The Australian entrepreneur Simon Keretonegoro believed he was creating the “future of gaming” with NFT-backed games. To realize his dreams, he sold his house, founded a company, and worked on his project for 4 years. But now came the harsh awakening. Rockstar shut down the company’s server for GTA 5, “Infinity Auto.”
What was the idea of the company? The company “MyMetaverse” wanted to utilize NFT technology to lead gaming into the future, as the CEO of the company says.
In September, MyMetaverse and Enjin announced that they had released playable NFTs on their servers for Grand Theft Auto V and Minecraft:
- On the server “Infinity Auto” for GTA 5, players could purchase an NFT car outside of the game, import it into the game, and drive around with a fully functional 3D-animated vehicle.
Rockstar wants to put a stop to commercial exploitation with GTA 5
What went wrong now? As we reported on MeinMMO on November 22, Rockstar has gotten fed up with what companies or individuals are doing with their own GTA 5 servers: They had a rapper’s server shut down, who apparently was too commercial for them.
And they have issued new rules against the commercial exploitation of GTA 5, specifically banning the use of NFTs.
While Rockstar says they want to encourage creativity among people on these servers and respect it, they are now setting significantly stricter rules.
Australian hoped Rockstar would discover him and the great opportunity
What the company says: In a statement to the site Venturebeat, the CEO of the company explains:
Our ultimate dream was to work with Rockstar and find a way for players to earn free items that they can keep forever, give to their friends, or use in other games. With the creation of the Infinity Auto server, we saw ourselves as contributors to the GTA ecosystem.
We hoped they would discover us and realize that cross-game items are destined to be the future of gaming. Players love to play and receive digital items that can be used across various games’ ecosystems. This is the perfect way for a company like Rockstar, with so many great games, to create a shared experience and community across multiple games.
We are disappointed to find out that we were wrong. Today we received a letter from Rockstar’s parent company, Take-Two, asking us to cease operations of the Infinity Auto server. So we will shut it down and not reopen it. […]”
The CEO says he wanted to show the world how great NFTs are for 4 years, sold his house, and spent everything. Today is a big loss for him, his team, and his players.
Roleplay servers have made GTA 5 the second biggest game on Twitch in recent years. But roleplaying can sometimes get a bit out of hand:
Twitch streamer quits GTA 5 RP because the played job becomes real: ‘It’s brutal’
