EA CEO Shares New Statement On NFTs

After initially sounding enthusiastic about the possibility for NFTs to have significant impact on gaming, Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson has now walked that back to a degree. In a post-earnings conference call, the executive said EA is not "driving hard" on NFT projects right now.

"I believe that collectibility will continue to be an important part of our industry in the games and experiences that we offer our players," Wilson said, as reported by PC Gamer. "Whether that's as part of NFTs and the blockchain, that remains to be seen. And I think, the way we think about it is, we want to deliver the best possible player experience we can, and so we'll evaluate that over time. But right now it's not something that we're driving hard on."

Wilson mentioned that part of what makes the idea of NFTs exciting, at least on paper, is that it leans into the idea of "collectibility." This has four main pillars--quality, scarcity, authenticity, and perceived value, he said. While NFTs might carry some of these core characteristics, it's too soon to say what role NFTs and blockchain technology will play in the future of games at EA and beyond.

Months ago, Wilson said the conversation around NFTs and "play-to-earn" in gaming is still "really, really early," and nothing was certain yet. Despite that, Wilson said at the time that he believes NFTs will become an important of EA's future and the wider gaming industry.

"What we know about collection over time is the collectibility is far more valuable to the collector where the collected item has utility. And I think that in the context of the games that we create and the live services that we offer, collectible digital content is going to play a meaningful part in our future," he added. "So still early to tell, but I think we're in a really good position, and you should expect us to kind of think more innovatively and creatively about that on a go-forward basis."

NFT projects in the video game space have been making headlines of late, as Team17 recently walked back its own NFT plans after backlash, while prolific voice actor Troy Baker canceled his own NFT plans.

In other news, EA's earnings reported showed that the company made the most money ever in its nearly 40-year history for the latest quarter. The company achieved this despite Battlefield 2042 failing to meet EA's sales expectations.