‘Worms’ Ethereum Video Game NFTs Cancelled After Backlash

Following backlash from the community, collectible “Worms” have been buried as fans and other game developers complain about the company’s NFT plans. Echoing recent pushback to other video game NFT projects, the collectibles have been canned:

Team17 Closes its Can of Worms

The sentiment is not new, as video game firms announce plans for digital collectibles and backlash ensues. It happened again this week with publisher Team17 and its plans for NFTs based on the Worms video game franchise. The indie game publisher confirmed on Twitter that it was no longer pursuing its NFT plans, following significant criticism on social media after announcing them.

The British publisher had planned to release NFT collectibles inspired by the 26-year-old Worms franchise, which has to date sold 75 million games. Team17 had partnered with Reality Gaming Group to release the NFTs on the company’s Ethereum sidechain, called the Digital Assets Trading platform.

In addition to community pushback, Team17 also encountered resistance from its partners Aggro Crab, a studio that had its 2020 game Going Under released by Team17. Aggro Crab said it would not work with the long-running publisher if it continued with its NFT plans:

Gaming Community Pushing Back Against NFTs

Although 2021 was the ‘Year of the NFT’, and many have invested significant amounts of money in the industry,  the gaming community does not share the sentiment.

One Twitter user questioned why Team17 would even attempt launching collectibles given that “it’s common knowledge by now that NFTs are not wanted in this medium”:

Many other gaming companies have copped the same criticism as Team17, including Ubisoft. The company received massive backlash from its gaming community after it announced plans to add NFTs to its platform with the release of the last title in the Ghost Recon series. SEGA has also had to backtrack on its NFT plans after receiving considerable backlash from its fans across the globe.