HTC Vive is getting into VR NFTs. But donât pick up the pitchforks yet; maybe the idea of a VR NFTs works?Maybe?
Ablog post today announcedthe launch of the Vive Arts NFT store. Itâs essentially abrowser-based sales galleryâ the platform will reportedly offer a chance for artists to sell art made in VR and AR as well as other digital works.
HTC says creators will be able to decide the amount of copies of a work they can sell as well as whether to accept cryptocurrency or actual currency (for lack of a better term). The NFT Store will be hosting a sales meeting on December 17 in which it will feature NFT-ized works from Czech artist, Alphonse Mucha (pictured below) in collaboration with the Mucha Foundation.
Before we make too much fun of the news (tempting as it is), there is perhaps some merit to the concept of a VR NFT. Works created in apps like Tilt Brush and Quill arenât simple images or videos and, while you could still download and view them on lots of flatscreen devices when theyâre hosted on platforms like Sketchfab, there is legitimacy in the idea of a VR artist selling a unique copy of their work. Itâs not like a Tilt Brush expert can hang up a 3D model at a gallery and pass it over to someone else, and similarly you canât just screencap a picture of a model and get the full experience of viewing inside VR.
Think of this as simply selling VR artwork and push the term NFT out of your mind and it kind of makes sense.Granted the works in the first sales meeting next week arenât actually VR works, but the point remains. HTC also isnât the first to touch on the possibility of VR NFTs; Mark Zuckerberg noted that they could be a part of Metaâs vision of the Metaverse at the Connect conference in October.