In a letter addressing the start of the new year, the President and Representative Director of Square Enix, Yosuke Matsuda, stated that the company has high hopes for the potential of blockchain in the gaming industry. In fact, Square Enix has identified “blockchain entertainment” as a key focus for investment. The Japanese government is also supporting the adoption of blockchain technology through the promotion of NFTs as part of its web 3.0 initiative.
The popularity of blockchain gaming has continued to grow in 2022, with web 3 becoming a commonly recognized term in the business world. Despite setbacks like the collapse of Tera-Luna and the FTX bankruptcy, many major players, including gaming giant Square Enix, remain active in the industry and are confident in its future growth potential. Square Enix, known for its successful Final Fantasy franchise, is among those investing in the space.
Yosuke Matsuda Reveals Square Enix’s Plans
In a new year’s letter, Yosuke Matsuda talks about the involvement of Square Enix in web 3.0. He comments on their mid-term business plans where their primary investment is “blockchain entertainment”. In this field, they are devoting financial resources and business development efforts.
Yosuke Matsuda sees the volatility around the metaverse in 2021 and 2022 as just a step in the process that will lead to the creation of rules and business transparency. He also recognizes that the growth of blockchain entertainment benefited from this period of instability.
He also comments on the letter: “Keeping a steady eye on these environmental changes while considering from a higher-level perspective what Web 3.0 and blockchain entertainment are actually all about presents a different vista than if we focus on them solely in technological or speculative investment terms. As I said in last year’s New Year’s letter, if we consider traditional gaming to have been centralized, then blockchain gaming must operate based on a self-sustaining decentralized model. It is that concept, that philosophy that I see to be key.”
Last but not least, Yosuke also reveals in his letter that there are multiple blockchain games based on Square Enix’s IPs currently under development. Some were already announced last year. An example of this is Symbiogenesis.
Japanese Government on Web 3.0
Yosuke Matsuda, in his letter, also comments about the support of the Japanese Government for Web 3.0. On June 2022, the Japanese Cabinet signed off on the “Priority Policy Program for Realizing a Digital Society” plan. If this looks confusing, this is a plan that includes support for the use of NFTs and other Blockchain technologies. On top of this, Japan’s Digital Agency will release a Web 3.0 study group.
This means that not just the so-called “degens” and some corporations are backing up Blockchain technology, but also entire governments. Even though this is not directly related to gaming, it will positively affect the web3 gaming industry.
Last Thoughts
Ubisoft, the Japanese government, Epic Games, and now Square Enix is also getting involved with Web 3. NFT Gaming does not stop growing and soon will be on everyone’s radar. Other corporations will start to feel pressure to join this industry. Personally, I think that many will fear missing out on the opportunity of being early in this growing niche of crypto.
There are some large gaming platforms that still have some anti-crypto policies. Examples of this are Google Play and Steam. But, once again, as the web3 gaming player base grows, these platforms will feel pressure to join the industry and benefit from this growth. In my opinion, it is just a matter of time before gaming in Web 3 becomes mainstream.
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