Tim Sweeney, the co-founder of the studio behind titles such as Hitman, Gears of War, and the wildly popular Fortnite said in a Tweet today that non-fungible token (NFT) tech and the ‘metaverse’ it one day may enable are “going places,” but due to factors such as transactions costs and the “wild, speculative mess” that makes up much of crypto today, the dream of “a persistent, live digital universe” might be far off.
Sweeney made his comments in response to a blog titled “Into The Void: Where Crypto Meets The Metaverse.” Written by blockchain consulting, research and investment firm Delphi Digital partner Piers Kicks, “Into The Void” is a sprawling essay that dives into the history of digital connectivity and in-game economies, ultimately arguing that blockchain-based metaverses will not be a simple improvement over previous virtual experiences, but will instead mark the start of a new human epoch: