Blockchain advocates failed to address developer concerns at GDC
The first in-person Game Developers Conference since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was also the first GDC to put blockchain technology like NFTs and cryptocurrencies front-and-center. If you wandered around Moscone, Web3 developers and blockchain platforms rivaled traditional vendors like Amazon and Unity for floor space.
There were t-shirts and hoodies aplenty. There were weird trucks and fliers galore. You want sponsored talks? Oh so many. But with some surveys having up to 70 percent of game developers expressing indifference or hostility to NFTs and cryptocurrency technology, why was it so present?
The short answer is as always, money. Investors pouring cash into blockchain projects mean blockchain companies have cash to burn on booths and advertisements for their services.
But there's also the recruitment factor. One motivation for companies attending GDC is the chance to attract employees, and blockchain, NFT, and Web3 game developers and platforms are just as hungry for talent as every other studio at the moment.
With blockchain games, we've heard from plenty of developers that the flood of investment cash isn't enough to make them sign up. So this GDC was a chance for the advocates of Web3, NFTs, and "play-to-earn" (they pivoted to "play-and-earn" during the show) to tackle core criticisms of the technology.
So did they make their case? Short answer: no.
Long answer: No, and boy did it feel like everyone doubled down on the worst arguments.
GDC 2022 was an opportunity for the blockchain world to step away from the hype-fueled culture and speak in practical, technical terms about how cryptocurrency-driven technology could improve game development.
They rarely took it.
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