While the possibility of NFTs in Mario Kart is a bit of a wretched idea that’s been circulated, it doesn’t seem like Nintendo has any interest in NFTs or the metaverse at the moment.
In Nintendo’s financial results briefing last week, Nintendo was asked about the metaverse and NFTs during the Q&A portion of the briefing. After the constant shoving of both concepts down gamers throats in the past year, there’s no surprise that a question like this would be posed to Nintendo, a company whose microtransaction-heavy phone games made them AUD $2.4 billion last year. However, it seems like from the response to this question, fans have little to fear.
When posed with the question, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa had this to say:
“The metaverse has captured the attention of many companies around the world, and it has great potential. When the concept of the metaverse is introduced in the media, games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons are sometimes brought up as examples. In that sense, the metaverse is of interest to us.
But at this point in time, there is no easy way to define specifically what kinds of surprises and enjoyment the metaverse can deliver to our consumers. As a company that provides entertainment, our main emphasis is on ways to deliver fresh surprises and fun to our consumers. We might consider something if we can find a way to convey a ‘Nintendo approach’ to the metaverse that many people can readily understand, but we do not think that is the situation at the present time.”
It’s definitely a ‘not right now’ type of response, but that can give us a present-day bit of relief. Judging by the lack of NFT talk in their response, however, could mean two things in our eyes: either it’s something they’re considering and don’t want to give away, or they don’t give a shit about NFTs and don’t see a place for them either. So basically, Nintendo doesn’t seem to be interested in NFTs or the metaverse right now. It’s a possibility, but just not a priority.
Let’s just pray to the gamer gods, who definitely exist and are real, that we don’t see some iced-out ape smoking a joint in the next Smash Bros. We already have Donkey Kong, and weed makes him anxious.
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