With larger gaming companies jumping onto the NFT bandwagon, it isn’t too much of a surprise that Konami, a company determined to do everything with their IPs except actually making games with them, would do the same, so here’s Castlevania.
Konami is making a series Castlevania 35th anniversary with an NFT “Konami Memorial Collection”. This will consist of game screenshots, background music, and artwork. You can of course find all of these over the internet for a far lower price.
“Konami Memorial NFT is a new initiative to share content that has been loved by players all over the world, for many years. As the company’s first project in this area and with NFTs and blockchain technology in its infancy, Konami will continue to explore new developments and listen to player feedback following this initial collection.”
As you can imagine there has been quite the backlash among the Castlevania fanbase and gamers in general, criticizing Konami for celebrating a franchise as important as Castlevania with what is likely a quick cash grab. Many have pointed out how NFTs are terrible for the environment, steal art from their original artists, and more or less involve paying for nothing.
Being a Castlevania fan is suffering#Castlevania #FucKonami pic.twitter.com/pbD7d6x6sC
— The Quarter Guy (@TheQuarterGuy) January 6, 2022
Konami doing NFTs now? Instead of doing anything actually worthwhile with Castlevania?
Why am I not surprised? pic.twitter.com/YhJSVR6wAE
— TheNCSmaster (@TheNCSmaster) January 6, 2022
https://t.co/Wu25PBkf0l pic.twitter.com/fGrTTkqKT6
— Matt McMuscles (@MattMcMuscles) January 6, 2022
The NFTs go live on Open Sea on the 13th of January. Overall, I suppose it’s not too surprising that Konami wants to get involved in NFTs. Other major gaming companies like Ubisoft and Square Enix have also shown interest in taking screenshots of their games and convincing people they’re worth millions and have received similar backlash.