Founder and CEO of Electronic Arts pursues an NFT gaming project

Despite non-fungible token (NFT) games receiving much criticism from traditional gamers and game developers, some legends in the video gaming industry are venturing into the space. Trip Hawkins, the founder and CEO of one of the largest video game platforms Electronic Arts, has become the latest to enter the crypto world.

Electronic Arts founder ventures into NFT gaming

Hawkins will join a startup gaming company, Games for a Living, as the co-founder and the chief strategy officer. The startup is focused on creating games revolving around NFTs and blockchain-based tokens.

The other co-founder of Games for a Living is Manel Sort, the first vice president at King, the developer of Candy Crush Saga. Sort and Hawkins are veterans in the video gaming industry, and they have previously worked together at another mobile gaming startup known as Digital Chocolate.

Games for a Living has already made its first release, Elemental Raiders, currently available on Steam. The game comes with a traditional free-to-play version that lacks tokenized features. However, the developer has previously worked on launching promotional Ethereum NFTs linked to the game, and it is also planning to create an NFT “battle pass” in March this year and a native token known as GFAL.

“I’m confident that blockchain, combined with our vision, can create a new gaming paradigm for the benefit of all. We plan to do it in a way that helps enhance game performance and value for players, while keeping things fun,” Hawkins said.

The native GFAL token will be minted on BNB Chain, including most in-game NFTs. Some NFTs will be created on the Ethereum blockchain, but users will later use the company’s user portal to convert these Ethereum NFTs to BNB Chain NFTs.

The whitepaper released by this publisher said it eventually transitioned to a private blockchain for games and not an open, permissionless network. The gaming company is also planning to create a foundation to oversee the blockchain network and set developer rules for deploying NFT games.

Nevertheless, most crypto builders view private blockchains as antithetical to the ethos of Web3. Blockchain networks created using a centralized company can become decentralized over time and integrated into the community, but Games for a Living has yet to discuss such plans. The company plans to bridge everything to its private blockchain at some point in the future.

Hawkins has extensive experience in video gaming

Hawkins worked at Apple before leaving the company in 1982 and founded Electronic Arts. This company emerged to become among the largest video game publishers globally. Electronic Arts is popular for series such as Need for Speed, Mass Effect, Battlefield, and The Sims.

In 1991, Hawkins resigned from his leadership position at Electronic Arts and created 3DO. The latter is a startup company that released its video game console that failed to succeed in the commercial market. Hawkins later worked for Digital Chocolate, where he served as CEO until 2012.