One of the most common complaints about the emergence of NFTs is that it's an unregulated landscape where fraud and theft are easily committed. There are countless stories of artwork being stolen, or new scam tokens. This time, an entire video game has fallen victim.
Outerverse publisher Freedom Games and developer Tbjbu2 released a statement on Monday alleging that an NFT scam has been imitating the two companies to promote something called "Outerverse Metaverse & Decentralized Platform Gaming," featuring blockchain technology and NFT integration.
This version uses real assets from the original Outerverse and adds a layer of NFT and blockchain integration, something the real Outerverse has never done. "This is patently false," said Bryan Herren, director of marketing at Freedom Games. "There is absolutely no NFT integration in the real Outerverse or with any other titles from Freedom Games."
The imposter game which markets itself at Outerverseswap.com advertises that players can trade tokens and "play and earn" an "$OUTERVERSE" token.
A "buy now" link on the site takes users to a crypto exchange platform called PancakeSwap. Ironically, a button labeled "play Outerverse" redirects back to the same landing page.
"It's unfortunate that people are taking advantage of my passion project to try and make a quick profit, and it's generally sad to see lots of scams rise up from what I had hoped would be a positive innovation like Bitcoin," Tbjbu2 said in an email to IGN. "I spent a huge amount of time making this game as good as possible and it's not acceptable that people think they can use my work for their benefit."
Freedom Games says it has attempted to contact the web hosting company hosting the imposter Outerverse but holds little hope that action will be taken considering other complaints against the firm hosting the game have gone unanswered. Freedom Games says its legal team is currently looking into other options.
"Freedom Games will continue to do everything within its power to protect the developers we support," Herren said. "Likewise, Freedom Games will always vigorously protect its copyright and trademarks, to safeguard our community to the best of our ability."
IGN has reached out to individuals behind the imposter Outerverse for comment but did not receive a reply as of publishing time. As of this writing, the imposter Outerverse's roadmap claims that they'll release their game in "phase four," but appears to be in only "phase two," which consists of launching their crypto exchange pages.
The real Outerverse game was released in Early Access this month exclusively on Steam and Epic Games Store. Outerverse is a voxel art-based game focused on crafting, not unlike Minecraft, but with an emphasis on designing automated machines and later using them to defeat giant boss creatures. A series of quests guide players into space, where they can fly ships and witness "cosmic events."
The use of NFTs in video games has risen in the past year, but not without controversy. Originally touted as a way to ensure artists get paid for their work, plenty of NFTs have been found to use art taken without permission of the original artist, NBC reports.
Meanwhile, some major video game companies have begun utilizing NFTs, but either backing down after fan criticism or quietly moving on to other ventures. The developers behind S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 announced plans to implement NFTs in their first-person shooter but walked those plans back within an hour. Ubisoft on the other hand announced Quartz, a blockchain-powered NFT cosmetic system for its games, starting with Ghost Recon Breakpoint.
A recent survey from the Game Developers Conference also found that only 28% of game developers are interested in NFTs, but only 1% are using them now.
Continue reading...
Outerverse publisher Freedom Games and developer Tbjbu2 released a statement on Monday alleging that an NFT scam has been imitating the two companies to promote something called "Outerverse Metaverse & Decentralized Platform Gaming," featuring blockchain technology and NFT integration.
This version uses real assets from the original Outerverse and adds a layer of NFT and blockchain integration, something the real Outerverse has never done. "This is patently false," said Bryan Herren, director of marketing at Freedom Games. "There is absolutely no NFT integration in the real Outerverse or with any other titles from Freedom Games."
The imposter game which markets itself at Outerverseswap.com advertises that players can trade tokens and "play and earn" an "$OUTERVERSE" token.
A "buy now" link on the site takes users to a crypto exchange platform called PancakeSwap. Ironically, a button labeled "play Outerverse" redirects back to the same landing page.
"It's unfortunate that people are taking advantage of my passion project to try and make a quick profit, and it's generally sad to see lots of scams rise up from what I had hoped would be a positive innovation like Bitcoin," Tbjbu2 said in an email to IGN. "I spent a huge amount of time making this game as good as possible and it's not acceptable that people think they can use my work for their benefit."
Freedom Games says it has attempted to contact the web hosting company hosting the imposter Outerverse but holds little hope that action will be taken considering other complaints against the firm hosting the game have gone unanswered. Freedom Games says its legal team is currently looking into other options.
"Freedom Games will continue to do everything within its power to protect the developers we support," Herren said. "Likewise, Freedom Games will always vigorously protect its copyright and trademarks, to safeguard our community to the best of our ability."
IGN has reached out to individuals behind the imposter Outerverse for comment but did not receive a reply as of publishing time. As of this writing, the imposter Outerverse's roadmap claims that they'll release their game in "phase four," but appears to be in only "phase two," which consists of launching their crypto exchange pages.
The real Outerverse game was released in Early Access this month exclusively on Steam and Epic Games Store. Outerverse is a voxel art-based game focused on crafting, not unlike Minecraft, but with an emphasis on designing automated machines and later using them to defeat giant boss creatures. A series of quests guide players into space, where they can fly ships and witness "cosmic events."
The use of NFTs in video games has risen in the past year, but not without controversy. Originally touted as a way to ensure artists get paid for their work, plenty of NFTs have been found to use art taken without permission of the original artist, NBC reports.
Meanwhile, some major video game companies have begun utilizing NFTs, but either backing down after fan criticism or quietly moving on to other ventures. The developers behind S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 announced plans to implement NFTs in their first-person shooter but walked those plans back within an hour. Ubisoft on the other hand announced Quartz, a blockchain-powered NFT cosmetic system for its games, starting with Ghost Recon Breakpoint.
A recent survey from the Game Developers Conference also found that only 28% of game developers are interested in NFTs, but only 1% are using them now.
Continue reading...