We haven't finished hearing about NFT in the video game world. Some are for, some against. Square Enix has chosen its camp.
The Japanese publisher said it wants blockchain to become one of the major industry trends in the future. So much so that Square Enix is ​​seriously considering implementing pay-to-earn games in its portfolio in addition to “traditional” games.
Square Enix strongly believes in NFTs in gaming
It's the new buzzword in the video game industry: NFTs. While Ubisoft has tried it with its Quartz platform to the chagrin of players, others have reversed their decision following criticism from their community, like STALKER 2. However, the Spanish publisher is far from satisfied. be the only one interested in this new blockchain trend.
In a letter of greetings for the New Year, Yosuke Matsuda, President of Square Enix, expressed a particularly enthusiastic interest in NFTs and the pay-to-earn concept, which implies that players can earn money by playing games. video games. For the man at the head of the company which owns franchises like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Tomb Raider or even NieR, the metaverse and crypto-currencies are trends that have their place in video games. The Japanese publisher announces the color, virtual currencies are at the heart of its strategy in 2022.
Reward players for creating better content
Blockchain-based games "have the potential to grow on their own by pushing the play-to-earn concept," says Yosuke Matsuda in his letter, hoping they attract a new audience. “I'm aware that people who 'play for fun', who make up the majority of gamers, have expressed reservations about these new trends, and rightly so. However, I am convinced that there are a number of people whose motivation is to “play to contribute”, and by that I mean helping to make the game more exciting”, he explains before adding that current productions have offered no explicit motivation for this group of people motivated solely by "personal feelings such as benevolence and volunteerism".
For him, by offering players the opportunity to earn money from their in-game creations, the content generated by these users would be revitalized and would no longer stop at simple self-expression. "I see this as one of the main reasons why we haven't seen groundbreaking player-generated content yet." The solution ? Implement NFTs to increase their motivation and reward their creative efforts. "By conceptualizing a viable NFT-based economy, we will create autonomous gaming growth. It is precisely this kind of ecosystem that is at the heart of what I call 'decentralized gaming', and I hope that it will become one of the major trends in video games in the future,” concludes Matsuda.
