Yosuke Matsuda confirms Square Enix’s interest in NFTs and blockchain gaming
Square Enix joins the big video game companies that plan to bet on blockchain technology.
Blockchain technology and the prospects it provides are piquing the interest of an increasing number of gaming firms. Although EA has been among the first to express interest, Ubisoft was the first to take the lead with Ghost Recon. Yesterday, Yosuke Matsuda, president of Square Enix, expressed the company’s interest in NFTs and blockchain technology, two of the most talked-about industry trends in the last year.
We’ve already discussed NFTs, blockchain, and the benefits they potentially bring to the video game business, but NFTs are not without their skeptics. One of the most significant is the price speculation that underpins it, as well as the carbon footprint that digital certificates generate, and this opposition is preventing its widespread acceptance. The biggest PC gaming shop, Steam, has banned such titles, and Xbox’s Phil Spencer has blasted them.
Instead, the CEO of one of the largest gaming businesses informs us that blockchain-enabled games have the ability to ensure self-sustaining growth by promoting the play-to-earn model. It’s also worth noting that he didn’t turn a blind eye to the skepticism, conjecture, and concerns surrounding blockchain while claiming that it may draw a new audience and alter the opinions of some current players who don’t believe this new technology at all.
“I realize that some people who “play to have fun” and who currently form the majority of players have voiced their reservations toward these new trends, and understandably so,” said Yosuke Matsuda, president of Square Enix.
“However, I believe that there will be a certain number of people whose motivation is to “play to contribute,” by which I mean to help make the game more exciting. Traditional gaming has offered no explicit incentive to this latter group of people, who were motivated strictly by such inconsistent personal feelings as goodwill and volunteer spirit,” he added.
Yosuke also claims that the ability to access digital works would rejuvenate user-generated content (UGC). As token economies evolve, users will have explicit motivations since it offers a concrete advantage to their creative efforts. As a result, incorporating these decentralized games into Square Enix’s portfolio will be one of the studio’s primary goals for 2022.
Many fans are against it
Although there have been no comments about games that would carry this technology, gamers see a high possibility that it will be in the Final Fantasy franchise. So there have already been dozens of posts from Reddit users in the subreddit dedicated to Final Fantasy XIV that post their displeasure and regret of Square Enix’s decision to support NFTs and blockchain.
This new statement by Square Enix has made players, in addition to representing their displeasure with NFTs and blockchain, continue to be annoyed that FFXVI is not yet out.
We will have to wait for future statements from Matsuda and what games will include this technology. Stay with Game Freaks 365 as we will continue to cover NFTs, blockchain gaming, and play-to-earn.
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