Only Up! Controversy Explained (NFTs & Updates)

Only Up! is a strange game that’s received a lot of attention lately and dialog around the game has gotten kind of… strange. For some context, Only Up! is a game that’s a Roblox Obby that takes itself as a Getting Over It style game made with Unreal Engine, generic assets and NFTs. That’s a lot, let’s unpack it.

Only Up! and NFTs

This is a weird one, the game has NFTs throughout it. No links, QR codes or advertisements so don’t believe the misinformation that the game itself is a scam. It does, though, have other NFTs in it which some people have found poor taste? There’s an argument that streamers have been advertising these NFTs unknowingly because they’ve been included in this game.

There’s not much else other than a lot of misinformation. The only truth is the game does have NFT images in it, but an NFT in of itself is just an image. That’s not a defense for the market or a promotion, just that the game doesn’t sell NFTs or link you to them. You’ve got to research that one yourself, deeply.

Complaints, Streamers and Updates

This one is a weird one because Only Up!’s wonky controls and broken gameplay were part of its charm that drove its success. Streamers of course love streaming a game where they can play for an hour only to lose the entire progress to a simple mistake. This has led the game to receive criticism for being designed around streamers first and players second.

In response to this criticism, the developers have actually worked on updating the game and have made it considerably easier to finish. They’ve fixed the camera; they’ve fixed a lot of the jump mechanics and made the character grippier.

The players who enjoyed the game because it was a mess and broken are now angry that the game is easier. Folks who want to play it are able to. It is kind of made for streamers, it’s almost unapologetically thrown together? In many ways you could almost call that art.

Removed From Steam?

It was removed from steam for a few hours. No explanation was given and was returned. A lot of misinformation on why with folks pointing to the NFTs, but the game has said anything to it. The game continues to get updates.

That’s about it. So far there’s not a lot to it other than the game is what it shows at face value. A lot of folks like watching it, some like playing it and the assets are definitely meh.