Final 12 months, Sq. Enix President Yosuke Matsuda said that blockchain gaming and NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) had been the longer term. After that, 2022 occurred, and it turned crystal clear to most individuals—save for the diehard NFT buyers—that this concept of proudly owning a digital JPEG was a rip-off. It’s unhappy to see the general public proceed to disregard this, however slowly we see extra open their eyes to the truth. Funnily sufficient, regardless of all of this fiasco, Matsuda stated that Sq. isn’t going to surrender on NFTs or blockchain video games. They’re planning to go all in for 2023 by doubling down on blockchain leisure. It’s definitely a technique to get shot within the foot when you ask me.
Beloved IPs Have been Offered to Put money into Blockchain Gaming
Sq. Enix unusually has excessive expectations concerning their IPs made by western studios. After they did a reboot of Tomb Raider, Sq. offered a complete of three.4 million models, however their expectations had been sky-high—they wished to promote 5-6 million models. That quantity is nigh unimaginable regardless of the large seize of Tomb Raider to the viewers; 5-6 million can solely be doable in case you have a recreation like Name of Obligation.
Then, after 2013 when the earlier firm president—Yoichi Wada—stepped down, their different critically acclaimed titles, similar to Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and Rise of the Tomb Raider, had been launched. Nevertheless, not one of the titles talked about exceeded and even met the studio’s expectations. The problem worsened after they put out Marvel’s Avengers, a recreation that offered not even near their expectations.
The immeasurable disappointments led to Sq. Enix making what’s maybe essentially the most weird resolution it may make. They offered Eidos Interactive and Crystal Dynamics to Embracer, a Swedish firm, for 300 million {dollars} in Might 2022. The purpose? To put money into blockchain gaming and NFTs. Apart from buying and selling off the 2 studios for cash, the sale additionally concerned iconic IPs like Tomb Raider and “dormant” titles, together with the Legacy of Kain.
New Yr, Identical Purpose
Within the yearly New Years’ open letter revealed firstly of 2023, Matsuda said that whereas Sq. will proceed investing in numerous enterprise domains, they’ll even be extra centered on NFTs and blockchain leisure. The person pulled the identical stunt for final 12 months’s letter. The interwebs roughly mocked it, and now, it appears Matsuda can be in for a similar expertise once more.
What’s baffling is that regardless of the business already rejecting the idea of NFTs all through these years, Sq. Enix stays cussed in making an attempt to make this occur. Even EA and Ubisoft referred to as it quits after they noticed they had been getting nowhere again then.
Matsuda’s references to NFTs aren’t simply passing sides both—they make up nearly half of the entire rattling letter. The Sq. Enix President waved away the market’s collapse and stated it was merely going by means of a volatility part. It’s the philosophy you hear from NFT simps: “folks solely hate NFTs in video games as a result of they don’t perceive them.”
Very similar to final 12 months, Yosuke Matsuda has no concrete plans and doesn’t go into element on how NFTs or blockchains will enhance the video gaming expertise for gamers. As an alternative, he simply says a few buzzwords and empty concepts to color an image that NFTs weren’t dying—that it was rising in popularity. After studying the prolonged New Years letter consisting primarily of summary concepts, Matsuda simply says that Sq. Enix now has a number of video games powered by blockchain in improvement. This contains the just lately introduced Symbiogenesis, which was mired with controversy.
A Catastrophe within the Making
Blockchains, crypto, NFTs, and web3 aren’t precisely lifeless but as an idea, regardless that it’s presently experiencing a decline. Nonetheless, it’s been catastrophe after catastrophe if we’re speaking about its integration into video video games. Any writer that was even tangentially associated to NFTs has been roasted so exhausting that it made the businesses really feel like they’ve dedicated a cardinal sin. We’ve seen the paragon of the potential of web3 gaming, Axie Infinity, collapse right into a pile of mush. Whereas Axie Infinity is only one instance, Sq. appears to dwell on this fantasy world the place none of those occurred final 12 months. They’ve deluded themselves into believing it’s a implausible thought to throw their cash down into the NFT gap.
2023 Will Be An Attention-grabbing Yr for Sq. Enix, To Say the Least
Sq. Enix can be in for an attention-grabbing 12 months, and perhaps not in a manner that individuals will like. The corporate has spent the final six months shutting down its numerous on-line video games, together with the Ultimate Fantasy VII battle royale spin-off (The First Soldier) and Babylon’s Fall. The brand new IPs Sq. has been cranking out are a little bit of a blended bag as of late. On one hand, they’ve gotten success from the likes of Octopath Traveler, after which on the opposite, the bitter style of Balan Wonderworld. If you happen to’re considering of investing in Sq.’s digital worlds, I’d say take your cash elsewhere.
