Published on: 18/04/2022

Activision Blizzard’s survey asks gamers’ interest in NFTs

As digital assets and blockchain technology are making their way into the video game industry, big gaming studios are slowly, yet steadily, implementing them into their game. This includes Activision Blizzard, who recently asked gamers whether or not they liked the idea of cryptocurrencies and NFTs being implemented in games.

Activision Blizzard is a prominent video game company. They are known for their subsidiary gaming studios such as Treyarch. The company’s intellectual properties cover a massive collection of beloved video game titles, such as the Call of Duty series, World of Warcraft, and Diablo just to name a few.

Activision Blizzard’s survey

In a 15 minutes YouGov survey launched throughout the weekend, Activision Blizzard asked a series of gaming-related questions to gamers. These ranged from how often they played some of the games made by the studio and which genre they played the most.

Under a specific section of the survey, the company asked about their interest in emerging and future gaming trends. These questions cover the cross-play feature in video games, both VR and AI, all the way to the metaverse and the play-to-earn (P2E) genre and NFTs.

Integrating NFTs into video games is as controversial as it can be. The reception rate from gamers is still low. There is a prevalent fear of the technology being a cash grab, similar to loot boxes and microtransaction.

Twitter user @OTadaka gave an honest and simple reply to Activision Blizzard’s survey, tweeting “I said very disinterested to them”.

Meanwhile, some others called out the survey for redirecting them to Activision Blizzard’s online store without a proper “thank you” on the landing page.

Activision Blizzard’s NFTs prospects, rumors

Activision Blizzard’s prospects of implementing cryptocurrency and NFTs in the future are still unclear. However, rumors circulating online have suggested that the company was set to implement such features into one of its most successful series titles, COD.

Gaming insider Ralph, who goes by Twitter username @RalphsValve, had tweeted earlier this month that Activision Blizzard may add NFTs sometime in the future. Ralph claimed the developer of COD Modern Warfare was keen on any possibility of a personalization feature in Activision accounts. Something that would add in-game uniqueness for players.

The leaker continued that the developer was also investigating the integration of NFTs in COD, but did not provide details to this claim. It appeared that avatars and calling cards might soon be introduced to Activision accounts.

While Ralph’s claims should be taken with a grain of salt. NFTs might make their way into COD sooner or later as recent gaming-NFTs development had shown that the industry was leaning towards such a direction. Blockchain service providers have reportedly offered assistance to gaming companies to develop blockchain technology and NFTs inclusion.

Standing alongside the majority of gamers in rejecting the inclusion is co-creator of Deux Ex Warren Spector who dubbed NFTs “ridiculous”. Platinum Games studio has also called the tech “frustrating”.

Other studios, however, expressed their interest in the matter. These include Square Enix, Konami, and Ubisoft.