Microsoft Games CEO Phil Spencer shared new comments about the game’s money-making mechanics and NFT, saying he feels “cautious” but doesn’t want to reject any new technology. In an interview with Bloomberg, Spencer said that the “play for money” type of game turned him off. He acknowledged that it’s not new in the gaming world, and that people have been working in the game gold industry for years, but building such mechanics directly into games represents a new step that requires a cautious outlook.
“In particular, ‘play for money’ is a model I’m wary of. It creates a working class among players and allows other players to spend money. To be fair, in the gaming industry, this has been around for years. Gold farmers have existed, spending their time doing menial tasks in games to accumulate some currency that they can then sell to other players with money for real money so they don’t have to spend it,” he said. “But now you’ll find games starting to integrate it into the economy of the game itself.”
My World, the current Microsoft IP, has taken a radically decisive line on the game’s money-making mechanics and NFT, which Spencer doubled down on, saying he doesn’t want My World to be involved in anything “exploitative. That said, Spencer didn’t mean to dismiss NFT entirely.
“I think when these technologies come along, sometimes it’s like a hammer looking for a nail. But the actual human use and player use of these technologies, I think there could be some interesting things there.”
