Atari celebrates its 50th anniversary with NFT lootboxes, teases Metaverse plans

In the mid-2010s, monetized lootboxes emerged as a highly-controversial element found in many video games. Present, efforts to implement NFTs into games have drawn similar levels of criticism. Fascinatingly plenty, old-school gaming pioneer Atari announced this week that it would combine these two controversial concepts to create "GFTs" — effectively purchasable lootboxes that each incorporate a random NFT.

According to Atari'southward website, each GFT will comprise a "mutual," "rare," or "epic" NFT, much like how lootboxes typically carry different tiers of boodle. The company also stated that purchasers wouldn't know which tier of NFT they obtained until an unspecified later date, at which the GFTs would "unwrap."

A roadmap provided past Atari indicated that GFT owners would gain a variety of incentives, including access to exclusive "game competitions." According to the visitor, those who own four or more of these GFTs would likewise be able to purchase an exclusive fifth ane.

Lootboxes accept been featured in many popular games, such as the FIFA serial, Overwatch, and Star Wars Battlefront Two. They have been lambasted by gamers and government officials akin, with many deeming them predatory to both children and those with gambling addictions. In 2022, Hawaii state representatives Chris Lee and Sean Quinlan issued a joint statement condemning game companies' embrace of lootboxes. "[Lootboxes] are explicitly designed to casualty upon and exploit human psychology in the same style casino games are so designed," read the statement.

Meanwhile, more and more than gaming companies take been embracing NFTs as of late. Short for non-fungible tokens, NFTs are effectively digital receipts that "prove" ownership over a digital nugget. That said, NFT owners may non necessarily obtain the IP rights to their newly acquired digital holding upon purchase, which is partly why NFTs have been labeled as scams by critics. Other criticisms of NFTs include their negative environmental affect, as well as how easy it is to mint one, which has opened the door for all types of fine art theft.

Konami, Ubisoft, and Foursquare Enix are only a few of the game companies that have expressed an interest in NFTs, and each has been heavily criticized for doing and then. In a GDC survey of game industry employees, private workers were overwhelmingly opposed to the idea of NFTs becoming normalized in the game industry.

Atari too teased that it might have plans for the Metaverse — a term that typically refers to utilizing engineering to simulate aspects of the real earth in a virtual space. Several big names in the tech industry, such equally Facebook founder Marking Zuckerberg and Ballsy Games CEO Tim Sweeney, accept previously voiced ardent support for the thought. Nevertheless, many regard the thought of a Metaverse equally a pipage dream.