The president of Square Enix, Yosuke Matsuda, gave consumers a glimpse into the future and what is planned for the company by way of the 2023 edition of the “A New Year’s Letter from the President”, and it seems that much like last year, the company is still intent on making use of questionable NFTs to make a profit off gullible fans.
In the letter, Matsuda mentioned matters such as the 20th anniversary of Enix and Square merging, how they got rid of Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal, and other topics – though, he also talked about a continued dedication to NFTs and blockchain games.
The segment of the letter where Matsuda discussed the aforementioned:
In terms of new business domains, we named three focus investment fields under our medium-term business plan. Among those, we are most focused on blockchain entertainment, to which we have devoted aggressive investment and business development efforts. Looking externally, I think it is fair to say that blockchain gained significant recognition as a field in 2022, as evidenced by “Web 3.0” becoming a firmly established buzzword among businesspeople. However, the year also saw volatility in the cryptocurrency and NFT (non-fungible token) markets that tracked the dramatic shifts in the macroeconomy described above. The latter half of the year in particular produced a somber string of news stories with blockchain connections, including the scandalous bankruptcy filing of FTX in November.
In the wake of these developments, we hear rumblings from some countries of early moves to regulate such businesses more strictly. In Japan, meanwhile, the drive to encourage such businesses has gained momentum, led by the government. In June 2022, the Japanese cabinet signed off on a plan called the “Priority Policy Program for Realizing a Digital Society,” which includes wording regarding the creation of an environment for promoting the Web 3.0 concept, including the use of NFTs based on blockchain technology. Japan’s Digital Agency also launched a Web 3.0 study group.
New technologies and frameworks lead to innovation, but they also create considerable confusion. Having ridden out such societal tides, some such technologies and frameworks gradually become part of people’s lives, eventually giving rise to new businesses and growth. Following the excitement and exhilaration that surrounded NFTs and the metaverse in 2021, 2022 was a year of great volatility in the blockchain-related space. However, if this proves to have been a step in a process that leads to the creation of rules and a more transparent business environment, it will definitely have been for the good of the growth of blockchain entertainment.
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.
That is to say that what sort of new experiences and new excitement our Digital Entertainment business can deliver to our customers through its game development efforts and other endeavors under the self-sustaining, decentralized concept is extremely important.
Multiple blockchain gaming events held overseas recently produced more active discussion than ever before about what makes the games exciting and what their user community looks like. The market was driven more by speculative investors than by gamers though 2021. In other words, the content that was at the forefront was created based on the premise that blockchain and NFTs should result in monetization. However, in the wake of the aforementioned turbulence in the cryptocurrency industry, there is now a trend to view blockchain technology as a mere means to an end and to discuss what needs to happen to achieve the end of delivering new experiences and excitement to customers. I see this as a very beneficial development for the future growth of the industry.
Our Group has multiple blockchain games based on original IPs under development, some of which we announced last year, and we are undertaking preparations that will enable us to unveil even more titles this year. We are also engaged in global sourcing from an investment perspective and will continue to take stakes in promising businesses whether we find them in Japan or abroad. Blockchain has been an object of exhilaration and a source of turmoil, but with that in the rearview mirror, we hope that blockchain games will transition to a new stage of growth in 2023.
Previous NFT ventures by Square Enix include the announcement of Symbiogenesis, a so-called “NFT collectible art project” where players will “untangle the story”.
Square Globohomo Faggot n♥♥♥♥r Enix can’t go bankrupt fast enough.
Np, we will be committed to NOT play/buy the games and wait to flop hard to learn their lessons.
just do that to all sort of media. these companies and devs need to be taught a lesson to not milk their consumers.
And why not. If you are scamming people either way, you might as well do all the scams.
You are correct.
People still pay for modern art of s♥♥t log and pay less taxes for donating it. Why are NFTs bad?
It’s true that modern art is a money laundering scam. But making the process less efficient does not solve the inherent problem.
Only way I can see this as a Good Thing™ is if it democratizes the tax evasion of “art” donations to the point where the regular joe can pay zero taxes like Bill Gates types.
Ok, you got a point.
If one can f♥♥k an adult, one can f♥♥k a child as well.
As long as these cancerous practices make money they will remain – microtransactions have proven that.
Can’t blame him, since most users, specially younger ones, are plain stupid and are craving to be scammed with criptoshit, he only takes the most profitable route. Of course I won’t buy any of their games anymore.