A fresh start?
Ello said he's working with GameStop to get his minting privileges reinstated. In the meantime, he has already relaunched NiFTy Arcade on the LoopExchange blockchain marketplace with a new set of games he says have licenses and profit-sharing arrangements that "have been negotiated on a game-by-game basis."
Ello added that going forward, he "will not resume minting interactive NFT games until I’ve ensured those games are in proper compliance with all terms of service of the NFT marketplace." That includes "honor[ing] the wishes" of the already affected PICO-8 developers and "keep[ing] their games off the marketplace indefinitely," he said.
Attorney Jonathan Loiterman, who said he is representing at least one affected PICO-8 developer, told Ars that "discussions with [Ello]'s legal counsel are ongoing. I'm cautiously optimistic we can reach a mutually satisfactory understanding."
For customers who bought unauthorized game NFTs that can no longer be traded on GameStop's marketplace, Ello said he's "considering" either offering a buy-back program for the NFTs' original "initial primary market sale price" or air-dropping new, authorized game NFTs into affected customers' wallets.
A matter of principle
For some of the developers unknowingly caught up in Ello's NFT project, it's the principle of their games being distributed without permission that matters more than any financial upside they might have missed out on.
"I've been working on video games for years, but VolcanoBytes is not something I do for money," de Tena told Ars. "It's my personal project... something I do mainly for love, my income is not that of a real business. But that's my work, and [it] shouldn't be exploited by anyone without my permission."
This is where the real maliciousness of NFT projects like this lies. It's all 'exploit first, ask questions later.'Breakout Hero developer Krystian Majewski
"I am a small developer doing noncommercial projects to teach people how to make their own games," Majewski added. "NFTs are a net loss for me even if I don't participate. It's just another tax on my time and energy."
And while developers told me that Ello deserves blame for using their content without permission, they also point to GameStop for "creat[ing] a platform and incentive structures for this kind of predatory practice," as Majewski put it. "Empowerment of the creators was never the goal because, as we can see, no thought was given to any effective protection mechanisms or support services."
"The platform should assume their responsibility, too," de Tena said. "They could have any verification process, but they just want their money and commissions or revenue shares, I guess... 'Power to the creators' is fake."
"It's a disgrace, obviously. But at the same time, it is par for the course for NFT projects, isn't it?" Majewski continued. "That's what the tech is for: to defer and eschew responsibility. This is where the real maliciousness of NFT projects like this lies. It's all 'exploit first, ask questions later.'"
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