The 2022 Square Enix Shareholders’ Meeting Report has reiterated the company’s interest in pursuing blockchain technology in its games.
The report comes via michsuzuki and VGC with it being revealed that the company’s mid-term goals include the “development of blockchain games and entertainment products”. Although this doesn’t mean that every Square Enix IP will be making the shift, with Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda stating that “It’s still too early to consider making Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy blockchain games.”
This report comes off the heels of Square Enix’s previously expressed interest in blockchain games and NFTs (non-fungible tokens). This can be traced back to financial reports last year, which document the company’s persisting interest in NFTs, along with the Double Jump Tokyo which saw NFTs being brought to the Million Arthur game.
Recently, Matsuda stated that “rather than using the proceeds from the divestiture in new investment domains such as NFT and blockchain, we intend to use them primarily to fund our efforts to foster solid IP and to enhance our development capabilities in our core digital entertainment segment”. This came after the sale of the majority of the company’s Western IP and studios to Embracer Group, which included the likes of Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and many more.
As for recent game announcements from the company, both Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion and Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth have been revealed. The former will be released this winter on all modern platforms, while 7: Rebirth is slated for winter 2023 on PlayStation 5. At the time of publication, no other platforms have been confirmed for 7: Rebirth.
In other news, veteran developers from PlayStation have formed their own studio to create an NFT-focussed game titled Ashfall. The game has been described as “the first true Web 3.0 AAA title for PC, console and the Hedera network.”
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