Popular voice actor Troy Baker has officially withdrawn from his NFT partnership. He took to Twitter to explain his decision, thanking his followers for their “feedback and patience.” Baker went on to confirm that he is not continuing the planned partnership with VoiceVerseNFT that he announced earlier this month.
This is a huge change in direction after Baker previously called out some of his followers for not supporting NFTs. In a now-deleted tweet, he challenged opponents of NFTs by saying, “You can hate. Or you can create. What’ll it be?” He has completely backpedaled on this claim and apologized for the language used.
Seeing Troy Baker back out of the NFT market is a win for gamers. He is a huge figure in the games industry, having voiced many iconic characters. Some of his best roles include Kanji Tatsumi in Persona 4, Rhys in Tales from the Borderlands, and Joel Miller in The Last of Us.
The promotion of NFTs is not a popular move, even at the best of times, but this one was received particularly poorly by fans. It didn’t help that the group Baker was to partner with has had a history of controversy in regard to the methods used to obtain its voice lines.
Thank you all for your feedback and patience. After careful consideration, I’ve decided to not continue the partnership with VoiceVerseNFT. Intentions aside, I’ve heard you and apologize for accusing anyone of “hating” just by simply disagreeing with me.
— Troy Baker (@TroyBakerVA) January 31, 2022
The NFT craze
Troy Baker is not the first, nor will he be the last, to attempt to enter and later back out of the NFT market. Stalker 2 developer GSC Game World had announced plans to introduce NFTs but changed its decision following community backlash.
Sega had toyed with the idea and even registered a trademark in preparation. Thankfully, the Sonic publisher never went beyond that and even comforted fans by making it clear it wouldn’t enter the market if doing so was perceived as a cash grab. We can only hope that other publishers and developers follow suit and that NFTs do not wriggle their way into our games.
