Phil Spencer is concerned about NFT games being “exploitive”

It’s hard to avoid news about NFTs and blockchain gaming lately. Whether it’s Zynga announcing their plans for moving into the blockchain space or Discord teasing (and then canceling) NFT integration in its software, there are a lot of hot takes floating around. The latest industry leader to wade into the fracas is Xbox boss Phil Spencer, but he doesn’t seem quite as excited about the idea as some of his peers.

Asked about the non-fungible elephant in the room by Axios’ Stephen Totilo, Spencer said that he felt that “a lot of speculation and experimentation” was going on in the space, but added that some of the ideas he’d seen seemed “more exploitive than about entertainment.” That’s a sentiment shared by the likes of Valve, which banned all blockchain games from Steam back in October.

Spencer didn’t elaborate further on which specifics of blockchain gaming he found “exploitive,” such as the environmental impact, the unsustainable play-to-earn business model, or even the idea that blockchain games might not be fun for players. He went on to say that he “[doesn’t] think it necessitates that every NFT game is exploitive,” but that the industry was still figuring it out. He was clear on Xbox’s stance on “exploitive” games, though: “We don’t want that kind of content.”