At EVO 2022, PlayStation is asking players through a survey about what kind of NFTs they would be interested in purchasing.
On Twitter, user snorlaxownz posted a screenshot of a survey they received from PlayStation asking, “Which of the following NFT/Digital Collectibles would you most be interested in purchasing?” The answers include EVO-branded collectibles, favorite music artists, favorite esports players and teams, PlayStation items, and favorite game characters.
IGN confirmed the survey ourselves at EVO, suggesting at the very least PlayStation is gauging user interest for NFTs at the event.
Hey @wario64 a special PlayStation quest at EVO is asking players about what gaming NFTs they want to see from PlayStation. pic.twitter.com/Vwd5Q3cHn1
— Snorlax Ownz (@snorlaxownz) August 5, 2022
PlayStation previously addressed NFTs before. Last month, Sony launched a new PlayStation Stars loyalty program that allowed players to earn digital collectibles such as figurines of its iconic characters. However, Sony clarified that these digital collectibles in the program are not NFTs as they do not utilize any blockchain technology.
Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad notes that this survey at EVO isn’t related to the PlayStation Stars program and that the term “digital collectibles” is only just a term that is commonly used interchangeably with NFTs.
The gaming industry has been vocal against NFTs. Big players such as Valve banned NFTs from Steam, and Xbox’s Phil Spencer says that NFTs, in their current iteration, are more exploitative than creative. Other companies, however, like Square Enix have started to embrace them. Square Enix recently started selling a Final Fantasy VII figure of Cloud that functions as a NFT.
PlayStation acquired EVO last year. It’s unclear what stance Sony is taking towards NFTs, as the PlayStation Stars program doesn’t have them. However, this survey at EVO implies that they could still be under consideration.
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey