Team17 announced the end of the project mere hours after it was announced
On February 1, Team17, the creator of the popular game Worms, announced that the game will get generative Metaworms NFT characters in a new collaboration with Reality Gaming Group. Unfortunately, the ambitious project was incredibly short-lived. Around 24 hours later, Team17 dropped it via a Twitter announcement.
Metaworms was supposed to be a collection of generative NFT characters living on Reality Gaming Group’s Ethereum sidechain. Unfortunately, since the announcement yesterday, Team17 faced serious backlash from both its own community and from gamers and journalists alike.
The Twitter feeds of gaming publications like Eurogamer burst with negative reactions under posts announcing the collection. Most of the comments included concerns surrounding environmental issues and the perceived value of NFTs.
In the official announcement, Team17 said that they made their decision based on the negative community reaction. The Twitter post details that Team17 has taken the community and developer’s thoughts into consideration and decided not to move forward with the project.
Importantly, the announcement does not concern only the Metaworms project. The studio has decided to generally take a step back, and not explore NFTs with any of their gaming products.
Metaworms was a failed attempt to follow in the footsteps of other gaming studios
With the launch of the Metaworms collection, Team17 made an attempt to join a long list of big gaming studios that have already made the jump into NFTs. In recent months, especially as the NFT space started heating up, big companies like Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, and Square Enix have announced plans to integrate NFTs into their products.
Unfortunately, the mainstream gaming community is still not entirely convinced that NFTs have a place in the games they play. And in Team17’s case, this took a toll. The British gaming studio has some very successful projects under its belt, like Worms, Overcooked, and Sheltered. However, this is by no means the magnitude and reach studios like Ubisoft and EA have. In this sense, big studios have a bigger chance to get away with something the community does not approve of.
On the other hand, Team17 gets a lot of credit for listening to their community’s reaction. It might not be the best marketing practice to announce a project and drop it in 24 hours. However, this also shows that the team is ready to listen to feedback and change plans accordingly.
The mainstream gaming space has a lot of things to take from the crypto world, including NFTs and play-to-earn mechanics. However, by the looks of it, this won’t be the smoothest of journeys.
DappRadar will continue monitoring both the traditional game industry and the blockchain gaming space. As borders between the two continue to crumble, the gaming world will be completely reshaped. To get the latest blockchain gaming news first, follow DappRadar on Twitter. Additionally, you can check out DappRadar PRO, and join the exclusive members’ discussion channels on Discord to talk about your gaming experiences.
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