Square Enix’s 2022 Plans Include Blockchain Games And Token Economies

Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda penned and published a New Year’s letter on the official SE website unveiling the company’s future initiatives. Based on the medium-term business strategy that Square Enix announced in 2020, AI and cloud research and single-player/multiplayer blockchain games that prioritize token economies continue to dominate the R&D team’s priority list.

In his letter, Matsuda stated that 2021 was “Metaverse: Year One” – FacebookChanged its name MetaIn addition, significant advancements in extended truth tech have helped to cement the global debate about metaverse-centric opportunities. 2021 was also, as Matsuda put it, “NFTs: Year One given that it was a year in which NFTs were met with a great deal of enthusiasm by a rapidly expanding user base.” So, what does this mean for 2022? 

Square Enix’s “entertainment AI” and cloud projects revolve around performance gains which lead to consumer accessibility and higher-quality experiences. On the other hand, Matsuda wants Square Enix’s future blockchain games to “enable self-sustaining game growth.” This is supposed to change the way players interact with their favorite titles, emphasizing the newfound “play to earn” concept. Matsuda goes into more detail below:

“I realize that some people who “play to have fun” and who currently form the majority of players have voiced their reservations toward these new trends, and understandably so. However, I believe that there will be a certain number of people whose motivation is to “play to contribute,” by which I mean to help make the game more exciting…It is blockchain-based tokens that will enable this. Our games will allow for self-sustaining growth by creating viable token economies. It is precisely this sort of ecosystem that lies at the heart of what I refer to as “decentralized gaming,” and I hope that this becomes a major trend in gaming going forward.”

The shift towards NFTs is apparent in other developers and publishers around the world. For instance, Fable creator Peter Molyneux is creating a “blockchain business sim,” while Ubisoft revealed its own plans to produce blockchain games and NFTs.

With all this in mind, what are your thoughts on Square Enix’s shift to blockchain games and token economies?