Phil Spencer, the CEO of Microsoft’s Xbox gaming division, is excited about the Metaverse but “conservative” about play-to-earn (P2E) crypto games because of their economic and speculative features.
Speaking with Bloomberg anchor Emily Chang on Thursday, Spencer stated that despite the fact that many gamers are not yet persuaded by the current notion of a metaverse, according to his definition, they have been playing in metaverse worlds for decades:
In my opinion, gamers have been in the Metaverse for thirty years. If you’re playing Environment of Warcraft, Roblox, or a racing game, you’re in a shared world.
Spencer says that the Metaverse is basically a “3D shared environment” where people can freely interact and work toward the same goals and share experiences.
“It’s not at all shocking to me that gamers may look at Metaverse and think, ‘Well, I don’t really grasp it,’ since we already have avatars and I can already enter a shared environment and have audio chats with people from everywhere,” he added.
Spencer’s thoughts are similar to those of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who stated in November after assuring Bloomberg that the company would “definitely” make efforts in Metaverse gaming:
“Halo, if viewed as a game, is a Metaverse. Minecraft and Flight Sim are both Metaverses. In a way, they are now 2D, and the question is whether they can be adapted to a completely 3D environment. We have every intention of doing so.
Spencer did not, however, address more controversial topics in the Metaverse, such as the idea of virtual metaverse property ownership through NFTs. Mark Cuban, a proponent of cryptocurrencies and a wealthy investor, referred to virtual property investments as “the stupidest s—-ever” owing to their apparent lack of value and scarcity.
The Xbox boss says that Microsoft and CEO Satya Nadella’s interest in making money with the Metaverse realm has been growing as of late.
However, I do believe that the talents we possess as game designers and game producers are very applicable to a variety of industry activities. “This is why Satya is so enthusiastic about it,” he explained.
“Play-to-win,aespecially,egarding blockchain-based P2E gaming, the Xbox boss spoke with somewhat greater caution.
While Spencer acknowledged that game commercialization has existed for a number of years, he is concerned about the prevalence of games based around “menial activities” to get digital money.
“Play-to-win especially is something I am wary about. It creates a labour force of gamers so that particular players may ConcerningConcerning
“You may now discover games that are beginning to include this into the game’s economy.” “We made some remarks in Minecraft about how we regard NFTs in this sector since we felt that some players were using our product — we indicated we don’t want that,” he continued.
Relatedly, GameFi creators might face hefty penalties and imprisonment.
However, he did not fully reject the idea of play-to-earn, saying that there may be some fascinating use cases in this area.
When these technologies emerge, I believe they are sometimes like a hammer searching for a nail. But the real human usage — or, in our case, player use — of these technologies might lead to some fascinating outcomes, “he concluded.
