The response to Team17 making NFTs based on its iconic Worms series was swift and critical. Multiple gaming studios and fans spoke out against the company’s decision to begin selling NFTs, including games studios Playtonic Games, Ghost Town Games, and Aggro Crab. All those studios have partnered with Team17, and Aggros Crab specifically mentions it won’t work with the company again unless it reverses its decision.
The backlash ended up doing the trick, as Team17 announced today that it will end its MetaWorms NFT project. The company writes that it has “listened to our Teamsters, development partners, and our games’ communities,” and has decided to take a step back from the NFT space.
NFTs continue to be a hot-button issue, with a clear divide between the opinion of consumers and company leadership. NFTs stand for non-fungible tokens, which are digital purchases of a piece of art. Multiple artists and consumers find NFTs to be unethical, and many have pointed out the environmental problems relating to NFTs.
Despite the public outcry against NFTs, many companies continue to push forward with them. Ubisoft claims that “gamers don’t get what a digital secondary market can bring to them,” and is moving forward with its Project Quartz. Team17 tried to lessen the environmental concern by calling its MetaWorm NFTs “environmentally friendly,” which obviously did not have the company’s desired outcome.
