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Nifty News: Sega exec calls P2E games ‘boring,’ Tom Brady’s NFT firm switches it up and more

July 7, 2023No Comments


Sega COO yawns at P2E games

Sega's co-chief operating officer called play-to-win games "boring" amid the company's withdrawal from franchising some of its most popular properties into the blockchain gaming space.

Bloomberg reported on July 6 that Shuji Utsumi, the co-COO of the game company behind Sonic The Hedgehog, said that Sega would shelve plans to develop blockchain games for now.

Third-party blockchain game projects would also not have access to the biggest Sega franchises, with Utsumi adding:

“The action in play-to-win games is boring, what good is it if the games aren't fun?”

However, some of Sega's lesser-known titles will still be licensed to run on non-fungible token (NFT) collections, its lesser franchises are getting blockchain games scheduled for announcements later this year, and Sega is still pumping millions into projects. related.

It is up in the air if the "super game" promoted by Sega over the past year, scheduled for release in 2026, will continue to involve Web3 technology.

Utsumi believed that the technology is useful for cases like moving game elements between game titles, but Sega may be left behind until the technology sees wider use.

“After all, we are looking into whether this technology is really going to take off in this industry,” said Utsumi.

Tom Brady's NFT co. break with nft

Professional football star Tom Brady is reportedly changing the strategy of his NFT-focused startup Autograph, which is now moving away from NFTs.

July 6 The New York Times reported Autograph's marketing has quietly removed crypto language, played down terms like NFTs and shifted its marketing focus with a new focus on helping stars in general build loyalty with their fans, according to people with knowledge of the company.

Brady co-founded the company in 2021 with the goal of helping celebrities sell NFTs, earning a $170 million Series B in January 2022 and lining up NFT deals with ESPNthe professional golf organization the pga tour and others.

Autograph's revenue reportedly collapsed in 2022 in line with the broader crypto market, according to a person familiar with the company's finances.

Brady's reputation in crypto has suffered due to their ties with the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX. He is also named in a class action lawsuit aimed at alleged famous promoters of the swap.

No need for Euro Metaverse regulations... yet: EU competition chief

Metaverses and those who create them won't have to worry about specific regulations, at least not yet in the European Union (EU).

Reuters reported on June 6 that EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said there hasn't been any concern about the space even though Tech Giants Microsoft, Meta and now Apple together have invested billions to try to corner the nascent sector.

The large spending of a small concentration of companies in a new market does not raise competition concerns for Vestager:

"We actually see that there's a lot of innovation going on when it comes to virtual worlds. I don't think any company can claim ownership, so to speak, but that's what we're hoping to find out."

The existing EU laws regarding market monopolies, privacy and incoming rules on artificial intelligence can also be applied to the Metaverse according to Vestager.

"In Europe, we now have a body of digital legislation," he added. "I think we have time to explore, to know that we shouldn't jump to regulation as the first type of security platform."

He said he will introduce a metaverse-related initiative next week aimed at helping antitrust regulators understand the space.

Major League Baseball Gets New Virtual Ballpark

US professional baseball is getting a stadium in Metaverse, apparently the first professional league to own a virtual world for fans to gather.

On July 5, metaverse technology company Improbable Announced the new virtual space, giving it the inventive title "virtual MLB ballpark."

Related: Yes, the Secret Service has a collection of NFTs and no, it's not for sale.

The virtual stadium was developed within Improbable's “MSquared” network of interoperable Web3 metaverses. Unlikely also helped NFT conglomerate Yuga Labs build their Otherside metaverse.

MLB executive vice president of media and business development Kenny Gersh said "not everyone has the opportunity to attend Major League Baseball games," but that has now been opened "to anyone with an internet connection." ".

Improbable's founder and CEO, Herman Narula, believed that technology could help "create and sell [...] Digital Resources." The League has an existing partnership with the NFT Candy Digital platform.

Other witty news

NFT royalties on Ethereum are at a minimum of two years according to data shared with Cointelegraph by analytics firm Nansen. The drop in royalties comes as the floor price of Yuga's flagship Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs is also falling.

Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu told Cointelegraph the firm is optimistic about the blockchain gaming sector and said it is seeking a license before putting its $800 million metaverse fund to work.

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