Tim Sweeney, the founder and CEO of Epic Games, appears to be bullish on the blockchain.
In a recent conversation on X between Sweeney and the co-founder of Game Fund Partners, Jonah Blake, Sweeney said the blockchain could be integrated into Fortnite in the future, but for technical reasons rather than financial ones.
Here’s how the conversation went down. Jonah Blake wrote that he believed there was a 50% chance of blockchain integration into Unreal Engine and Fortnite over the next five years. To which Sweeney replied, “Perhaps someday,” but added that the company would not be adopting cryptocurrency or NFTs, a view he’s repeatedly expressed.
Sweeney went on to say that the blockchain is a “decentralized solution to distributed transactional evolution.” In other words, the technology could be used as an alternative to traditional databases.
In a recent interview with Mathew Ball and Neal Stephenson, author of Snow Crash, Sweeney called the blockchain “awesome nerd technology,” and said that cryptographic consensus protocols and zero-knowledge proofs will be “key components of a lot of systems” in the future.
He also discussed the metaverse at length, saying he believes the future must “be built on open protocols, open standards and interoperability of all forms,” so that creators, hosting providers, ecosystem operators, and brands can “interoperate freely without being forced into any one company’s “walled garden.”
With over 500 million registered players and around 221 million monthly active players, Fortnight is one of the most popular games on the planet.
Interoperability In the Metaverse
Tim Sweeney isn’t the only one who believes in an interoperable metaverse. Last month, we caught of with Bay Backner from Decentraland to talk about their recent Web3 Gaming Expo. According to her, the main theme was interoperability — the ability for players to bring their avatars, identities, and digital assets in and out of games and metaverses freely.
At Rarity Sniper, we’ve covered several articles about interoperability in the metaverse. Here are some of the most recent headlines:
- January 2024. ‘Ready Player One’ Author to Bring IP to New Metaverse
- November 2023. CEO of Roblox Hints at NFTs and Interoperability ‘Dream’
- October 2023. Korean Gaming Giant Partners with Chainlink for Interoperable Web3 Gaming
- January 2023. Ready Player Me Links with Unstoppable for Interoperable Metaverse
- December 2022. Lighthouse Tool Allows Interoperability Between Metaverses
As more metaverses and game studios develop their worlds with interoperability in mind, it will likely become more difficult for centralized gatekeepers to control the future of virtual worlds. Tim Sweeney’s recent tweets on X reveals that is his dream. NFTs or not, that’s good news for the space.
For more about interoperability in Web3 gaming, check out our recent interview — Sniper Spotlight: Decentraland’s First-Ever Web3 Game Expo with Bay Backner.