Epic’s Tim Sweeney says it “definitely won’t” ban NFTs

Epic founder Tim Sweeney has spoken out about the company’s stance on NFTs, stating that it “definitely won’t” ban them.

After Mojang’s statement this week that it will not support NFTs in Minecraft, Epic’s Sweeney was asked in a Tweet whether the company would be following suit. In his response, Sweeney stated, “Developers should be free to decide how to build their games, and you are free to decide whether to play them.”

Sweeney also said, “I believe stores and operating system makers shouldn’t interfere by forcing their views onto others,” before making Epic’s stance perfectly clear by finishing, “We definitely won’t.”

Developers should be free to decide how to build their games, and you are free to decide whether to play them. I believe stores and operating system makers shouldn’t interfere by forcing their views onto others. We definitely won’t.

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) July 21, 2022

In a response to his comments, senior software engineer at Blizzard, Joseph Bleau, said: “You should acknowledge that by allowing them on your storefront you are contributing to the conversation, and also the norms,” before following up with, “Your platform has influence and will drive public perception.”

Sweeney responded that he believes that view is “antithetical to individual freedom” and clarifies that “everyone should make their own decisions about it.”

Asked later in the thread about how this standard would be held against publishing hateful content, Sweeney said that the company holds editorial guidelines, but that NFTs do not go against them currently.

Earlier this week, Minecraft owners Mojang said that including NFTs in the game would promote scarcity and exclusion.

In other news, Ubisoft has reportedly delayed the code-named Assassin’s Creed Rift to a date in mid-2023 in a quarterly earnings call. The game was originally set to be an expansion for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla but is now described as a “smaller unannounced premium game”.

It follows the news that Ghost Recon: Frontline and Splinter Cell VR have both been cancelled, and the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time game has been delayed.