One year ago, Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda has said that NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and on-chain games are the future. Then 2022 rolled around and it became clear to all but the most diehard NFT investors and crytobros that all this digital JPEG ownership was a scam that the public continues to ignore for the most part. But apparently even after all this, Matsuda and Square Enix are not giving up on NFTs or blockchain games. In fact, it looks like the company is doubling down on its “blockchain entertainment” efforts as we approach 2023.
As a reminder: NFTs are digital items that you do not actually own. Instead, you buy a receipt that says you totally own that image of a monkey or whatever, and then you can collect it and hope to resell it one day for a huge profit. But you probably won’t make money sell expensive NFTs because the market around them has completely collapsed. Turns out overpriced jpegs aren’t a stable investment. Who could have guessed? (Millions of people have.) Either way, Square Enix won’t let little things like near-universal public backlash to NFTs or Giant Cryptocurrency Exchanges Go Bankrupt Overnight dissuade the Japanese publisher from continuing to invest heavily in “Web 3.0”.
In a New Year’s open letter published on January 1, Matsuda said that Square Enix is investing in various business areas, but is “more focused on blockchain entertainment.” In the letter, he used a soup of buzzwords and empty ideas to try to paint a picture that blockchain technology was not dying or collapsing, but in fact growing and becoming more popular. A piece of evidence cited by the President of Square Enix: Web 3.0 has become an “established buzzword among business people”.
After a very brief mention of the massive FTX bankruptcy happened in November—where a A $32 billion crypto exchange exploded overnight and nearly destabilized the entire market in the process – Matsuda addressed the continued pushback against NFTs and blockchain technology. According to the president, this is all part of the plan and he suggested that new technologies like this often create “confusion” at first before people accept it.
“After overcoming these social tides, some of these technologies and frameworks gradually become part of people’s lives, eventually giving rise to new businesses and growth,” Matsuda explained. “Following the excitement and elation that surrounded NFTs and the metaverse in 2021, 2022 has been a year of high volatility in the blockchain-related space. However, if this turns out to have been a milestone in a process that leads to the creation of rules and a more transparent business environment, it will certainly have been for the good of the growth of blockchain entertainment.
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Read More: Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII NFTs are stupid little things
The President of Square Enix wrote a similar letter in 2022, although it was widely dished on by many people online. People who were critical of his vision for the company were particularly unhappy with a part of the letter where Matsuda talked about people “playing to contribute” instead of people just playing games for fun. Yet months later, in an April 2022 interview with him yahoo, Square Enix boss didn’t back down and went on to predict that the future of gaming would include NFTs and blockchain.
And like last year, Matsuda once again offers no specific or even vague plans for how NFTs or blockchain will improve video games or how the technology will provide new options for developers or gamers. Instead, Matsuda simply says that the company has “several” blockchain-powered games in development, including the previously announced symbiogenesis. Get excited, I guess?
“Blockchain has been an object of elation and a source of turmoil,” Matsuda summed up, “But with that in the rearview mirror, we hope blockchain gaming will take another stage of growth in 2023.”
It’s no surprise to see Square Enix continue to focus on NFTs like last year. the publisher sold three game studios—Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal—to the monolithic Embracer Group and all to help further fund its future investments in blockchain technology, AI, and cloud gaming.
Meanwhile, Square Enix has spent the last six months or so close various online games including The fall of Babylon and Final Fantasy VII battle royale spinoff The first soldier. I’m sure there’s cause for concern as the company strives to include NFTs in future titles. Yes, your investment in the digital worlds of Square Enix will be completely safe and will last a long time…
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