Here’s Why GTA VI Probably Won’t Have a Crypto Component

Avid gamers are eagerly awaiting the subsequent chapter of the massively profitable Grand Theft Auto (GTA), and its developer, Rockstar Video games, just lately confirmed {that a} trailer for GTA VI shall be arriving in December.

However a query on some folks’s minds is: will it have an in-game cryptocurrency?

GTA VI and crypto

Within the decade for the reason that final GTA recreation, crypto gaming, or GameFi, has launched, and main recreation studios have tried to include it into their titles with combined success.

Whereas online game market Steam has banned crypto from its recreation retailer, its rival Epic Video games doubled down on the hassle. Epic Video games has welcomed crypto with open arms. Nevertheless, the video games retailer isn’t worthwhile, and avid gamers have been skeptical about Epic’s pivot-to-crypto in its retailer.

Enterprise curiosity in crypto has additionally unfold to the GTA franchise, with rumors that GTA VI will embody some crypto component.

This comes as Ubisoft and Immutable announce that they’re constructing “a brand new gaming expertise that can additional unlock the potential of Web3.” Particulars are scant at the moment, however this might mark the second foray for Ubisoft into the world of crypto gaming — the primary being an NFT companion experiment to 2021’s free-to-play Ghost Recon: Breakpoint.

Setting apart the problem of if avid gamers are focused on crypto, some critical authorized questions come up from this. Rockstar is a multi-billion greenback recreation developer with a large presence within the U.S., and it might be a high-profile goal for the Securities and Alternate Fee (SEC) this might be it.

“My preliminary view aligns with the notion that there’s a authorized gray space, substantial sufficient for a powerhouse like Rockstar Video games to hesitate earlier than integrating any type of digital forex inside their video games or issuing considered one of their very own,” Florida-based digital belongings lawyer John Montague, instructed CoinDesk.

“Their hesitation, I imagine, seemingly stems from a worry of attainable issuer legal responsibility, particularly given the aggressive stance the SEC has taken in current occasions—underscored by the continued scenario with Coinbase,” he continued. “I perceive their need to be conservative, and the chance/reward for his or her shareholders could not be there.”

However Montague says there may be a catch. The SEC has already addressed most of the questions surrounding GameFi in a no-action letter directed in direction of the crypto gaming mission Pocket Stuffed with Quarters – the one no-action letter out there on the topic.

Within the no-action letter, the SEC signifies that fixed-priced in-game tokens usually are not securities as a result of they’re used for recreation utility moderately than funding; Montague defined a view that, whereas not definitive, is a key think about present regulatory issues.

Nevertheless, the relevance of worth fixing within the evolving decentralized finance (DeFi) and cryptocurrency house could also be questionable and probably burdensome for builders. DeFi is a time period for monetary actions carried out on the blockchain with out monetary intermediaries.

“Given the evolution of DeFi and the free-floating nature of cryptocurrency, I don’t assume the worth fixing is a very related issue and actually simply ends in further improvement prices, API, and oracle prices for recreation builders integrating tokeneconomic constructions,” he stated.

Montague argues that there’s no precise funding taking place, which fails to satisfy the primary requirement of the Howey take a look at.

“However, there nonetheless stays a lot regulatory ambiguity that’s stopping recreation builders from getting into into the house, which I believe is a really wise strategy till regulatory readability is achieved,” he stated.

Rockstar Video games didn’t instantly reply to CoinDesk’s request for remark.

The principles round GameFi are clearer in Asia

Whereas Rockstar is a U.S. firm, its Grand Theft Auto franchise is a worldwide sensation, and it must be cognizant of guidelines worldwide. Rockstar isn’t any stranger to this, because it has needed to censor components of GTA V for launch in sure nations to adjust to their legal guidelines round leisure and excessive content material.

GameFi isn’t a brand new idea in some components of Asia; variations of it, minus the blockchain element, have been tried many years in the past.

South Korea’s Gaming Business Promotion Act, particularly Article 32, prohibits recreation currencies from being cashed out, a regulation that has been used to dam the distribution of play-to-earn video games like Axie Infinity, as they’re equated to playing by the federal government, CoinDesk beforehand reported, whereas in Japan, sure in-game actions of such video games may be deemed unlawful playing.

China has probably the most stringent restrictions, banning any gaming components exchangeable for yuan and crypto buying and selling, thereby eliminating the potential for GameFi within the nation. Nevertheless, it’s unclear if GTA VI will even be allowed to be launched there.

Whatever the regulatory uncertainty all over the world surrounding GameFi, Montague hopes it would sooner or later be middle stage in AAA video games.

“I believe GameFi is superior and can ultimately built-in into many titles sooner or later,” he stated.