According to its 2022 Shareholders’ Meeting Report, Square Enix is committed to creating games using NFT and blockchain technology in the near future.
In a letter published on Jan 4, Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda committed to making NFTs and blockchain games a part of the company’s portfolio. As reported by michsuzuki and translated by VGC, Square Enix re-affirmed this goal during their 2022 Shareholders’ Meeting Report. The report states that one of Square Enix’s medium-term goals is “the development of blockchain games and entertainment products.”
However, when speaking about the relationship between NFTs and Square’s biggest franchises, Matsuda said “It’s still too early to consider making Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy blockchain games.” Furthermore, they are “not thinking” about utilising this technology in any of their upcoming releases.
Square Enix is not the first company to become interested in the NFT space. Ubisoft Quartz is Ubisoft’s dedicated blockchain gaming division which was met with overwhelmingly negative fan response. Several other studios like Sony, Xbox, Electronic Arts and Nintendo have expressed interest in NFTs but none other than Ubisoft has actually attempted to implement them into one of its games.
Square Enix recently sold Eidos Montreal, Square Enix Montreal and Crystal Dynamics to the massive Embracer Group video game holding company. Included in this deal were the intellectual properties of Tomb Raider, Thief, Legacy of Kain, Deus Ex and more.
It was expected that Square Enix would be using the money from this sale to invest in new technology such as NFTs, the blockchain and cloud gaming. However, during a briefing last month Matsuda said the money would be used to strengthen the core intellectual properties of the company.
NFT and blockchain gaming tends to receive intense negative backlash from the gaming community, but Square Enix seems committed to the idea in the long term.
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