Team17, the developer behind the Worms tactical video game franchise, announced that they scrapped their plans to create their very own non-fungible tokens (NFTs) called "Meta Worms" after they received a series of backlashes from their fans and their partner developers.
According to NME, the video game studio tweeted through the official Twitter page that they acknowledged the concerns regarding their venture to NFTs. With that, they decided to halt the project.
The announcement came after they revealed their Meta Worms project. These Worms-based NFTs, according to The Verge, will give the players and fans of the franchise to own a unique piece of video game memorabilia.
Team17 is today announcing an end to the MetaWorms NFT project.
— Team17 (@Team17) February 1, 2022
We have listened to our Teamsters, development partners, and our games’ communities, and the concerns they’ve expressed, and have therefore taken the decision to step back from the NFT space.
According to PSLS, Team17 claimed that the Meta Worms NFTs could substantially reduce the amount of energy used per transaction, making them environment-friendly.
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The Meta Worms NFTs, according to Kotaku, were a collaborative effort between Team17 and Reality Gaming Group, an England-based company that releases NFT and Blockchain-powered games.
However, their developer partners did not believe the claim they made. Ghost Town Games, the creators of the Overcooked cooking simulation games, announced on their Twitter page that they did not support Team17's plan to create NFTs added that they carried a greater environmental and social cost.
— Overcooked 🍽 (@Overcookedgame) February 1, 2022
Aggro Crab Games, another developer partner of Team17 and producers of the dungeon crawler game, Going Under, also posted on their Twitter page that they will not be working with the developing studio following their Meta Worms announcement.
sigh pic.twitter.com/I4PIQB6o1H
— AGGRO CRAB (@AggroCrabGames) January 31, 2022
According to Nintendo Life, the game studio believed that NFTs are not only environment-friendly or useful, but they are also a grift or a way to obtain money illicitly. However, they asked their fans not to harass the Team17 personnel regarding their decision.
After Team17's Twitter page posted their announcement of stopping their plans for Meta Worms, Aggro Crab quoted the post with a "Thank You" on their page.
SMG Studios, who created the Death Squared and Moving Out games, also thanked Team17 on their Twitter post regarding their decision to back down from creating NFTs.
NFTs are any unique digital items, such as trading cards, drawings, animated GIFs, and songs, that can be bought or sold online using blockchain technology -- a shared ledger that records transactions and tracks assets that are entering a business network. The technology tracks down the owners of the NFTs.
If Team17 continues its plans to release Meta Worms, it will be one of several video game companies venturing into the NFT industry.
Last December, Ubisoft announced that they plan to release Digits for Ghost Recon Breakpoint. These NFTs, according to Polygon, provide players the ability to personalize their experience in the game while completing their missions with style.
GSC Game World, the developers behind the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. first-person shooting game series, also announced that they have plans to create their own NFTs for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl.
But, they later posted on their Twitter page that they scrapped the idea after receiving feedback from their community.
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