Major video games marketplace, Steam have banned NFT and crypto-based games, whereas one of their competitors, Epic Games will support both. An independent developer first found discovered this ban, but it has now been updated in their terms of service. Later, Epic Games’ CEO quickly stated that they will welcome these kinds of games.
About the Ban of NFT Games
There has officially been an update in the terms and conditions for game publishers on Valve’s Steam video game marketplace. They’ve added a new rule that no games will be accepted onto steam that is built on blockchain technology and issues / allows the exchange of crypto, including NFTs. This may be detrimental to the future of NFT gaming, as Steam is one of the largest video game marketplaces for PC and Mac users.
Steam’s ban of NFT games was first discovered by the game developer, SpacePirate, who develops Age of Rust. They said on Twitter: A few minutes ago, we were notified that Steam will be kicking *all blockchain games* off the platform, including Age of Rust, because NFTs have value.” To see the rest of the Tweet, click here.
Valve’s official documentation webpage for Steam states that with the new rule (#13), one cannot publish “Applications built on blockchain technology that issue or allow the exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFTs” on Valve’s Steam platform.
The reasoning behind this is the fact that NFTs have ‘real world value’, we assume they believe this contradicts with the sale of their in-game add-ons. As a result of this, they will miss out on a huge opportunity to be involved in the NFT space. It could somehow make them income from fees for games on their platform.
About Epic Games’ “Welcoming”
In a form of response to Steam’s ban of NFT games, a statement was released. Epic Games’ CEO, Tim Sweeney announced that the company wants to welcome innovation in the areas of technology and finance. The statement released follows a previously contradicting one that said Epic weren’t interested in working with NFTs.
Epic Games rose to fame with the success of Fortnite. It is one of the biggest games in the world and no doubt Epic’s biggest game. Since bursting onto the scene in 2017, the game has amassed 350 million players worldwide.
The exposure of NFTs and cryptocurrencies could be extremely beneficial to the space. We’ve seen already that when NFTs are exposed to a large audience, people are interested in starting. For example, 1 million people have signed up for Coinbase’s NFT platform.
The comparison for explaining NFTs to those unfamiliar with the space is video games. People often explain with a comparison to Fortnite, Epic’s most popular game. Imagine that NFTs were actually included in Fortnite. After Steam’s ban of NFT games, this is extremely good news to hear. Although they’ve said it’s ‘very unlikely’, we can still consider the chance it may happen.
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This article is educational material.
As always, make your own research prior to making any kind of investment.
