Team17 Announces, Then Cancels, Worms NFT Plans Due To Fan And Studio Pushback

The MetaWorms NFT Project was announced by Team17 yesterday. The idea was to develop NFTs using its Worms licence with the support of Reality Gaming Group (NFT maker). Team17 billed these NFTs as environmentally friendly because they were a “side chain” of Ethereum and produced using RGG’s carbon neutral servers. Team17 even had plans to donate a portion of the revenue earned from NFT sales to global sustainability firm Coins 4 Planet and its Refeed Farms initiative, which promotes using worm beds as a cleaner method to process waste. The NFTs themselves were, of course, just various images of Worms characters, which you can see in the header up top. 

As we’ve recently seen in other instances of studios announcing NFT plans, fans were not pleased and expressed as much on social media. That’s not surprising; what did come from left field was the fact that some of Team17’s partners were apparently unaware of the initiative and became similarly upset. As a result, a few studios took to Twitter to independently announce that their titles will not support NFT plans, seemingly to dispel any notion that Team17’s plans would apply to them as well. 

Yooka Laylee is also included in this group Playtonic:

At The Going Under Team Aggro Crab (Warning about language):

Additionally, Overcooked studio Ghost Town Games:

Team17 responded to all the blowback by announcing on Twitter that it’s received the message loud and clear and is stepping away from NFTs altogether.

The story mirrors that of GSC Game World’s announcement to include NFTs in the forthcoming S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. The studio was also repelled by fans, who eventually reversed their plans. Ubisoft’s own NFT platform, Ubisoft Quartz, has been met with a similar backlash though the publisher has stood firm saying that their acceptance will “take time” and that detractors just “don’t get it”. Square Enix and Konami have begun dabbling in the NFT game, though a recent survey conducted by the Game Developer Conference revealed most developers have little to no interest in incorporating NFT or cryptocurrency into their products. 

Still unsure about NFTs You can find our helpful explanation on NFTs and their potential impact on the gaming industry right here.