Huge developments shook the crypto world this weekend when both Valve and Epic Games revealed their intentions towards blockchain gaming. Consequently, Steam shocked many of its fans by banning such games from the platform.
Steam-based Sci-Fi adventure, Age of Rust, dropped the initial bombshell after it discovered it would be delisted from the platform. Following a little post bad news sleuthing, Steam’s full intentions were revealed. Not through an announcement, or an inappropriate tweet from the high ups. But from a sneaky amendment to the Steam Ts & Cs. Now, article 13 on “What you shouldn’t publish on Steam” reads as follows:
“Applications built on blockchain technology that issue or allow exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFTs.”
It is understood that the ban is an extension of Steam’s position that it does not allow in-game assets with intrinsic real-world value. However, anyone delving deeper will realize that this isn’t a rule that Steam has, and it is one they would be in violation of themselves if it existed. Despite this, Steam will begin to remove games it feels contravenes these rules from their platform.
And, as one door closes, another opens. Valve’s key competitor, Epic Games, took advantage of the situation by making an announcement of their own. Epic CEO, Tim Sweeney, tweeted that the platform “welcomes” blockchain games utilizing crypto and NFTs. However, they would still implement a set of rules to ensure the games abide by applicable regulations.
Epic Games Store will welcome games that make use of blockchain tech provided they follow the relevant laws, disclose their terms, and are age-rated by an appropriate group. Though Epic’s not using crypto in our games, we welcome innovation in the areas of technology and finance. https://t.co/6W7hb8zJBw
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) October 15, 2021
Whichever way you look at it, this could prove to be a turning point for one of these two platforms.
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*All investment/financial opinions expressed by NFT Plazas are from the personal research and experience of our site moderators and are intended as educational material only. Individuals are required to fully research any product prior to making any kind of investment.
Decentralised human, Explorer, Adventurer.