Dev tricks audience with surprise NFT rant and they give him standing ovation
Brazil Independent Gaming FestivalA Brazilian developer has caused a stir by switching their “Future of Gaming” talk to a passionate rundown of NFTs, at an NFT-sponsored gaming event, to which he was given a standing ovation.
Brazil’s International Games Festival is just like E3 or any other multi-day festival as games are celebrated through playable demos, interviews, and game developer sessions.
One such session was supposed to see veteran Game Developer Mark Venturelli, CEO and Creative Director at Rogue Snail, discuss the gaming landscape going forward.
However, as the session was about to really get going, Venturelli stunned the audience by suddenly changing the MO of the session and revealing its new title – Why NFTs are a nightmare.
NFTs are “bad for gaming” claims dev
With a new subject topic established and the crowd hollering in approval, Venturelli wasted no time in making it very clear what he thought of the controversial NFTs and the impact they could have, and are already having, on gaming.
What made the talk even more fascinating is the fact that even though Venturelli was given the green light by the event’s organizers to switch the presentation, the sponsors of the festival were reportedly furious.
The reason for this? It was being supported by several NFT and blockchain companies, including Lakea and Ripio.
You can check out the full talk below, and also find an English translation of the slides here.
Venturelli claimed that the sponsors were furious and told PCGamer: “They tried to break into the talk while I was talking, but the organization would not let them. That doesn’t surprise me, because the organization, not at a single point did they censor me, did they stop me from putting what I wanted on the slides. I gave them access to the slides before the talk. There was never any kind of intention on their side to shut me up or anything like that.”
Once Venturelli’s speech finished, he was roundly applauded by the audience, showing their approval for the talk they had just received.
It’s fair to say that NFTs are generally considered to be unwelcome in the gaming community and players have shown their displeasure at Dr Disrespect’s new game featuring NFTs, as well as the upcoming Polium One NFT game console.
This rant is just the latest backlash to the ongoing NFT presence in gaming and we can’t imagine it will be the end of it.