Xbox boss Phil Spencer is a bit worried about 'exploitative' NFTs

News
By published

We probably won't see any "EvilApes" or "Lazy Lions" on Game Pass.

Phil Spencer
(Image credit: Microsoft)

As recently as October, the future of gaming was supposed to be the Slayer from Doom showing up as a bonus character in Smash Bros, but that future was denied to us. As we try to pick up the pieces, the business leaders of the gaming world have proffered a new vision:  NFTs and the blockchain, baby.

Not everyone in the C-suites of our industry is hailing the new flesh quite yet, however. As reported by Axios, Microsoft's head of gaming, Phil Spencer, expressed a degree of caution over their potential to be "exploitive," stating:

“What I'd say today on NFT, all up, is I think there's a lot of speculation and experimentation that's happening, and that some of the creative that I see today feels more exploitive than about entertainment"

"I don't think it necessitates that every NFT game is exploitive. I just think we're kind of in that journey of people figuring it out."

This journey to figure out NFTs may clash with our broader voyage here on Spaceship Earth where someone keeps messing with the thermostat. 

There's a lot of buzz about NFT games right now as a "vision of the future," but they could just as easily go the way of 3D TVs, Steam Machines, or the initial wave of VR in the '90s. All of those visions of the future were ultimately not meant to be.

Ted Litchfield
Associate Editor

Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch. You can follow Ted on Bluesky.