Last October, the biggest PC gaming distribution service took a hard stance against NFTs and blockchain games. As stated by Valve president and co-founder Gabe Newell while speaking to Rock Paper Shotgun, he explained the platform's reasoning when speaking of some of the surly individuals and financial settlements within the NFT realm - "the people in the space, though, tend to be involved in a lot of criminal activity and a lot of sketchy behaviors. Another thing was that the vast majority of those transactions, for whatever reason, were fraudulent, where people were repudiating transactions or using illegal sources of funds and things like that." Steam's main competitor, Epic Games Store, is going in the opposite direction. And by embracing NFTs and blockchain games, it has decided to enter into a partnership with Gala Games.
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Gala Games Partners With Epic Games to Debut 'GRIT'


Gala Games, which is a gaming publisher and platform whose main focus is Web3 technology, has a few blockchain games on its platform that are hoping to gain more prominence as time wears on. Thanks to the platform's new partnership with Epic Games, its Wild West-themed battle royale title GRIT (developed by Team GRIT) is already coming out the gate with plenty of steam backing it up. As the first NFT-powered game to launch via the Epic Games Store, GRIT is being presented as a free-to-play online multiplayer game that features NFT assets that can be purchased, sold, and utilized in-game. And just like Epic Games' own Fortnite, GRIT lets its player base vie for survival in the tumultuous Wild West as gunslinging outlaws. With Epic Games Store's 194+ million users, GRIT has a high chance of making a noticeable impact amongst the sorts of gamers that may not have given it a chance otherwise. We'll just have to wait and see how those same gamers respond to it once it launches later in 2022.
Gala Games' press release about this surprising development relays its excitement about what this moment could lead to in the near and far-flung future - "Epic is a pioneer and visionary in the video game industry. Gala Games' titles being available on the Epic Game Store brings legitimacy to this new genre of gaming. Easy access to Web3 games is a turning point for those players who have not yet seen how digital ownership can enrich the gaming experience."
And this Tweet proclamation from Epic Games co-founder and CEO Tim Sweeney makes it evident that NFTs and blockchain game creators have a home within his PC gaming platform - "Epic Games Store will welcome games that make use of blockchain tech provided they follow the relevant laws, disclose their terms, and are age-rated by an appropriate group. Though Epic's not using crypto in our games, we welcome innovation in the areas of technology and finance."
GRIT's prominent placing on Epic Games Store may just open the floodgates for prominent blockchain games if it manages to succeed among a group of gamers that are adverse to NFTs. The price of admission is free, the battle royale genre is still at the forefront of gaming, and the implementation of "Generative Hero NFTs" may just be the factors needed to make some headway among non-blockchain gamers.

