Space invaders: How video gamers are resisting a crypto onslaught

A file photo of the Voxies game is shown on a screen at the Miami Airport Convention Centre in Miami, Florida. Analyst firm NonFungible last week revealed that the NFT gaming sector crashed in the second quarter of this year with the number of sales plunging 22%. — AFP

PARIS: When video game designer Mark Venturelli was asked to speak at Brazil’s biggest gaming festival, he submitted a generic-sounding title for his presentation – “The Future of Game Design” – but that was not the talk he gave.

Instead, he launched into a 30-minute diatribe against the blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrencies and the games it has spawned, mostly very basic smartphone apps that lure players with the promise of earning money.