Phil Spencer claims gamers have been part of the metaverse for over three decades. He is concerned about NFTs and play-to-earn, but he still believes gamers should be able to earn a living from their games. Microsoft has banned NFTs in Minecraft, which was created by Mojang Studios.
Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, stated that he believes gamers have been in the metaverse since 30 years. However, he understands why some people are still hesitant.
On Friday, he spoke with Bloomberg Studio and suggested that gamers don’t “get” the metaverse because they are familiar with the technologies claimed to be novel.
“It’s not surprising to me that gamers might consider metaverse and think… He said that he already had an avatar of himself, could already enter a shared universe and can have voice conversations.
He said that he was cautious about certain trends like play-to-earn because it creates a “workforce of players for some players to monetize.”
Spencer was previously critical of the use of NFTs and play-to-earn in blockchain games. Microsoft has now established the law regarding their platforms being used to “exploitative” projects.
Mojang Studios, owned by Microsoft, updated their community guidelines Minecraft in July to stop NFT-related projects from using the platform. This was especially devastating for NFT Worlds metaverse platform, which had to stop using Minecraft to build its virtual world.
Spencer acknowledged that players can monetize their web2 games.
“There were gold farmers. These people literally spent their time in games to earn currency which they could then sell to other rich players for real money. He said that you now find games that have begun to incorporate that aspect into the game’s economy.
