Team17, the publisher behind classic Worms games, and the more recent Overcooked series, has announced with immediate effect, it will be dropping all plans for its MetaWorms NFT project. This follows along behind walkbacks from the makers of Stalker 2, and other games, though major publishers like Ubisoft look set to continue on their planned launches.
It was less than 48 hours ago when Team17 revealed Worms NFTs, where gamers and crypto-enthusiasts would have been able to put down a significant amount of real money to buy the receipt for digital images of their favorite worms characters, weapons, and backgrounds. Produced in partnership with Reality Gaming Group, the company behind a few different NFT-based games, the images would have gone on sale in 2022, alongside those from other big publishers getting into the NFT space.
But now that plan has been headed off at the pass. Following outcry from gamers, and many of Team17's developers -- including Overcooked developer, Ghost Town Tames; Going Under developer, Aggro Crab, and Yookie-Laylee developer, Playtonic -- Team 17 has now announced it's cancelling all of its NFT plans indefinitely.
"Team17 is today announcing an end to the MetaWorms NFT project," the publisher tweeted. "We have listened to our Teamsters, development partners, and our games’ communities, and the concerns they’ve expressed, and have therefore taken the decision to step back from the NFT space."
Team17 is today announcing an end to the MetaWorms NFT project.
We have listened to our Teamsters, development partners, and our games’ communities, and the concerns they’ve expressed, and have therefore taken the decision to step back from the NFT space.— Team17 (@Team17) February 1, 2022
Time will tell if the NFT plans will return, but with smaller publishers like this, it seems unlikely. For bigger ones though, like Ubisoft, they'll likely be able to power through the bad press and milk some extra money from their fans and scalpers alike.