Illuvium CEO Kieran Warwick has once again been in the thick of a controversy, this time taking aim at applicants seeking to join Il
Illuvium CEO Kieran Warwick has once again been in the thick of a controversy, this time taking aim at applicants seeking to join Illuvium DAO’s marketing sub-council.
Warwick, who is not coincidentally also the game studio’s chief marketing officer, took to Twitter on May 9 to say that the DAO faced a “significant challenge,” with the sub-DAO hopefuls vying for the gig as they “need to possess the requisite marketing experience.” This upset the hopefuls, given the backhander about their lack of experience.
Not one to let an opportunity go to waste, Warwick then issued a media release about the “controversy stirred by its CEO, Kieran Warwick.”
The marketing sub-council is one of four sub-councils within the Illuvium DAO focused on particular tasks related to developing Illuvium’s products and community. The others relate to community, game and strategy, with the idea being to draw on community expertise to develop the project.
Sub-council members are paid in Illuvium tokens.
The vote ultimately went ahead. The CEO and co-founder of game platform Arcade2Earn, Josh Poole, and former Love Island contestant and DJ Sam Withers joined Warwick on the sub-council — despite the media release stating Withers had withdrawn his nomination due to the criticism. Two pseudonymous members of the Illuvium DAO, Fight4ETH and Kingscoriox (they gave their first names as Kenneth and Jason, respectively), were also elected to the sub-council.
The new additions to decision-making on the marketing front may result in a change of strategy from garnering headlines from Warwick’s entertaining but controversial Twitter barneys.
In a discussion on Discord about his sub-council tweet, Warwick sensed an opportunity in the downvoting he was receiving, stating that it warranted contacting “friends at coin telegraph.” That’s us. He also suggested that Withers’ decision to temporarily rescind his nomination could be a media opportunity.
“Maybe this was a big brain marketing move by Sam and it’s going to get picked up by coin telegraph… Kidding (slightly) but I have reached out to Sam and apologized,” he said.
The press release also highlighted a previous controversy in February, when Warwick proposed partnering with Su Zhu, the disgraced founder of Three Arrows Capital, for a crypto gaming session.
He described the Su Zhu incident as a “win/win” situation on Discord at the time due to its potential for multiple articles, DAO coordination and exposure to new audiences.
In actual game news, Illuvium launched its Overworld Beta 2 on May 18, bringing new features and 30 new Illuvials to the game. The number of beta participants will also expand from 30,000 to 75,000. It claims it has two million registered beta users. It is also planning to bring out Illuvium: Zero on mobile this year.
Is ownership in Web3 gaming ‘bullshit’?
The idea of ownership in Web3 games may be hurting adoption more than it is helping, according to a Twitter thread and article by Vader Research, a consultancy company for Web3 gaming economics, that ignited some debate among the Web3 gaming community.
“Our industry is misleading players and investors with the ‘ownership’ narrative,” the company argued on Twitter.
Despite someone holding an NFT in a wallet, game devs retain significant control over the asset, including the ability to change metadata and the ability to blacklist NFTs.
“Web3 gaming has certain benefits but also has limitations. Exaggerating the capabilities of the technology will likely increase the polarization between NFT haters and NFT maxis. Acknowledging limitations and weaknesses will help us attract more developers and players from web2 gaming,” Vader Research wrote.
But while there are nuances to be aware of — if a game shuts down, your items shut down with it — Magic Eden Chief Gaming Officer Chris Akhavan still says “ownership” is the right word.
“Just like in real life, there are limitations with what you can do with things you own. You can own a plane, but that doesn’t mean you can use the plane in ways that violate FAA regulations,” he told Cointelegraph.
“What Web3 ownership gives you is the freedom to control your ownership of game items, whether you want to buy, sell, trade or gift an item to a friend is all up to you. That’s absolutely fundamental to the concept of ownership.”
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