Tag: Epic Games

Epic Games and LEGO Group Partner to Build Family-Friendly Metaverse

by Blockchain News

Epic Games, the creator of the Unreal Engine and Fortnite, has announced a long-term partnership with the LEGO Group to build a “family-friendly” Metaverse. The announcement comes just weeks after Epic Games’ $2 billion funding round aimed at accelerating the company’s plans for the Metaverse.

The partnership between Epic Games and LEGO Group is expected to combine Epic’s expertise in virtual world technology with LEGO’s iconic brand and family-friendly reputation. While neither company has revealed any concrete details about the collaboration, LEGO Group CEO Niels Christiansen told the Financial Times earlier this year that the company was looking to announce more details soon.

The move towards a “family-friendly” Metaverse is significant given the concerns over the potential negative impact of virtual worlds on young people. Critics have raised concerns over the potential for addiction, cyberbullying, and exposure to inappropriate content.

Epic Games’ decision to partner with LEGO Group could be seen as a way to address these concerns and make the Metaverse more accessible to families with children. By leveraging LEGO’s brand and expertise in creating family-friendly content, Epic Games could help to create a virtual world that is both entertaining and safe for all ages.

The partnership between Epic Games and LEGO Group is just the latest indication of the growing interest in the Metaverse. With major players like Facebook, Roblox, and Decentraland also investing in virtual world technology, it’s clear that the concept of the Metaverse is here to stay.

As the Metaverse continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how companies like Epic Games and LEGO Group approach the challenges of creating a virtual world that is both engaging and safe for all ages. With billions of dollars being invested in the technology, the future of the Metaverse looks bright, but there are sure to be bumps along the way as the technology continues to develop.

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Metaverse Developer Epic Games Claims Won’t Ban NFTs like Minecraft

by Blockchain News

Epic Games, Inc., creator of Metaverse battle royale game Fortnite, says it would not ban NFTs like Minecraft.

“Developers should be free to decide how to build their games, and you are free to decide whether to play them. I believe stores and operating system makers shouldn’t interfere by forcing their views onto others. We definitely won’t,” Tim Sweeney responded to netizens’ messages on his official Twitter.

On July 20th, Mojang Studios, The Sandbox video game Minecraft developer, stated that it will not support NFT integration with Minecraft, citing that the speculative pricing and investment mentality of NFTs NFT-related scams violate the principles of the game.

Tim Sweeney mentioned that encryption is complex. Good and bad, everyone should make their own decision.

Epic Games doesn’t necessarily support cryptocurrencies or NFTs, but the CEO said the company doesn’t intend to ban NFTs like Minecraft but instead leaves the choice to gamers.

“A store could choose to make no such judgments and host anything that’s legal, or choose to draw the line at mainstream acceptable norms as we do, or accept only games that conform to the owner’s personal beliefs,” he said.

When Steam banned NFT and blockchain technology on October 21, the Epic Games Store said it would not follow suit and would continue to support NFT Games.

Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. Tim Sweeney founded the company in 1991.

Image source: Shutterstock

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Fortnite founder says NFT tech “going places,” but currently “speculative mess”

by Cointelegraph

Tim Sweeney, the co-founder of the studio behind titles such as Hitman, Gears of War, and the wildly popular Fortnite said in a Tweet today that non-fungible token (NFT) tech and the ‘metaverse’ it one day may enable are “going places,” but due to factors such as transactions costs and the “wild, speculative mess” that makes up much of crypto today, the dream of “a persistent, live digital universe” might be far off. 

Sweeney made his comments in response to a blog titled “Into The Void: Where Crypto Meets The Metaverse.” Written by blockchain consulting, research and investment firm Delphi Digital partner Piers Kicks, “Into The Void” is a sprawling essay that dives into the history of digital connectivity and in-game economies, ultimately arguing that blockchain-based metaverses will not be a simple improvement over previous virtual experiences, but will instead mark the start of a new human epoch:

“In the coming decades, a new era of virtual existence will be ushered in marking our next great milestone as a networked species.”

In a short Tweet thread Sweeney praised the blog post and acknowledged that blockchain tech and NFTs are the “most plausible path” towards a fully emergent metaverse, but also indicated that these developments may be far off and that investors should be cautious with their money:

“It’s immensely exciting to see recognition of the potential of these technologies from Tim, who is undoubtedly the leading pioneer of change within the game industry and beyond,” Kicks said in a statement to Cointelegraph. “[…] Almost everything out there right now is not yet ready to be mainstream consumer facing. It’s not just scalability that’s a bottleneck, there are still major UX frictions across the board.”

“It may well be largely speculative right now, but for those willing to engage it’s a very exciting time as the market hunts for viable, scalable business and incentive models. Where mainstream perceptions of crypto are concerned, the tides do appear to be gradually changing,” he added.

Speculation Swirls

Sweeney isn’t the only big-name entrepreneur to dip their toes into NFTs in recent weeks. On Monday Mark Cuban released a run of 10 limited-edition NFT animations of himself dancing. All sold out within hours, and on-chain sleuths identified two wallets associated with Cuban that contained dozens of small cryptocurrencies, as well as significant holdings in DeFi projects such as Aave and Sushiswap — all of which lent credence to Cuban’s prior statement that he likes to “try this stuff out.”

Shortly after the drop, however, Cuban said in a television interview NFT prices are “inflated” due to low interest rates, indicating that his interest in NFTs might be purely exploratory.

Both Cuban and Sweeney have good reason to question the sky-high valuations currently overtaking the space. Last weekend a rare CryptoPunk sold for 605 ETH, or over $750,000 at the time of the sale, and prominent collectors are being quoted on the evening news.

However, as is often the case in crypto development carries on apace regardless of if there’s a bubble or not, and a blockchain-enabled metaverse may be closer than even these founders and investors realize.