Former Nintendo President Believes Gaming Experiences Could Benefit From Blockchain And 'Play to Earn' Models

Reggie Fils-Aimé, the former president of Nintendo of America, has offered his take on blockchain and play to earn models when applied to the gaming industry. The executive declared that he was a big believer in blockchain technology, and that players investing their time in games should be able to monetize whatever items they had gained.

Former Nintendo President Believes Blockchain Elements Can Be Used in Gaming

While the opinion of blockchain and play-to-earn technologies is still negative among traditional gamers, some veterans of the gaming industry seem to be taking these elements in a more serious way. This is the case of Reggie Fils-Aimé, an executive that was President of Nintendo of America from 2006 to 2019 when he announced his retirement.

Fils-Aimé was very clear about his opinion on the role that these new technologies could play in gaming, and in a recent panel at SXSW, he stated:

I’m a believer in blockchain. I think blockchain as a technology is really compelling. I’m also a believer in the concept of ‘play to own’ within video games.

To exemplify this case, the former Nintendo executive stated that players who invest their time in games should be able to monetize their activities in some way. He declared:

There are some games where I’ve invested 300 hours… when I’m ready to move on to something else, wouldn’t it be great to monetize what I built?

Fils-Aimé concluded by saying that many would be interested in purchasing his island in the Animal Crossing game, introducing a possible application of the NFT technology to a current Nintendo franchise.

Nintendo, the Gaming Industry, and Blockchain

Nintendo, one of the pioneer companies in the gaming industry, has been slow when it comes to innovating by including these elements in their games. However, this does not mean they don’t understand what these technologies can achieve in the future.

In fact, Nintendo made reference to the subject in a recent Q&A session where it stated that while the company believes that the metaverse had great potential, it was difficult for it to devise “what kind of surprise and fun” these elements might bring to players.

Other companies have already entered the world of blockchain technology, either by including them as an important part of their investing and business strategy (like Ubisoft and Square Enix) or by already launching exclusive NFT drops featuring characters of their franchises like Konami did with Castlevania.