Take-Two asks MyMetaverse to take down its NFTs in GTA servers

MyMetaverse CEO Simon Kertonegoro thought he had a great use case for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by enabling players to use them and associated art such as cars in Grand Theft Auto servers. But Take-Two Interactive, parent company of GTA maker Rockstar Games, is putting an end to that.

On Friday, Rockstar posted a notice saying what players can or can’t do in their own servers. It said it encouraged “reasonable fan creativity” and third-party roleplay servers as a rich extension of community-created experiences within Grand Theft Auto. So it allows PC single-player mods.

But it also said that under Take-Two’s legal policy, it would not allow business exploitation. Players are not permitted to sell loot boxes for real-world currency or GTA’s virtual money, sell other virtual currencies, or integrate cryptocurrencies and crypt assets, such as NFTs.

Players are also not allowed to generate revenue from their servers via in-game integrations or corporate sponsorships. Rockstar and Take-Two are also shutting down misuse of Rockstar’s intellectual property and trademarks, importing or using other companies’ IP, sale of loot boxes, and use of real-world brands, characters, trademarks or music. Players cannot engage in the “sale of virtual currencies, generating revenue via corporate sponsorships or in-game integrations, or the use of cryptocurrencies or crypto assets (e.g. “NFTs”); (iv) making new games, stories, missions, or maps; or (v) interfering with our official multiplayer or online services, including Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online.”

Back in September, MyMetaverse and Enjin announced they had launched playable NFTs in Grand Theft Auto V and Minecraft game servers.

The MetaHome NFTs offered unique gameplay utility in every world where they were recognized. In Infinity Auto, a MyMetaverse Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 5 server, they took the form of a rare vehicle that players could buy outside the game and import into the game as a fully functional 3D-animated car. MyMetaverse also had a similar NFT option for Minecraft servers.

The MyMetaverse “MetaHome” NFT collection was the first minted on Efinity, an NFT parachain built on Polkadot. Sydney, Australia-based MyMetaverse said these were the first in-game NFTs that had been minted on Efinity via the MetaHome NFT collection.

Kertonegoro said his company believed that this was the future of gaming and was a perfect way for Rockstar to create a connected experience and community across its titles.

“We’re disappointed to find out that we were wrong,” Kertonegoro said. “Today, we received a letter from Rockstar’s parent company, Take-Two, asking us cease all operations on the Infinity Auto Server.”

While Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has touted NFTs as a natural way to extend concepts such as digital collectibles, Take-Two hasn’t launched any formal NFT collectibles itself, perhaps because the legal frameworks haven’t been put in place and lots of gamers and game developers are opposed to them.

Take-Two asked MyMetaverse to comply with its takedown request within a couple of weeks, and Kertonegoro said the company has done so.

Here’s the full statement from Kertonegoro.

“Our ultimate dream was to collaborate with Rockstar and build a way for players to earn free items that they could own forever, give to their friends, and use in multiple games. In creating the Infinity Auto server, we saw ourselves as contributors to the GTA ecosystem. 

We were hoping that they would discover us and see that cross-game items are destined to become the future of gaming. Players love playing and receiving digital items that can be used across an ecosystem of games. This is the perfect way for a company like Rockstar, with such a wide range of incredible games, to create a connected experience and community across its titles.

We’re disappointed to find out that we were wrong. Today, we received a letter from Rockstar’s parent company, Take-Two, asking us cease all operations on the Infinity Auto Server. So, we have shut down our server and we’ll never relaunch it. We want to do the right thing and respect Take-Two’s wishes, it was never our intent to upset them. We truly believed we were providing a service that was benefiting them. 

On a personal note, for the last 4 years, my only mission has been to show the world that NFTs can provide amazing cross-game experiences. I’ve sold my house and spent everything I own to try to prove this point. Today is a big loss for me, my team, and our players. 

I still think Rockstar is an amazing company and, actually, Red Dead is one of my favorite games ever. I just hope that one day they implement some form of item-interoperability across their games so fans like me can feel some kind of historical connection between the games.

My dreams would truly come true if that happened and those items were on the blockchain.”

Simon Kertonegoro