A First Glance at the NFT Quebec Gaming Scene

Abstract

This article examines the discourses surrounding non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in gaming and identifies companies involved in NFTs in the Quebec gaming scene. NFTs boomed in the gaming industry in 2021 and continued to grow in 2022, even as the value of gaming coins plummeted. If successful, some believe they could bring new opportunities to the gaming landscape. We conducted an online ethnography in early 2022 through an innovative web-scanning approach and curation process powered by a professional market intelligence platform. Data was collected from various sources and analyzed via statistical analysis software to understand the discourses of companies, gamers, researchers, and insiders. Findings show that the technical and economic discourse is at least ambivalent if not negative, while the gamer discourse is mostly negative. The burgeoning Quebec scene is currently very limited and divided into two groups: large gaming companies and startups. Despite the crypto-enthusiast craze, our analysis shows that early projects were often criticized by traditional gamers and that professionals in the sector remain skeptical.