On January 1, Yosuke Matsuda, the CEO of Square Enix, a popular Japanese video game company, published a new year’s message that highlighted the company’s future plans for NFT, metaverse and blockchain gaming technology. While the letter wished everyone a happy new year, it praised the role of emerging technologies like metaverse, NFT, cloud computing and blockchain technology. The CEO recognized 2021 as the year of metaverse whose topic inspired a global conversation about what the metaverse is, and what kinds of business opportunities it presents. According to the executive, the fact that Facebook changed its name to ‘Meta Platform Inc’ is an indication that metaverse is not a fad but is here to stay. Matsuda thinks that the development of advances in extended reality (XR) technology, the rising adoption of the cloud and 5G, blockchain technology and other emerging technologies have all led to the metaverse’s existence.
But, what do such changes mean to the company’s business environment in 2022? Matsuda revealed Square Enix’s plans to be actively involved in these exciting technologies. The executive admitted in May 2020, the firm launched a medium-term business strategy, which identified AI, the cloud and multiplayer and single-player blockchain games as the company’s key priorities for investments. The CEO stated that the company is planning to invest in entertainment AI and cloud projects to improve higher-quality experiences and performance gains. Additionally, he mentioned that the firm wants to focus on blockchain games to enable self-sustaining game growth. According to him, this will transform the way players interact with their favorite titles, emphasizing the importance of NFTs and play-to-earn crypto mobile games.
Investing in Blockchain Games
The development by Square Enix planning to develop blockchain gaming projects comes at a time when various video game companies are beginning to actively consider such aforementioned technologies as important to the future of the industry. Ubisoft was the first major video game publisher to take an interest in the blockchain landscape. Over the last few years, the company has been experimenting with cryptocurrency game prototypes and supporting startups. But, now the gaming company is implementing NFTs within one of its major business divisions in a new initiative that runs on Tezos. Today, the Ubisoft Quartz platform allows players to earn and buy in-game items that are tokenised as NFTs on the Tezos blockchain. Recently, Electronic Art, the company behind gaming sports franchises such as NBA and FIFA, recognized new technologies like NFTs and the play-to-earn model are part of the future of the gaming industry. Other gaming firms like Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based game software company, are actively investing in blockchain-based games.
