PUBG creator Brendan Greene has revealed his next game – a blockchain-powered metaverse title.
During an interview with Hit Points, the 45-year-old game developer revealed that Artemis, his next game, will feature NFTs, the metaverse, and blockchain.
“[Artemis] will be a platform that we participate in the maintenance of, maybe,” he explained. “But it’s something that anyone can plug into, and everyone can host a bit of themselves.”
Artemis will reportedly let players make anything they like as part of a large, open world. But now, it looks as though the project will incorporate blockchain.
"I was fascinated with this idea of digital spaces, places where there are no real rules but a set of systems that you can use,” explained Greene. “That fascinated me, and still does. I never considered just walking away.”
Blockchain is often pitched as a way for players to contribute to a game’s development, but many developers have come out against the technology with the likes of Minecraft outright banning the use of NFTs or blockchain.
Greene insists that Artemis is not about making money. “The only way this exists is if it’s made for everyone, and it’s not made for money,” he said. However, he also confirmed that players will be able to “extract value” from their creations by selling in-game items to other players.
Despite the skepticism, Greene says he’ll continue regardless.
“I’m just going to do what I’m going to do,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter if it’s called the metaverse. I don’t care what people want to call it.”
Of course, Greene won’t be the first developer to get into the metaverse. Bandai Namco recently revealed it’s spent a massive $130 million on an upcoming metaverse project. Not to mention Epic Games and LEGO working together on a child-safe metaverse project.
Quite how the Artemis metaverse will take shape remains to be seen. But the addition of NFTs and blockchain sure isn’t going to win over the critics.
Want to read more about the metaverse? Find out what the metaverse means for gamers as well as what the Epic Games metaverse is all about.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Source: IGN.com Artemis: PUBG Creator’s Next Game Will Have NFTs and the Metaverse