EA CEO Andrew Wilson has completely backtracked the company’s stance on NFTs.
During the last half of 2021, many gaming companies researched how to incorporate NFTs and blockchain into their games. What they didn’t look into, seemingly, was whether or not gamers wanted NFTs incorporated into their titles. So when companies began announcing their crypto plans, they ran into overwhelmingly adverse reactions from the market.
In November of 2021, EA CEO Andrew Wilson was asked about NFTs. He replied, “When we kind of interact with our hundreds of millions of football fans… they want more modalities at play inside the game, which go beyond just straight 11 on 11 football. They want more digital experiences outside the game, esports, NFTs broader sports consumption, and they want us to move really, really quickly.”
But just this week, Wilson reversed course. DURING A TUESDAY INVESTOR CALL, the EA CEO was again asked about non-fungible tokens. He explained, “I believe that collectability will continue to be an important part of our industry and the games and experiences that we offer our players. Whether that’s as part of NFT and the blockchain, well, that remains to be seen.”
Wilson continued, “We want to deliver the best possible player experience we can … We’ll evaluate that over time, but right now, it’s not something that we’re driving hard against.”
Luckily for Electronic Arts, they are in a position to pull back from NFTs quickly. Ubisoft has already bet big on the technology by creating its Quartz program. And Konami was selling Castlevania NFTs before the year was out. Expect to see more turns like Wilson’s as time goes on.
