First Big Ban to NFT games 😟
Do NFTs Have Real Value? This question has sparked numerous debates in the crypto industry. For now, however, an industry giant is making its views on the matter very clear.
Steam
as of today , October 16 2021, the popular digital gaming platform, has banned all blockchain-based applications that enable cryptocurrency or NFT trading.The silent but definitive movement staggered the members of the GameFi sphere, even when the main players spoke.
Steam developer Valve shared a new entry on the platform rules and guidelines:
“Applications created with blockchain technology that issue or allow exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFT, are banned “
Age of Rust
an NFT-based adventure game, is a community affected by the ban.
A representative said the decision was made because Steam's policy "does not allow items of real value to be part of the ecosystem"
In contrast, the CEO of Axie Infinity stated that the new policy has not yet been added to the Steam Direct page.
Why the ban?
At the time of going to press, there was no formal statement on Valve's blockchain ban. While many have suggested possible causes, one of the reasons could be the fact that Valve collects legal data like banking and company information. is to pay users who are part of the “Steamworks onboarding process”
Valve also performs identity checks and tax documents.
With this in mind, blockchain-based applications and their creators can be difficult to validate.
In addition, some provisions of the US infrastructure law relating to digital assets could make NFTs and crypto regulations more difficult for businesses.
Whether or not NFTs have value outside of their native ecosystems is worth noting that Visa recently bought a CryptoPunk for $ 150,000 and a SolMonkey sold for around $ 2 million earlier this month.
NFT-based games are almost impossible to ignore. Axie Infinity's revenue increased 48-fold between the second and third quarters of 2021.
Additionally, Axie Infinity
placed on the top 5 list of traditional video game giants due to its market capitalization.
In the rules, however, the Steam ban did not go unnoticed for long. One vocal critic was Sky Mavis, the creator of Axie Infinity. On October 16, the company tweeted:
“Today @Steam has blocked all games made with blockchain and NFT from its store."
Our Mavis Hub represents a different path: a future in which players have property rights and economic freedom. We will win. The future of gaming is at stake. It's worth noting that Sky Mavis also took the opportunity to promote the company's own game launcher.
Now the fact of Steam and other gaming platform banning NFT based games could be a problem also for Splinterlands, Upland or other hive based dapps. If it will be seen as just a gambling casino or a platform where invest money to earn big gains and speculate?
Now was the turn of Age of Rust and Axie Infinity.
Do we have to be worried ?
here ìs a comparison of three charts as of Today
SPS
HIVE
AXS
as you can see it is a very profitable market...
Do your consideration...
It's a bit of a blow, I thought people looked to Steam as decentralised friendly.
This is probably due to financial/ tracking/ tax complexities as you say.
I think from a legal/ financial perspective this can be a nightmare and I guess it's just easier to avoid it altogether.
Not helpful, but then again blockchain games don't need Steam to be successful!
TLDR - their loss!
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Goodbye Steam, it was nice while you lasted. But now you showed your true centralized face of uglyness. RIP.
Completely agree with you !!
They already removed the criptocards before it came out hahaha.
I do not think it affects anything, they have never been on steam, if so, if it would affect the games within that platform.
Right, but the message is very wrong for me. Steam is a big platform.. If it would have embraced this new way of gaming apps it would have been better.
Let's be honest here: Steam is banning NFTs from their platform because they didn't found a way to receive their fees over them. Steam wants Game Devs to use the Steam Marketplace, in which they earn a % of the transaction value; if Devs start to use NFTs, this will go around Steam control and won't be charged accordingly.
I may be wrong, but I think that Valve will soon release their own NFT Marketplace.