If you’re an EVE Online fan, you might have been a bit concerned that the internet spaceship sandbox started dipping its toes into the NFT waters during last month’s Alliance Tournament XVII, where a successfully struck final blow on an opponent would be minted into an NFT to commemorate the killmail. Consider your concerns well-founded as CCP Games CEO Hilmar Pétursson voiced his support of the technology and play-to-earn schemes in general in an interview with The Korea Economic Daily.
“Gamers hope that the values created from online games can also be used in reality. The online gaming content should have practical values in the real world. The gaming industry should evolve to allow gamers to make retirement plans by using the money they earn from games.”
In spite of this proclamation in support of what he calls a scheme in its infancy that will “grow as a key concept in the gaming industry,” Pétursson comes just short of declaring that EVE will connect to a blockchain wholesale, noting that introducing a play-to-earn system would divide the playerbase between those who are trying to earn money and those who just want to play a freaking video game, therefore complicating the social dynamic. “We have conducted research related to NFT and blockchain as they are based on a decentralized system. However, it is a little too early for us to entirely introduce NFTs or [play-to-earn],” he says.
