Yosuke Matsuda, the president of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd., has reaffirmed the gaming company’s commitment to fusing blockchain technology with video games, in spite of continued disapproval from its fanbase.
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Fast facts
- “We are [focused] on blockchain entertainment, to which we have devoted aggressive investment and business development efforts,” Matsuda wrote in his new year’s letter for 2023.
- Matsuda said Square Enix is developing multiple blockchain-infused games based on the company’s intellectual properties for release this year. In November 2022, Square Enix announced Symbiogenesis, its first original game with non-fungible tokens (NFT).
- Square Enix, which has produced world-renowned franchises such as Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts, recorded 365.2 billion Japanese yen (US$2.8 billion) in net sales as of March 31, 2022, according to its website.
- In his 2022 new year’s letter, Matsuda said that blockchain technology helps video games form their own token economy and achieve self-sustaining growth.
- Fans of the Square Enix franchise have expressed disdain for the company’s blockchain initiatives, citing distrust in digital assets, concern for the technology’s potential environmental harm and the low quality of blockchain games.
For the love of Garland can we just stop this nonsense @SquareEnix? The boss's #NewYear message is about #NFTs and #blockchain as a focus with not a single IP or game franchise mentioned. Please run away like other studios have. They have for a reason. pic.twitter.com/zc6KIaglyT
— Tushar Nene (@tusharnene) January 1, 2023
- Major Japanese game developers took part in the trend last year, with Konami, the multinational behind Metal Gear Solid, adding 13 new jobs in October for its blockchain ventures, while Sega, creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, announced in September that it is working on its own blockchain-based collectibles game.
See related article: Japan’s Square Enix reveals blockchain gaming ambitions for 2022