Will Nintendo Dive Into The Metaverse Or NFTs?

The president of Nintendo NTDOY says the games company will hold off on expanding into the metaverse until it can be sure that the medium will provide the "surprise and fun" its players expect.

Shuntaro Furukawa remains noncommittal to the metaverse, while investors target Nintendo stock as an undervalued metaverse play.

NFTs have been a hot topic lately, with the most recent drama being Team17's announcement (and then cancellation) of its own line of non-fungible tokens.

During a Q&A session that followed Nintendo’s latest financial results, one of the questions related to the topic of NFTs and the 'metaverse'.

Analyst David Gibson, who was in attendance, reports that Nintendo's response wasn't one of instant dismissal (thanks, VGC):

It's not a particularly surprising reply – after all, Nintendo is in the business of making money and will legitimately be interested in any new technology which enables this – but it's clear that the company is taking a cautious approach to both concepts.

Alongside Team17, which has arguably done harm to its brand with its aborted NFT plans, voice actor Troy Baker withdrew from a deal that would have seen voice samples minted as NFTs, following an overwhelmingly negative reaction online.

Companies such as Konami KNAMF, Square Enix SQNXF, Sega SGAMY and EA EA have all expressed interest in NFTs recently, although Sega has stated that it won't pursue the idea if its fans are against them. However, Ubisoft has said that fans currently don't understand the benefits of NFTs.

If you're still confused about NFTs, feel free to check out our feature which attempts to explain them.

Despite Nintendo’s non-committal stance on the metaverse, many metaverse indices hold it in their basket. Nintendo makes up approximately 5% of Solactive’s Metaverse index which is traded on markets in Germany. The stock has also been called an “overlooked” and “undervalued” metaverse play.