What a bizarre timeline we’ve found ourselves in. D’you think when Konami developer Hitoshi Akamutsu sat down nearly four decades ago to create Castlevania that he realized years in the future, not only would gamers still be commemorating his work, but they’d be doing so by peddling digital files online? Somehow I doubt it. Unless he was also coincidentally a soothsayer. That might explain a lot of his interest in the supernatural, I suppose. Write what you know, as they say.
Konami and NFTs
Yes, it’s time for That Old Subject again, the one acronym guaranteed to get at least half a given room’s eyeballs rolling in their sockets: NFTs. For the small minority of readers who have no clue what those letters mean, I’ll give a brief skinny. In essence, NFTs, or ‘non-fungible tokens’, are unique digital products of some sort – typically an image – that are sold on the gimmick that you own the sole original version of it.
Users can bid on whatever the NFT is, be it a photo of a slice of toast or some actual artwork, and the highest offer gets the prize. Think like buying a painting at an auction, except nowhere near as… tangible. Despite a slow initial uptake, they’ve increased in relevance exponentially in recent months. Several industry heavy hitters like Ubisoft and EA have been caught testing the waters with them in a variety of ways. Hey, however we can squeeze more cash out of the consumer, eh lads? Just whack ’em a few JPEGs, they’ll lap ’em right up.
“But trusted Mega Visions journalist,” you cry, “wouldn’t making a replica of your shiny new NFT be as simple as right-clicking and pressing ‘Copy’?” You would be 100% correct. There is absolutely nothing – zip, nada, zilch – preventing you from doing precisely that, and then subsequently sharing it online, diminishing its alleged value in the process. You see, nowhere in the NFT transaction is it implied you own the only copy of the file that will ever exist; what you are paying for is the unique code and associated digital tags, which cannot be replicated. Commercialised bragging rights, in essence.
It’s a bit of a murky area, ethically and otherwise – one which has led to much discourse over these products of late. I’m not going to go into it (well, any further) but suffice it to say they’re a wee bit controversial. To return to Castlevania: as GameSpot reports, Konami are dipping their own toes into these uncharted, but increasingly appealing waters.
What a horrible night to have an anniversary
“The Castlevania series is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, and to mark the occasion, Konami is rolling out new Castlevania-themed NFTs,” states the report. It’s going to all be part of an event called ‘The Konami Memorial NFT Program’, a very bluntly named celebration beginning on January 12th.
There are fourteen items up for sale, “including pixel art showing off iconic scenes from the games.” Included locations are Dracula’s Castle, natch, and a handful of others. “Some of the NFTs are ‘newly drawn’ art from the Castlevania series,” so at least punters will be getting something they couldn’t just screengrab off YouTube in 5 seconds flat for their buck. If the art is signed, it might go for a pretty penny, so fans had better stay tuned.
The report also lists the auction details for those looking to attend. It’s “taking place on OpenSea, which bills itself as the largest NFT marketplace on the internet.” Well, no wonder piracy is an issue if that’s the name of the place. The auction “ends at 9 PM ET on Jan. 14,” so whoever pledges the most cash will then get to claim their products.
Irrespective of your feelings on NFTs, it is nice to see Konami continue to acknowledge one of their most influential series, for both the company itself and the gaming world. And so long as they don’t continue too far along their path toward abject online domination, NFTs could eventually prove to be an acceptably amusing little experiment. Time will tell.
I’ll tell you one thing, though: it’s a horrible night to have a credit card.
What are your thoughts on all this? Let us know!
Via, GameSpot.
