Crab said it would not work with the long-running publisher if it continued with its NFT plans:
Although 2021 was the ‘Year of the NFT’, and many have invested significant amounts of money in the industry, the gaming community does not share the sentiment.
One Twitter user questioned why Team17 would even attempt launching collectibles given that “it’s common knowledge by now that NFTs are not wanted in this medium”:
Why did you even start it? It's common knowledge by now that NFTs are not wanted in this medium.
Not even sure if you can call it "ended" if it barely even began.
Many other gaming companies have copped the same criticism as Team17, including Ubisoft. The company received massive backlash from its gaming community after it announced plans to add NFTs to its platform with the release of the last title in the Ghost Recon series. SEGA has also had to backtrack on its NFT plans after receiving considerable backlash from its fans across the globe.
