Square Enix is doubling down on its plans to release blockchain games in 2023 and beyond. Despite the negative backlash surrounding the inclusion of NFTs and the blockchain in gaming, the publisher remains confident in its upcoming blockchain-related titles that will seemingly continue to arrive this year, the next year and potentially the year after that.
In response to an investor concerned that Square Enix’s upcoming slate of Final Fantasy games are too good for the company to keep growing (that’s a concern?), Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda responded by reaffirming its stance on NFT and blockchain games releasing this year and beyond. This isn’t what anyone really wanted to hear especially in light of the gaming community actively pushing back against blockchain games and NFT projects in the gaming industry.
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Matsuda stated in the full response to investors:
“Major title launches will not be concentrated solely in FY2024/3. We have organized our pipeline so that we will have a good spread of new releases in FY2025/3 and beyond as well. We also hope that you will look forward to the blockchain games we have plan to launch in FY2024/3 and thereafter.”
Plans could very easily change at Square Enix since Matsuda will step down as the company’s president this June and be replaced by current company director Takashi Kiryu. The hope is that Square Enix, following Matsuda’s departure, will reconsider its blockchain plans which all seem to be pretty motivated by Matsuda’s divisive decision-making.
Several gaming companies have attempted to break into the blockchain and NFT space in the past to little success. Ubisoft was perhaps the most notorious case of mass pushback from the community after it attempted to kick off NFT-focused projects starting with Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Needless to say, the project didn’t work out so well. Back in July 2022, over a year since NFTs started to gain momentum, the cryptocurrency market crashed and NFT sales plunged to all-time lows.
The market is still extremely volatile right now and NFTs aren’t nearly as valuable as they once were, depending on which pocket of the market you look at. It’s unclear how Square Enix will convince players that blockchain is the right direction to go since no NFT projects apart from Symbiogenesis have been announced yet.
Source: Stephen Totilo
