Andrew Paul Uerkwitz, an equity analyst, asked EA CEO Andrew Wilson about play-to-earn games during the company’s earnings call yesterday. Wilson said that play-to-earn and NFT conversations are a bit early, but this type of digital content is expected to be the future of the industry.
Anything that brings more people in and engages those people for more time in the context of the entertainment it would create I think it’s a good thing over time. I think that is the very foundation of our live services. I think the play to earn or the NFT conversation is still really, really early, and there’s a lot of conversation. And there’s at some level, a lot of hype about it. I do think it will be an important part of our — of the future of our industry on a go-forward basis. But it’s still early to kind of figure out how that’s going to work. I feel good about our position with respect to that. I mean, as a company, we have been leaders in the creation of digital content that has real collectible value in the embedding of that content as part of live services. What we know about collection over time is the collectibility is far more valuable to the collector where the collected item has utility. And I think that in the context of the games that we create and the live services that we offer, collectible digital content is going to play a meaningful part in our future. So still early to tell, but I think we’re in a really good position, and you should expect us to kind of think more innovatively and creatively about that on a go-forward basis –EA CEO & Director Andrew Wilson
PC Gamer explained that this concept allows players to purchase in-game content via cryptocurrency. From there, they can trade or sell items. Monetary exchange has existed for years in MMOs, allowing players to buy, sell, or trade items. But the news points to cryptocurrency gaining more global acceptance.
“Play-to-earn” games often require players pay an up-front cost through cryptocurrency to play the game and collect unique, in-game items. Those items can then increase in value and be sold to other players.
Monetization in EA games could be expanded to include NFTs or blockchains, with players or collectors obtaining digital content with value. Wilson emphasized that it’s too early to figure out how to roll this out and more planning is necessary, however.